Giggity giggity.
Now that that's out of the way.....
What is an acceptable length for a 2-3/4" diameter driveshaft?
I have short-boxed a Chevy truck frame, and need a shorter driveshaft. Because the OEM driveshaft is "stepped", I need to re-tube the shaft.
The weld yokes have 2-3/4" ends on them, but the driveshaft needs to be 56-1/4" long. My gut feels like this is too small, and I should just get some 3" weld yokes.
What sayest thou?
Sounds either too long, or too skinny to me. I shortened a 69 pickup once, and ended up using a very short front half, with a center bearing. That truck had the trailing arm/coil spring setup, so there wasn't much choice in that case.
I'd hit the wreckers, and find a larger, longer shaft I could cut down.
A driveshaft is a tubular beam, has to be stiff enough to resist high speed 'whip'. Max bending will occur in the middle, that's why OEM can get away with smaller yoke ends than the tube, no bending there. As long as the yokes can handle the torque and fit the UJ, no problem.
OTOH, if you are going to cut anyway, or go custom, get the ones you want.
Dropped off the original driveshaft at Coast Powertrain. They said they'd just make a new one using 3.5" tube, new ends and all that. That's fine.
I ~did~ spend a couple hours at the local Pick-And-Pull with a tape measure, only to find ALL the driveshafts bent from the forklift. Nice.
I hate the carrier bearings on those - too $$$ and not very stout. The 80s and 90s used a very large diameter aluminum piece that could be shortened, but is the exact length needed for a long wheelbase from the 67-72 era. You could shorten one of those, but I see that you've already solved your issue.
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