Shorten front Driveline myself

[Broncoholics]

I know it shouldn't be done but doesn't seem harmfull for a front shaft that doen't get ballanced anyway. Or at least mine never are.

Here's my situation: I need to shorten my front shaft 1" after adding a longer slip yoke.

I grinded off the weld on the tube (slip yoke end). I pulled the pressed in piece off and noticed the wall thickness of the tube was very thin like .095 or less. My thoughts are to replace it with .120 wall which I have. To do this I would need to take both ends and have them milled down to the ID of the .120 wall so they can be pressed back in. The tough part is keeping everything straight when pressing in the ends to reduct future vibrations. I have a chop saw that cuts very accurately. I can see this is the crucial part so it gets pressed on straight. Anything else?

 

[Broncoholics]

Well to answer some of my question the cheap way...I could have cut the driveshaft in the middle, cut out the inch I need and sleeve the works with another tube. This tube has to be a pressed onpiece as well so I need to find a tube that can wrap but also press over the existing. Add a few plug welds and weld both ends.

 

[BLADE262US]

I wouldnt cut it in the middle thats a NO NO . As for the tube thickness the smaller one would be fine its only rotational load that it carries and a U joint will fail before you twist it so I wouldnt worry about that . You could shorten it yourself I have done it . I put the shaft in a lathe and turned down the weld till the end came out then faced it off to the length I wanted ( cant get much more square than that ) Then put the end back in and ran the live center up against it and checked the runout . It was good to go so I then tig welded it right in the lathe came out perfect and is still in service today and that was alot of years ago , Still doesnt vibrate , Something to think about if you have access to the equipment . /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[92 3/4 ton bronco]

The cutting is the easy part. Lining up the ends and the welding espcially the welding are very critical or it will break on the tube since the yokes are much thicker. Also getting it square is very critical or even at such speeds as 35 would tear the crap out of stuff like transfercase bearings and pinon bearings not to mention u-joints.

 

[Broncoholics]

So you think the thin tube is plenty strong for 38" tires locked up?

You mighht be right it just took me by suprise when I cut off the end. Wow thats thin!

Right now I can cut back the tube 1" and press the end back in, reweld it and be done.

I'm thinking since I have the thicker wall tube I should cut the other side off and replace the tube. But then again half is still in alignment. I know if I don't go thicker its going to eat at me (back of my mind) on the trail. I've seen plenty of twisted tubes.

 

[dtwood456]

Broncoholics,

I was curious which way you decided to go with the shortning project. Did you use the larger wall tubing? Just curious

David

 

[Broncoholics]

Haven't done it yet but might over the weekend if I have time. I want to use DOM tube instead of my cheap seamed tube since I'm going to the trouble. I can get a $30 end yoke that fits the DOM tube, have a machine shop cut down the spline end for $20 so I get a good press fit. I'll do the rest. Cheaper than $200 the driveline shop quoted. The easy way would be to cut it down to size weld it back up and sleeve it with thick wall tube. I don't want to do this cause when the driveline hits max droop there is only 1/4" between it and the cross member.

I could cut out some of the cross member but so far I don't need to if I stay the same size tube.

 

[Broncoholics]

OK, after the day is done... I ended up cutting back the same "thin" tube provided, pressed back on and reweld. Its the cheap route and since I have a spare front driveshaft I think I'll use it as a possible fusible link. Its almost as quick as replacing a hub fuse. I run 5:89's and the pinion is the size of a lolly pop. I'm gunna put it to the test soon!

 

[dtwood456]

Let us know the results. Hope it all works the way you plan. Good luck.

David