Lengthening drive shaft

[ShuDuck]

First, spacers are gay So this is an easy way of lengthening your drive shafts. You might get away with out a lathe if you don't drive high speeds. these where very close to perfect with just lining them up on the male part


Split a stock female end in two, just made a groove to follow with a 1mm disc angle grinder




40mm of splines is acceptable contact area



this is 30mm stretched



correct diameter tube with holes for plug welds (80mm long)




tacked and checked in the lathe

[ShuDuck]

Plug welded and checked again on the lathe





Stock and lengthened 30mm complete


both done, all they need is prep and paint

[Mope]

Nice.... Another good use for a lathe! If ya needed to drive fast, it probably wouldn't run too much to have them balanced.

Good work!

[Hvy_Chevy]

why not cut the tube portion and lengthen that like most other shops do?

[toykilla5150]

You can use schedule 40 pipe as it avalable in the same size. Its just another way to get a job done at home cheap!

I LOVE IT

[ShuDuck]

Originally Posted by Hvy_Chevy

why not cut the tube portion and lengthen that like most other shops do?

The tube portion is balanced as it is made of three parts which is hard to get straight(the little tacked on parts is weights to balance them). The female part is machined out of one part which makes it balanced. Lengthened the tube part it would need balancing . I have no vibes with these

[cajunsuzukispider]

I did a similar thing with mine, but I didn't use a tube over the two splined pieces. I just welded the two together and they held fine. but that's a good job there.

[1madzuk]

Done them with sch. 80 pipe. No balance and no vibs. This is what Trail Tough does. After breaking one of there's . I cut it apart and we made our own.

[skyman6529]

I have a few extra female yoke ends here, I will be making my extended drive shafts the same way.

Trail Tough sent 2 1" spacers for the front shaft, IMHO it's about an inch shorter working properly. After two trail runs setup as TT recommends the female end of the drive shaft became loose and started making a hell of a noise at 25mph or greater.

I am wanting to move the front axle forward one in with the extra perch hole and get rid of one spacer, so I will need to extend the shaft by 3 inches(with a 1" spacer to clear the crossmember) to make it work properly. I'm thinking this may be possible like you built yours, If notI will have to add two yokes together to make it work.

Thanks again,
--Sky

[supazuk94]

good way to gain a few inches on the shaft..

[purevil71]

Originally Posted by supazuk94

good way to gain a few inches on the shaft..

Thats sig worthy right there....

[cajunsuzukispider]

also, don't worry about getting rid of that balancing weight. a good driveshaft shop can get the shaft to within .001" of perfectly concentric and no weights will be necessary. the oem's only use weights to balance it cuz they make these driveshafts at high production volumes and don't spend the time getting it perfectly concentric. my driveshaft guy in lafayette, la does large truck driveshafts too and does great work. after centering everything perfectly before welding and checking it with a dial indicator to make sure it's within .001", he then heats and cools it strategically to make it perfect and it needs no balance weights.
a good shop should already be familiar with these steps.