I did a burnout in my Model A the other night and My Dad and I got into a conversation about the driveshaft that I cut 21" out of and welded back together he says he'd be afraid of breaking it but with a stock 100 hp flatty I think its fine. its been in there for almost 4 yrs. Im just wondering if anyone with more horses has had any problems?
You did a burn out and it didn't break after four years of driving? Why are you worrying about it now?
Ive done the same thing to my coupe, and Im NOT worried one bit especially with it being behind a Flathead. -Jason
You must cut off the front end of the driveshaft and get it resplined so that you preserve the relationship of the rear of the driveshaft to the center torque tube bearing...........obviously, you don't want to shorten the back end of the driveshaft......it would then not ride on the bearing surface inside the torque tube.... Trickier than it seems, but certainly not *Rocket Science*.... CB
I have cut and rewelded a few of them... If you watch all your measurements you can still line everything up.. We rifle drill one half the shaft and turn down the other half. slip them together and then rosette and ****weld the two halfs together.. Never have had an issue with lots more HP than you are talking about.. Jason.
At worst you'll loose the driveshaft and it'll rattle around in the tube, dont really see how it'd be anything to worry about
Plan to run a warmed over ab motor with a original Scot super charger total length of the tube is 34 inches ,,, tossed the bearing... I have not cut and welded the shaft yet. I was also wondering, maybe "Bare Metal" can answer when you gun drilled (rifled) how deep did you go? I was planining on chucking it in the lathe and drilling a normal drill length 6 inches or so then doing excatly as you stated. Also any special weld process? anneal? and re -heat treat or just preaheat . Any tips before I do it?Also what weld process? Tig or Stick, I was going to stick it with a low- Hyd. rod. I feel better with a 7018 or 11018 type than I do with my scratch start tig.
I cut my '48 shaft and Torque tube by cutting the tube about a 1/4" in front of the rear flange and taking 20 3/4" out with a bandsaw. I just tapered the edge to get a good bite and Mig welded it back together. The local driveshaft shop checked the face and it was actually good. At some point the rear I got had what I believe to be a '34 style coupler used and as such they were running on the strenght of the cross pin only. Needless to say when I opened it up the parts all came out on the floor. I cut the solid shaft, once again near the rear, maintaining the proper center bearing position, the appropriate lenght and cut the fine splines, by hand with a cutoff wheel,(turning the coupler end for end), and welded it to the shaft. As the ID of the coupler was a nice slip fit on the shaft cutting the splines absolutly perfect was not required. I drilled the coupler and plug welded both sides. I'm comfy with this in back of a mild 283. I'm sure the '39 box will go first.
I tell folks to do it the other way around - cut the back end and either respline, or weld on a 6/10 adapter at the back - that way you preserve the relationship of the speedo gear/drive. That's how I'd do it...not that I've ever done one and I'm planning to avoid it by making all my adapters for my T5 torque-tube add up to the difference between a 33/34 driveshaft/torque-tube and my '40 one...
"Lightnin' Bug" got it's shaft cut and welded.......there is a way to do it and you would be surprised on how many were done years ago the same way. And they used arc welders.
As to "Flathead Ernies" point well taken will cut the back side to keep the speedo gear correct.......Thanks
We have about 4" of of the milled down shaft inside 4" rifle drilled shaft. I TIG wel it.. They have been doing this a long time with stick. I don't think any one way better than another if it works for you.. Jason
I used one of **** Spadaro's driveshaft kits in my AV8- works well was about $300 in 2006 , not sure what it costs now. I took 21" out of 41 merc tube and I am not running a center bearing. From his website: TORQUE TUBE DRIVE SHAFT A cut to length drive shaft for your cut-down torque tube banjo rear or your torque tube Quickchange. Just follow the instructions and measure the distance from the U-Joint to the pinion and cut drive shaft to length (60" tube supplied). Great for A-V8 conversions or altered wheel base cars. Fits 1935-48 Ford V8's All new parts including ***embly instructions Coupler fits any Ford 6 spline pinion or Quickchange jackshaft 10 spline coupler available late spring Fits Early Ford U-Joint Uses stock speedometer drive gear Supplied with 60" drive shaft tube that can be cut to your length Image shows scaled version of torque tube.
The drive shaft tube began in bellflower ca from what i was told by larry watson & the sultans car club they would use the drive shaft tube from a early 50's chevy chrome it you cant wear them down anyway thats what i was told
that is some great information. are you saying that if you chrome a drive shaft tube out of a chevrolet, install it in a ford, it will never wear down?
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