What i got is a 47 banjo with an open driveshaft conversion from Speedway. 6 spline pinion. The issue is that the pinion splines have some wear, as expected. Some movement present at the yoke because of the wear also. The Speedway yoke slips on easily. Had the pin in and allen keepers installed as designed. Works good. Got a couple hundred miles on it. No vibration or funky noise either. But it keeps spraying gear lube out because of the slop at the yoke. I lowered the gear lube level to pinky feel below fill hole. Helped some. But still spraying. Then seemed to worsen somewhat. Yesterday i pulled it apart. Seal was worn. Found another at Napa. Installed. Decided togo a different route to "tighten" up the yoke to the pinion. Instead of using the pin and keeper allen head inserts. I took 2 hardened bolts long enough to use a jam nut. I tapered the end of the bolts to tightened them to the yoke into the hole to where the pin was, and then tightened the jam nut down to the yoke. Note that i did NOT use lock***e, considering i used jammed nuts. It tightened all up nicely.. Figured it was good enough.... It wasnt. Road test about 8-10 miles. Inspected immediately after. Some play was starting to develop at the yoke again, bolts were still somewhat tight but not as tight as when i started, and just starting to seep. Pulled it apart again.. Seal is still ok and no wear on the yoke. My question.. Is there any option or idea to keep the yoke tight on the pinion before pulling the whole diff apart to have the pinion splines welded and recut, or replaced all together? Try again with lock***e? Drill another cross hole opposed to the current one and secure it? Also thought about 660 lock***e on the splines, but issue persists, itll be hell getting it apart..? Any ideas would be appreciated....
No experience in open conversions but Whale oil was used in those rear ends. thicker and stickier than snot. I believe Macs or C&G Ford used to sell a comparative rear gear lube. Bump to the top for more experienced answers.
I made a open conversion years ago and had the same problem. I used a 6 spline adapter and welded a yoke to that adapter and ended up with a yoke that is about the same as the speedway unit. Anyway, what I did to get rid of the play and get the yoke to run true was I drilled and threaded holes, 3 I think in the spline area of the yoke. Then with the seal cap (if that is what you call it) removed, I adjusted set screws in those holes until the yoke turned true with no play. I used lock ***e to keep the screws from coming out. Tighten them so that the yoke is a tight fit on the shaft, tap it on with hammer.
I have a speedway yoke that is quite loose on the spline,that loose I was nervous about using it.I got a Hotrod works yoke and it was a neat fit. A lot of torque is transferred through those splines so if not a neat fit problems are coming , imho.
Yea i was thinking on the same idea of the set screws tightening up the yoke also. Lock***e is apparently a must along with centering it also. I guess pulling the center plug on the yoke would be the best bet on getting it centered. I will also consider the Hotrod yoke too, but im not sure that another yoke will compensate for the wear on the shaft any better than what i got? One way or another, your right, it needs tightened up. Thanks for the input to all.
I did not have any wear on my shaft, at least not that I could see, the spline was just a loose fit. The pinion shaft is hard and does not get much wear I guess.
I would install it with a good coat of JB Weld on the splines. Will take out 100% of the slop, guarantee a leak tight joint. Will require a hub puller to remove the yoke but totally doable. Anyway, you will probably be carted off to Trembling Hills by that time so who cares.
The Speedway yolk will fit loose even on a new pinion shaft. They make them too large. Our yolks are made to properly fit snug on a new or good used pinion shaft.
****....Speedway screwed me again. I bought the dam thing years ago, so returning it is out of the question. Grrrrr.... I just looked at your website. Wish i would of known about yours 1st. Looks good and USA made. Im wondering how tight yours would work on a somewhat worn shaft? Not that you would know that. Id hate to buy another and have same issue....Well let me ask you.. Is your yoke the same outside diameter of exactly 2inches on the round part? And does it use the same 1350 u-joint?
Difficult to say how it would fit your shaft. Ours is 2” and uses the 1350 yoke because Speedway copied ours directly (except they messed up their splines). They used to sell our kits.
Thanks. Appreciate the info. I think im going to give it 1 more shot with drilling, tapping and set screws. If it dont work, ill pull the trigger on yours. At least i know now where to get something better.
Speedway is a good place for lower price on name brand stuff like edelbrock manifolds etc because they buy so many at a time they can get the price down. but, lots of the speedway brand stuff is cheap for a reason. Not trying to beat them up, glad bill made the business thrive, but shop around a bit first would be good advise
Update for anyone that gives a rats ***. Well what i ended up doing was as follows. First off, the driveshaft i had made was about ½ inch longer than i measured, but still worked with no issues. So i figured I had alitta leeway there. Therefore i decided to slide the yoke back on the pinion shaft to engage splines that weren't wore. At the same time, i could only go so far because the 1st set of set screws were being pushed backed towards the seal area. I only moved it back maybe ⅜ of an inch i guess, but enough to grab good splines. Once it seemed like it would work, i removed it and drilled and tapped 4 more holes in the yoke on the inner splines. Staggering them like a barbershop pole. Now I have a set screw in each of the 6 splines. I used stainless steel set screws this time and the 1st attempt was with blue lock***e. Roadtest, failed.... Started coming loose again. Removed, cleaned and 2nd attempt was exactly like b4 but with red lock***e and letting it set up for about 48hrs. 2 roadtests so far, holding up good. A couple more trips without issue and ill feel more confident. Fingers crossed..... Thanks to all for input. Appreciate it.
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