Thats a great point, another that I hadnt even considered. Im gonna check the ends of the torque tube for straightness and concentricity. Not sure what Ill do if theyre off, but Ill sort it out. Probably cut a relief, then heat and beat till its the way I want it, then weld? Ive also decided to try to build a new driveshaft, with splines on both ends. that way itll be more tolerent of any other imperfections. I havent cut splines before, but maybe its time I do. Ill let everyone know how it goes.
Just remember if you run a shaft style driveline you will need a torque tube with the bearing in the center...or it'll "whip" like a jump rope! Chris
yet another thing im clueless about. A roller bearing came out of the tube, but it looked like it was close to the front splines on the driveshaft, with the shaft shiny near the front. Is there anything else to be aware of?
A hollow tube type driveshaft (or Model A's) have a bearing up right behind the speedo gear at the front of the torque tube. The 37-48 style solid driveshaft has a bearing right in the center of the torque tube aling with that front bearing. You can tell em easy, they will have a grease zerk at the center bearing.
Chris, I`m quite sure that all rears 32-48 have the bearing behind the speedo gear. 37-48 rears have the extra middle bearing. When i build a shortend 37-48 rear , i use the coupler on one end and 12 inches of the transmission side. I use a 2inch tube DOM for the driveshaft itself. DON`T BUY THE SPEEDWAY DRIVESHAFT!!!!!!!!!!! it twists like a corkscrew!!!!! Another ****ty part from Speedway.
Dear Hot Rod Mikey, Before you start placing blame on defective parts offered by vendors please determine the manufacturer, the drive shafts sold by Speedway Motors are not made by Speedway Motors. I am the supplier and the data sheet inside the box indicates that. This part is a copy of a 32-34 Ford driveshaft offered with a 6 spline coupler. It was originally designed to be used with the new High Speed gear sets for 32-34 Fords because the gear sets were made with a 6 spline pinion. It was also determined that these would be acceptable for use in cut down drive shaft conversions but relied upon the customer to follow accepted procedures for on center ***embly, outlined in a detailed instruction sheet.. I have been notified of three drive line failures and requested that the shafts be sent back for evaluation. In each case the drive shaft failure was due to the miss alignment of the torque tube ends on home made torque tubes thus creating an off center operation that led to the fatigue of the shaft. Therefore my post cautioning Briz about the failure of his drive shaft. The tubular shafts are much more rigid than the solid shafts and do not bow during operation if they are run off center. If you have had a poor experience with one of my products, concerns should be addressed directly to me not directed to Speedway Motors. I believe you should retract your statement. **** Spadaro
Hi ****, didn`t know that this is your product , otherwise i would have asked you. I`ll forward it to my friend who has the corkscrew now. But..... The car ran 8years with the same TT before without problems. He went from 10 spline center section to 6 spline QC . Thats the reason for the driveshaft change. The supplied tube is thinner than a 32-34 and has a seam inside...so no DOM. Not really strong in my book He redid the shaft with thicker DOM and is fine now. Engine is a 276 with 3/8 Potvin . Tires are 7.50s stones. Normal no reason to twist a driveshaft, but maybe we drive too hard Hot Rods over here.... We shortend quite a few TT and driveshafts(or made new ones) over here before and this is the only one that failed. So my suggestion then for everybody else is it would be better to contact **** Spadaro direct and order it from him and discuss your needs.
Well, I had the shaft and coupler trued and rewelded, and have beed driving my hot rod all over these past few months. It was driving great, until..... Friday I was driving home and it did THE SAME DAMN THING. I was even close to where it happened before. I guess **** was onto something with the torque tube being out of true, but it looked all good to me. (Im a student machinist, and I asked one of my instructors to check it out and he thought it looked ok.) At least I got to drive it for a while this summer. When I get it pulled apart again ill post what I find.
So I finally got time to pull it apart, and instead of the driveshaft again, its the p***enger side axle. The photo shows it sheared off on the outer end. Right before it broke the second time, a guy offered me a columbia 2 speed rear that he thought would fit it. I replied that, thanks, but I just went through the rear that was in it, so it should be fine for a while, at least. 2 days later its getting towed home, I look the guy up, and made a deal. So, Im gonna put a Columbia in it.
The driveshaft looks perfect. Check out that weld. Pasco Machine did some nice work. When I took the torque tube off to inspect the driveshaft, I noticed something. The speedo drive gear comes off the driveshaft, and is mounted on the torque tube. My new rear is converted to open drive. What have you other guys that converted to open driveshaft done to take care of this?
If you run a 39 style trans, you will also need to get the open drive parts form a 42-up pickup. The rear bearing retainer/mount has a speedo drive built into it.
cool. I may be able to get hold of one of those. By the way, the safety retainers that I installed worked really well, to the point that I didnt know there was a problem with the axle until I actually jacked up the rear and saw the wheel and hub ***emby wobble. Theyre a very good idea for everyone running old banjo rears.
photos crashed and burned, so Ill try it this way: http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u256/brisby_rodbuild/?action=view¤t=brokenaxleshaft.png http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u256/brisby_rodbuild/?action=view¤t=driveshaft.png http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u256/brisby_rodbuild/?action=view¤t=hubretainers.png
<a href="http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u256/brisby_rodbuild/?action=view&current=brokenaxleshaft.png" target="_blank"></a> once more
The Jalopy Journal
