I found a local machine shop that's willing to do the shortening of my driveshaft. That was a challenge in and of itself, at least locally. Now my questions are - what year is this rear end? I was told it was a '36, but from what I had heard, the start of the mid-shaft bearings and grease fitting didn't start till '37, so I'm confused, as I have the bearings mid-shaft. Anyone know? Next question is - after I shorten the shaft and tube, can I just elminate the center bearings, or are they necessary? Will the shaft whip/vibrate? Note: I will be running a pretty mild 59A flathead in front of this thing. For that matter, how the hell does one get the bearings *back* in there once they come out? Some fell out durning the tube removal process... The machinist's plan is to cut the shaft, slip some DOM tubing over it, pin it on both sides, weld and balance it. Sound safe?
I am pulling my '36 rear apart (or at least I was told it was a '36) and it does NOT have a mid bearing support for the driveshaft. Just one on the front end near the speedo gear housing. Does that help a little??
I have a '41 rear end and torque tube shaft. The right hand axle housing had a date cast into the inside of the bell. My torque tube has a bushing in it about midway for the shaft to ride in with the grease fitting like you describe. (Not ball bearings or anything like that.) I kept the bushing and grease fitting when I shortened mine. I cut the shaft some distance away from the bushing area, tapered the ends so as to get a good bit of weld in, put both ends in an improvised Vee block, and then welded the shaft with 7018 AC rod. I then split a 4" long piece of pipe that had the same ID as the shaft OD, and welded it over the first joint. The car has about 1000 miles on it now with no vibration or breakage. I don't have a balancer machine so I did the best that I could with a dial indicator, the Vee blocks, and luck. So far, so good. pigpen
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