DeadSkunk  (Warren)
DeadSkunk (Warren) PowerDork
10/18/20 2:50 p.m.

As the title says, have you? I need a drive shaft for my Challenge car and I've got one from a Ford truck that's too long, so I've had thoughts of doing it myself.........but I'm certainly not comfortable with the idea. Alternative is to try and find one in the junkyard that is close enough , which hasn't worked yet, and use hybrid U-joints to connect one end to a GM transmission and the other to the Ford rear end.

bearmtnmartin
bearmtnmartin SuperDork
10/18/20 3:04 p.m.

When I was doing engine swaps as a kid I sure had no money for fancy machine shops! Grind the weld off the yoke and clean it up , shorten with a good chop saw and make sure your cut is true, slide the yoke back on and tack it. Figure out a way to check with a dial indicator for run out. (might have to tack it a couple times.) And when you are happy weld it up. The faster you plan to go the truer it should be. I remember putting a couple of them back in the transmission and using a steady bearing to spin it up to check for runout but that was 35 years ago so I am fuzzy on details. Maybe someone has a less bush league method for you. 

Trent (Generally supportive dude)
Trent (Generally supportive dude) PowerDork
10/18/20 3:04 p.m.

I shortened the driveshaft in the Falcon. I cut off 6 inches with the bandsaw, trued it up with a square and a grinder, tapped in a t5 yoke that I got from Dennys driveshaft, verified it was true with a dial indicator and welded it in place. The whole operation took all of 30 minutes and it worked fine for 10k miles. I never even got around to having it balanced. 

It isn't rocket surgery 

Peabody
Peabody UltimaDork
10/18/20 3:06 p.m.

I have.

I cut it off at the length I wanted, machined the old shaft tube off the yolk, pressed it back in to the cut section and arc welded it back together. It withstood 350+ HP for a few years

Vajingo
Vajingo Reader
10/18/20 3:28 p.m.

I got circumcised a while back, does that count?

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
10/18/20 3:31 p.m.
Vajingo said:

I got circumcised a while back, does that count?

Did you do it yourself?

Add me to the club. The driveshaft shortening club, not the self-circumcision club. I don't recall if I used a chop saw, but it was mostly just a lot of careful measuring. Took to get balanced and the very sceptical machinist was surprised at how true it was.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
10/18/20 3:33 p.m.

Here are my notes from the time, March 2010: 

 

After a lot of measuring and calculating and measuring again, I cut the driveshaft in half. This was a fairly painstaking cut, as I wanted to make sure it was completely square to the shaft itself. Once that was done, I spent some noisy quality time with the grinder removing the weld off the yoke for the pinion end so I could insert it back into the shortened shaft. More measuring with my new, shorter shaft and I cut off another 0.75". The yoke was an extremely tight fit into the tube, but I was able to coax it in eventually with the assistance of a precision 3lb sledgehammer and some careful placement. 
Then I said "hang on a second", double-checked and removed the yoke again. I had it 90 degrees out of phase with the front one, they're supposed to be in phase. Out came the hammer again. When I test-fit the final result in the car, it was all sunshine and happiness in the shop. I'd been aiming for 0.75" to 1" of slip, and I ended up with 0.875". Right in the middle.
To avoid any nasty vibration problems down the road, I took the result to a local driveline shop for alignment, welding and balancing. He checked to see if the yokes were aligned, and was impressed to see that I'd managed to line them up perfectly. I think I was 0.5 degrees off, but apparently this is not a problem!

DeadSkunk  (Warren)
DeadSkunk (Warren) PowerDork
10/18/20 3:35 p.m.
Vajingo said:

I got circumcised a while back, does that count?

I don't know....how much did they shorten it?

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude)
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) MegaDork
10/18/20 4:11 p.m.

I built the drive shaft for the B210 from scratch using CV joints and home built adapters. I used a lathe to keep everything straight. It survived a lemons race without being balanced and with no vibration. Be careful and it can be done.

Vajingo
Vajingo Reader
10/18/20 4:19 p.m.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
Vajingo said:

I got circumcised a while back, does that count?

I don't know....how much did they shorten it?

Couple inches

Patrick (Forum Supporter)
Patrick (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
10/18/20 4:38 p.m.

We did one before chop saws by using a hose clamp to guide the hacksaw through the tube.  It worked fine and i have used the same method for shortening axle tubes

Sine_Qua_Non
Sine_Qua_Non SuperDork
10/18/20 4:53 p.m.

Volvo clearinghouse is a pro at this. 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
10/18/20 6:00 p.m.
Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

We did one before chop saws by using a hose clamp to guide the hacksaw through the tube.  It worked fine and i have used the same method for shortening axle tubes

I think I may have used a hacksaw myself. I wrap a piece of paper around the tube to give a nice straight line. 

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter)
KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
10/18/20 6:09 p.m.


 

Be careful shortening it.  If you don't get it square and keep cutting it shorter it ends up looking like this. wink

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
10/18/20 8:56 p.m.

If you set the engine far enough back, you only need one u-joint.

2GRX7
2GRX7 Reader
10/18/20 9:36 p.m.

A mustang owner at the Challenge had a great idea for widening his steel wheel that you could apply here.

 He basically made a vertical jig that placed a grinder with a cut-off wheel at a 45 degree angle to his cut line on the wheel. The wheel was attached to a vertical spinal on the jig. As he spun the vertical wheel, the 45 degree angle cut into the steel wheel allowed for not only a very straight cut, but a "seat" that located the widening band (also with a 45 degree edge).

He said he didn't have to add weights! 

DeadSkunk  (Warren)
DeadSkunk (Warren) PowerDork
10/19/20 7:12 a.m.

In reply to 2GRX7 :

I'm not too worried about my ability to cut the tube square, it's more a concern about cleaning up the yoke and getting it all welded straight. Then the concern becomes how much it might vibrate. That bevel cut idea might make it easier to get straight though.

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude)
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) MegaDork
10/19/20 7:43 a.m.
2GRX7 said:

A mustang owner at the Challenge had a great idea for widening his steel wheel that you could apply here.

 He basically made a vertical jig that placed a grinder with a cut-off wheel at a 45 degree angle to his cut line on the wheel. The wheel was attached to a vertical spinal on the jig. As he spun the vertical wheel, the 45 degree angle cut into the steel wheel allowed for not only a very straight cut, but a "seat" that located the widening band (also with a 45 degree edge).

He said he didn't have to add weights! 

This is how I cut the tube for the B210 driveshaft. I spun it in a lathe as I cut it with a grinder. I also did all the welding in the lathe. No balance needed.

 

DeadSkunk  (Warren)
DeadSkunk (Warren) PowerDork
10/19/20 8:49 a.m.

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Aside from tacking it, did you continuously weld around it, or jump around?

Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter)
Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
10/19/20 8:52 a.m.

Yes, basically used most of the tricks above me. 

ShawneeCreek (Forum Supporter)
ShawneeCreek (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
10/19/20 12:04 p.m.

Don't forget to maintain the relative alignment of the u-joints at either end. You don't want to get them out of phase and cause vibrations.

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude)
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) MegaDork
10/19/20 6:26 p.m.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Aside from tacking it, did you continuously weld around it, or jump around?

Tacked in three places, checked for straightness with a dial indicator and adjusted as necessary with a rubber mallet. Heavily tacked 3 more places and checked again. If it was good, I welded it solid in one pass.

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