Broken drive shaft

87soup

F*CK SMOG CHECKS!!!
Jan 23, 2006
864
0
0
Sacramento
So i was driftin it up, and i hear a bagging coming from the bottom of the car right after the center console... I think it is my carrier baring on my drive shaft

It would bang harder in neutral, and faster the car would go, well i drove it home N/E ways and the noise seemed to die off a bit, but the problem is still there.

Im thinking of just replacing that bearing or section of the shaft but i have never done such a thing... Is the bearing or section even replaceable or DO I NEED ANOTHER SHAFT???
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
38,728
0
0
62
I come from a land down under
My "guess" is the rear bonded section has twisted and the Uni's are no longer in line.

Few alternatives here

Get the Bonded section removed making it a true 2 piece

Get a 1 piece shaft from one of the vendors here.

Plenty has been written about shafts on SM it's worth a search so you can make an educated decision.
 

Doward

Banned
Jan 11, 2006
4,245
0
36
Alachua, FL
I just have to ask... N/E? Did you mean 'any'? It's still 3 characters! Is it really that hard to just type out the correct words these days? :3d_frown: Not directed solely at you, just saying...

A one piece may be the way to go for you - research on here, the pros/cons of 1 piece vs 2 piece :)
 

shaftmasters

Vendor
Oct 29, 2007
95
0
0
michigan
www.shaftmasters.com
Doward said:
I just have to ask... N/E? Did you mean 'any'? It's still 3 characters! Is it really that hard to just type out the correct words these days? :3d_frown: Not directed solely at you, just saying...

A one piece may be the way to go for you - research on here, the pros/cons of 1 piece vs 2 piece :)
Last Saturday we did a one-piece aluminum replacement shaft for forum member pirate tip and have one on the way to jdub. Nick(pirate tip) says he is happy with our alumnum replacement shaft and is currently working on a write-up about it to post on this forum. We also could make you a up-graded two-piece shaft. By the way, nick's original two-piece shaft weighed 33 lbs., our one-piece aluminum shaft weighs 11.5 lbs. which is over 20 lbs. less rotational weight. It also eliminates the possible failure of the carrier bearing and the center u-joint. For those who want to stay with the two-piece design we want your opinion. We took Nick's original two-piece shaft which was in fairly good shape and ran it in our balancer. It ran without any vibration until it reached 1500 rpm's at which time the vibration kicked in. Over 2000 rpm's it was showing to have a 1/2 ounce of imbalance at the center location. We than built a aluminum rear shaft using 1310 series performance dynamic u-joints and mated it to Nick's original front shaft. After rebalancing the set they ran great together. Just going with aluminum in the rear reduced 7 lbs. of weight.
Our recomendation to those who want to stay with the two-piece shaft would be to stay with the original front shaft with a new u-joint and carrier bearing and mating it to our new aluminum rear shaft which will have a foam insert inside to greatly reduce if not eliminate any harmonic vibrations. What do you think?
 
Last edited:

drjonez

Supramania Contributor
Mar 31, 2005
3,061
0
0
19
the motor city
www.4cefed.com
IJ. said:
My "guess" is the rear bonded section has twisted and the Uni's are no longer in line.

Few alternatives here

Get the Bonded section removed making it a true 2 piece

Get a 1 piece shaft from one of the vendors here.

Plenty has been written about shafts on SM it's worth a search so you can make an educated decision.

exactly.
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
38,728
0
0
62
I come from a land down under
Robert: The Aluminium Rear on a 2 piece sounds like a great alternative!
(Just wondering how the difference in elasticity between front and rear is going to work out at high HP)

Over the Christmas break I'll look at a design for a full Aluminium shafted 2 piece with a Steel centre section that allows a centre bearing to be used.
 

shaftmasters

Vendor
Oct 29, 2007
95
0
0
michigan
www.shaftmasters.com
IJ. said:
Robert: The Aluminium Rear on a 2 piece sounds like a great alternative!
(Just wondering how the difference in elasticity between front and rear is going to work out at high HP)

