Anyone here ever built your own driveshaft, the round ones not the reciever hitch ones? I just put a crawler box on my truck and want to go wheeling tomorrow. Is it safe to just cut the tube and add six inches then just arc weld the but joints back up? I would be doning this on my garage floor, any chance it will come out straight? Anyone have any tricks?

can you do it? yes. will it come out straight? probably not. will it work for one day? maybe, if you dont mind losing all the fillings oin your teeth. it wont be very strong at all, either. the only way i can see it working *MAYBE* is if you sleeved it too. but thats a lot more work. just like calling up Jesse is and not going wheeling tomorrow. :rolleyes:

Give up the idea of but welding it, it won't hold, and there is no way you will get it straight enough for even a temporary fix. Your only chance is to completely replace the tube. Just grind out the welds on the fittings on both end, and weld them to a new piece of suitable tube while taking your time and making lots of measurements. Even then, you need to be a good welder to have a chance at good results. The fact that your considering a but welded extension suggest you probably shouldn't try, but I could be wrong. I've never done that (replace the tube) but I have successfully cut several inches out and rewelded one by grinding the original welds off the yoke, cutting the tube, and welding the yoke back in.

I Did my own on my Blazer but i used longer shafts and shortend them.This is easier to get straight if you are careful and take your time.My came out pretty good.I have a little vibe in the rear but that could be the swampers.I have no problem doing 70Mph on the highway.I don't drive this very often though only for wheeling.Trying to but pieces together will probally come out off and vibrate hard.If you added a crawler box than why are you lengthening it?I would think you would need to shorten it.Or did you lift it also?Blazin:rasta:

My guess is he is talking about a front shaft. Since it won't be spinning on the highway (at speed) he might be able to do a passable job if he cuts the ends out and replaces the tube with a longer piece. I wouldn't hesitate to do it (retube) on the front. The rear is a different matter and I would have a shop do it rather than spend the time to get it right.

Do It...go wheeling

A couple years ago a bud roached the rear shaft in his cj down in tellico, we got it home late at night and the only spare he had was about 1" larger dia. and only had one yoke that would fit. Trying to run what we brung, we slipped one shaft into the other and used plastic silverware for shims while we filled the gap with a mig welder. He beat the crap outta that shaft for about 4 days (running 18x39.5 boggers) before it finally broke...

Try to sleeve it

Go for it, if it is a front shaft.

Will it be optimum? No. How well it works depends entirely on skill (though luck can't hurt). You CAN butt-weld if the tubing is thick enough -- there's a Scout running around Northern California still sporting a driveshaft I butted together. For a front driveshaft, it was good enough.

IMHO, this is a short-term solution, but the guy driving the truck was happy enough with it to keep it. Not the way I'd do it, but different strokes for different folks.

Randii

Maybe I'm just biased from running V8s in Full Sizes with 35"+ tires (I just realized the original poster has a Toy) but I would never even consider trying a "but welded" shaft, even in the front. I've twisted several good shafts (read - OEM or built by shops) myself and seen many others twisted into pretzels. With a light-weight rig, not too much power (or very light foot), and tires/gears matched correctly (to reduce stress on the shaft), I guess I might try it for a single outing (as long as the trail wasn't too insane). In the same rig, I might even attempt to run a sleeved shaft for a while for a "work in progress" where you don't want to waste money on multiple shafts while you progress kind of thing. However, these are just my opinions. Obviously others seem to have done this successfully so maybe I'm just overly cautious. I REALLY hate walking and wasting time dealing with trail breakage. Good luck whatever you do, just make sure your prepared to deal with the consequences...

Made a temp shaft for a buddies beater once. Cut a junkyard shaft right in the middle, then bolted the two pieces up to measure how long it should be with the slip yoke in the middle of its travel. We found a piece of schedule 80 pipe with an ID close to the shafts OD and cut it to length so that the ends were right at the welds of the yoke/slip joint. Throw it on a table so the u-joints are in phase and weld the sucker. Turned out pretty strong and as far as I know he's still running it in that piece of crap.:D For a front shaft of a temp rear, go for it, but if its a rear and you run it on the road it'll probably shake like an epeleptic break dancer.

if its just for a day and dosn't have to survive high speeds then yes it will work. when I was young and stupid (as opposed to my old and stupid self now) I rolled up some newspaper to stick into the shaft and hold it straight while I but welded it together, it held up ok to wheeling but vibrated at higher speeds, you would be better off finding a piece of pipe that would fit inside to keep it straight.

Lay it inside the V part of a piece of angle iron to help hold it straight.

85toyboy--- Over the years I've done that 3 times. No breakage issues yet. The "trick" is like what JEEPRZ said and that is to use a straight piece of angle iron for alignment like about 3x3 or 4x4 stuff...set the pieces in there and lightly clamp in place then MIG tack all the way around then finish welding then grind high spots off as necessary. I have done this to 2 front Yota shafts(adding a 6" piece in and once to the rear of some kids driveshaft that needed it right away and did not want to spend money. I told him it was not designed as a permanent fix and it might vibrate at highway speeds...so I hear back from some of his friends that it has no highway vibs. Got lucky!
I see no probs doing this to front driveshafts.....hell, my front presently has a 6" piece added in the middle now for 2 years.

Originally posted by ZUK
I see no probs doing this to front driveshafts.....hell, my front presently has a 6" piece added in the middle now for 2 years.

LOL, same here, 2 years and counting. I've yet to find a reason to replace it either.

If you put a nice full penetration bead on the joint, it will be just fine. You put a big ugly bugger weld, well, it likely won't last.

here's an article from the OTT site i read a while back, haven't personally done it, but it sounds good in theory.

ott driveshaft link (http://www.ottindustries.com/Driveshaft_fun.html)

- jack

Just to give a little more info, it is in my trailered 85 toy extended cab on 35"boggers with marlin crawler and 5.29 gears. I lost my job on Friday and don't really have the money to spend to get shop built shafts made up. The rear shaft needs to be shortened 6" due to the new double transfer case. The shaft is a two piece with a carrier bearing that I was thinking I would eliminate and but weld the tubes back together. Esentially making a one piece shaft. The front needs 6" added on to it. I may go to a junkyard tomorrow and find a one piece rear shaft to shorten up. On the front, I'm going to find some tube that will fit over it and but weld the 6" chunk on then sleeve it with the larger tube. Or that was my plan. The truck is trailered to major trails and I will probably have a shop build professional ones for my run to the hammers in April. Hopefully I'll have another job by then.