We all have to have one but when running a open rear end do you go to the junk yard and buy one a little longer than you need and cut it down or do you just order one from a company that specializes in custom built driveshafts? I have a few driveshafts in the barn taken from cars I pulled the engines & transmissions over the years and fortunate to have a machinist friend in the club that has cut and balanced driveshafts for me & most of the Tri-City R & C club members. HRP
I go to a junkyard and get one and have a local shop cut it down. Lately I have been getting aluminum ones from Crown Victorias. The last one cost me $150 at the driveline shop but that was with new U-Joints and a new yoke at the transmission.
been a few years since I had a drive shaft built, with my yokes last one was about $100 I twisted the driveshaft, just brought it to the shop and they put a new tube on.
I saw all the postings and then decided I neither had the time or energy to do my own. I ended up walking into Fleetpride about 5 miles from my house, gave them the measurements I needed and in less than a week they called me. I had given them my u joints and the front yoke I was using. Got back a completely new nicely balanced driveshaft. I think it cost me $250.
In the mid 70's I had a tube frame Maverick with sbc power and had Keith Ebeling (Dutchman) build a drive shaft for me, he was still working from his home garage. I converted my 66 Suburbans driveshaft from two piece to a one piece, got two partials from a friend and welded it myself but when I took it in to Driveline Service of Portland to get balanced they said they had to cut it and reweld it because it was crooked. Also had DLS build a new drive shaft with all new components for my roadster.
I'm using one of the aluminum Crown Vics on my roadster. They are of welded construction, no rivets or composites in the police special shafts I have seen.
Went to driveline shop to get a new T5 yoke. They said $140. Went back to junkyard and got the shaft and front yoke I dropped when I got the T5 for another $10.
beware of junk yard driveshafts, we found out the hard way that they sometimes get tweaked from getting picked up with the forklift.
There's one drive shaft shop in town. A new shaft with front slip yoke, u joints and rear ford style bolt in flange will set you back 425.00. Junk yard driveshafts in Ohio get you Rusty shit. And yes every yard grabs them with a fork lift
I try and get a junkyard shaft that is too long and cut it down.When I did the 50 ford I ended up having to make one out of two which were both too short.Never did that before but it has held up so far.
I bought my last one from Southwestern speed. By the time you factor in gas, time and the bent by forklift odds, it was cheaper and easier.
A long way from you, but Lindsay Driveline can make just about anything. I took my drive shaft with the measurements needed. Got it back shortened balanced and even new joints. 53 ford joints are not on part store shelves.
I'm into X frame Chevy's and have used Inland Empire Driveline for lengths taken from my measurements and slip joint installations. They also have heavy duty billet carrier bearing supports.
If you're speaking of the yoke that goes into the trans. with splines onto the output shaft of trans, that's steel but the "eyes" that the U joint goes into on driveshaft frt and rr are aluminum.
Take a longer steel shaft, cutting one end yoke off, leaving the yoke's inner tube flange, clean/grind so it can be hammered into the shortened tube, (once a square cut is confirmed). Phase the yoke with the other end, Tack three places, 120* apart, then weld-all-around. May not even need to balance.
For my 49 Buick I went to the local junk yard, they had a pile of hundreds of old shafts. I spent half a day digging through it and food one just the right length. Used the combo U joints and my ends and it fit right in.
I took a drive shaft that I already had into a shop in Omaha Nebraska and I think it cost about $75 for them to shorten it and they put new yokes too. I hope I have another driveshaft in my collection that I can use on the Studebaker I'm building now Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
I'll add a couple of things to this. First, mark the shaft and yoke so they can be put back together with exactly the same phasing as the shaft originally had. Second, if there are balance weights on the end of the driveshaft you are going to be cutting off, save them and weld them back on in the same relative positions they were in before the yoke was cut off. The less the driveshaft is shortened, the more effective this is.
Granted, it's been over 25 years, but: When putting Clarence together I had the engine/trans and rear installed and pinion angles set. Put the slip yoke into the trans and figured out where it originally had been (front to back) by looking at the rust film showing on the outside. Then measured, VERY CAREFULLY, from the center of the eyes on the slip yoke and the rear. Went to a local bone yard where the owner and operator knows all the local hot rodders. Asked him about a driveshaft. "Go down to that van halfway down the hill and open the back doors; that's where I put all my driveshafts". Knowing exactly how long I wanted it and thinking that anything within 1/8" would be plenty close enough we (I had help) removed every driveshaft from the van and measured the ones that had the correct eyes on both ends. I'd guess that there were a hundred or so shafts there. We found two that we deemed would work. Bought the best looking one and installed it with new u-joints. That thing has been in Clarence ever since and I've never felt a vibration. Clarence has not had a working odometer for many years, but based on where it's been I imagine I've put a hundred K miles on the shaft and there's no way of knowing how many miles it had on it before the donor car went to the yard. I wish I had records on how much I spent on things, but IIRC I paid somewhere in the $10 - $25 range for it.
I have a collection of drive shafts I saved when I was junking cars years ago. I've been using them from my collection ever since, and have been shortening them myself for years. I've never had one out of balance, many have seen severe abuse and I've never had a failure. As long as my collection holds up, I think I'm good. Generally, I don't want to cut more then 3" off an end (6" total). If it needs to be shortened more then 6", I'll use a different shaft. Gene
I am having trouble understanding what difference it makes removing more than 6" compared to a lesser amount.
If I had to remove 6", I'd take it all off one end. I figure the more of the original shaft you can preserve, the better off you are. If you maintain the phasing and keep it straight, you can always have it re-balanced later if needed.
Most modern (60s & newer) have an inner shaft mounted in rubber. As you get more then 3" in from the end of the shaft, the odds of encountering that inner shaft increases. Nearly every time I've tried to shorten a shaft more then 3"-4" off one end, I've encountered that inner shaft. Might just be my dumb luck, but most factory drive shafts I've seen are not empty hollow tubes. Gene
Because of the trans I decided to use in the '31, I had to go with a splined d/shaft. Way easier to just have Woods make on up new than scrounge around and then have it modified.
Ahh. I have encountered foam filled aluminum drive shafts from collision damage. I haven't been that deep into other shafts. Thanks!!
BTW, its amazing how thin the aluminum is on those drive shafts. In my minds eye, they should wrinkle on the first side step of the clutch.
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