Over the Christmas break I'll look at a design for a full Aluminium shafted 2 piece with a Steel centre section that allows a centre bearing to be used.
We believe that this design will hold up with no problem, drjonez is close to us and has offered to test drive our two-piece design. It will be a couple of weeks before he has time to swap them over. We are trying to come up with a cost effective solution that won't send the price sky-high. I believe that any design that includes using aluminum in the front shaft will be extremely expensive and the weight reduction won't be much since the rear shaft greatly outweighs the front shaft because of the rubber element.
Robert
 

87soup

F*CK SMOG CHECKS!!!
Jan 23, 2006
864
0
0
Sacramento
BorHor said:
It is replaceable. I had to replace mine but instead I bought my self a 1 piece steel.

How do you like the 1Pc???

Is it a noticeable difference or is it just a reliable change???
 

BorHor

2JZ-GZE
Jan 10, 2006
6,181
1
38
36
San Jose, CA
Dunno my car is a slow POS so I don't notice any gains but I mainly did it because I didn't want my old DS to go out on me at the track days I attend. I bought my self a JawsGear 1 piece steel.
 

shaftmasters

Vendor
Oct 29, 2007
95
0
0
michigan
www.shaftmasters.com
87soup said:
How do you like the 1Pc???

Is it a noticeable difference or is it just a reliable change???
From the feedback we have received from Mustang(2005-2007), Nissan 240SX and Supra customers we make shafts for, the change is both noticeable and reliable.
Robert
Note:
You can go to this web-site for customer reviews from our Mustang customers which to date have bought the majority of our one-piece replacement shafts.
www.mustangcollective.com and scroll down to our thread under vendors
 
Last edited:

suprahero

naughty by nature
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
14,971
0
36
54
Roll Tide
I still worry about the stories I've read about where a 1piece might fail and end up digging into the road and tearing something up, like.......me. I've been known to race (puts on flame suit) on the highway and I've even went about 155mph, once. I know absolutely nothing about your one piece or anyone elses, but are they safe at higher than normal speeds? Thanks, Jay
 

shaftmasters

Vendor
Oct 29, 2007
95
0
0
michigan
www.shaftmasters.com
suprahero said:
I still worry about the stories I've read about where a 1piece might fail and end up digging into the road and tearing something up, like.......me. I've been known to race (puts on flame suit) on the highway and I've even went about 155mph, once. I know absolutely nothing about your one piece or anyone elses, but are they safe at higher than normal speeds? Thanks, Jay
Jay,
I appreciate your concern but if your traveling at those speeds I'd be equally as concerned with the failure of the two-piece shaft as well. I have seen many failures from carrier bearings on two-piece shafts. A safety loop is definitely in order for you or anyone going that fast. We are developing a improved two-piece design if that is what you perfer.
 

suprahero

naughty by nature
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
14,971
0
36
54
Roll Tide
I think I'm leaning towards your one piece, but I just wanted to ask the question since I'd heard about them digging in or whatever. I don't make it a habit of driving over 75, but when someone thinks their vette, or mustang is quicker, I got sum splainin to do................:biglaugh:

Thanks for your quick response and I'll be talking with you later.
 

drjonez

Supramania Contributor
Mar 31, 2005
3,061
0
0
19
the motor city
www.4cefed.com
suprahero said:
I still worry about the stories I've read about where a 1piece might fail and end up digging into the road and tearing something up, like.......me. I've been known to race (puts on flame suit) on the highway and I've even went about 155mph, once. I know absolutely nothing about your one piece or anyone elses, but are they safe at higher than normal speeds? Thanks, Jay

what sort of stories are these? internet stories?

i'm astounded that people really believe this- Al driveshafts have been used in OEM applications for YEARS. shafts that are MUCH longer than the A70 shaft....and many with much thinner tubing.

if you're doing such racing, you need to have ANY driveshaft you use verified and balanced up to the speed you'll be using it (do you really believe your 20+ yr old shaft is still balanced?!?!). as well has have a driveshaft loop or two installed.