Ive looked and looked and have more info than I know what to do with. I want to get an Aluminum drive shaft. The stock one is an inch short. I have swapped in a tko 600 and I'm looking at slicks and want a proper length drive shaft.
I know that an aerostar has been a donor in the past and have found guys that have done it in a mustang.
The problem I need help with is the year and length I plan on cutting it and welding just need a good starting place .
I can get one made for $400 but the cars getting painted and I just bought a tremec and now I'm broke so $400 is out for a while
:hick:
Thanks Westie
Crown Vic cop car or taxi drive shaft, cut down, and use the adaptor u joints. Done.
The Aerostar shafts are smaller, and a lot harder to find. 400 dollars to make it, or just to cut down a shaft for you??? I found a place 100 miles from me that'll do em for 75 apiece...
IIRC the AWD aerostar shaft is a direct fit for a stang, not a Tbird. And like I said, the cop/taxi Vics are everywhere...I can nab the shaft for 20 bucks at my local pick n pull.
I got mine from a Crown Vic cop car for free. Performance drivetrain in Oklahoma City took my aluminum drive shaft from the Vic, my yoke and from the Sport's spare drive shaft, and used the adapter u-joints as mentioned above and then a nice cut and balancing and I was good to go. It's 4 inches in diameter, a lot bigger in diameter than the stock shaft, so watch your lers. It weighs a little more than nothing.
400 to make it. What year vic. Cop ones better the local yard has a dozen 2000 ish cop cars ?
Yeah, I think one of the ones I snagged was a 2000, the other was a '98...I think they go back several years, too, 95 to current, for alum. shafts...
I got one it's to short for mine, not sure what year it came from. It's about 4" to short. It may fit a stang though.
What is the stock length of the drive shaft for a bird?
An Explorer aluminum driveshaft will also work, but it to needs to be shortened a little bit, but not much. I think it was either 3/4 or 1 inch too long.
I measured mine today and it was 49" I was having some driveline vibration at higher speeds and traced it to a dent in the driveshaft. I blame Pepboy's since they were the last ones to touch it when they changed my U-joint bearings. I was hoping to upgrade to an aluminum shaft, but I may just order a new stock one since there's no direct fit for our cars.
Mine was cheap to have shortened and balanced, including the new u-joints. Go aluminum.
Ok, you talked me into it, lol. Should I bring anything to the drive shaft shop besides the stocker? Kinda hoping they have the tubing in stock so I don't have to hunt down used parts to be modified.
It would probably be cheaper to get a Crown Vic shaft and take your stocker for the yoke and and have them shorten it more than likely. I had mine done for around $125.00 complete. Not bad. Ask them how much to shorten one and balance it before you have it made from scratch.
what year crown vic should I ask for at the junkyard? does it have to be a police package?
Read the second post in this thread... ;)
Ok, I guess I'll shoot for something late 90's to early 2000's
Not to thread-jack, but Vinnie.... do you recall the specifics on that Explorer shaft that's a touch long? What year, transmission, etc?
I have a front yoke that's a bit short to use with a stock 'bird driveshaft with the 4R70W, so that one might work perfectly with no cutting which would save some cash.
BTW, the shafts I have are 48" center to center on the bearing cups.
The Explorer was a 97 with an automatic, two wheel drive. The shaft length I don't recall, I do remember calling around town to find someone to shorten about an inch or two, but nobody could do it here, so I gave it to a friend (who had the work done in Oklahoma City) and has it in his '67 Stang now. I went through the same place about a year later and had them work over the Vic shaft. Beautiful work, and done in less than 24 hours. I shipped it one afternoon through UPS, they got it the next day and called me a couple of hours later saying it was done. Great people, good at what they do, and super fast. My friend has an Explorer shaft at his house he's going to use in his '68 Stang. I can get the length from him before he has it shortened.
I'd be interested in the explorer info to my stock shaft after the swap is now an inch short?
Thanks
Wow, thanks Vinnie. I wish I still had that good of a memory!
I remember the year because I pulled the heads and intake from it. Got it all for free. Sold the heads and kept the intake.
If you are talking about the 48" TC shaft onto the 4R70W, no it won't be short IF you use the front yoke with the rubber damper ring. I am using ChuckW swap mounts on a TC crossmember, too. YMMV as to where the final resting place of the tranny ends up.
I bought an Ebay yoke that is shorter than the stocker. I am afraid it won't engage enough of the tranny without having a longer driveshaft. If the Explorer one will work I'll probably try to locate one. I have a good shop here (well, an hour drive away) that did the shaft on the TR7. It's perfect and cost 80 beans to shorten and balance.
(YMMV as to where the final resting place of the tranny ends up?)
I'm using the stock k frame and Chucks mounts with them oriented to move the motor back I've looked at it as well as a couple other guys and the set up should push the motor back. my 5 quart FMS pan hit the sway bar and moved the 4cyl T5 forward and inch. Ive swapped to a TKO 600 and a tremec 31spline yoke and I'm afraid with slicks or DR's I could pull it out of the tranny. 3 miles from my house is a good drive shaft place and after the cars together Ill bring it to them to cut and balanced
I'm going to my friends speed shop tomorrow to search through a pile of drive shafts for something I can use. He said a lot of them are 4" diameter, but mostly steel. I weighed My stock 5.0 shaft for comparison and it weighed in at 21lbs. I know an increase in diameter will add more rotational inertia that could counteract any savings in weight, so hopefully i can find something in 3". He also said he has a company he deals with that could build me a carbon-fiber shaft for $900-$1000. Supposedly the last car they put one gained a half second in the 1/4 just from the shaft. The carbon-fiber actually loads up and absorbs a lot of the shock that would normally cause damage to the drive train during a hard launch. I wonder if that loading didn't also help get a cleaner launch.
Just get a flux capacitor...
I looked into it. You'd have to upgrade to a 1.21 gigawatt or better alternator.
Ahh I see....given my pr0neness to lightning, I'd just planned on that, myself.
Say, I'm putting up a clock tower next weekend, anybody wanna help...free lunch and beer lol.
To topic: i have a CVPI shaft to cut down...just have to find time to take it to Kansas City, or box it and ship to Oklahoma.
Beau...check the cost to ship as opposed to the drive and cost of gas and eating. It may be cheaper to ship. IF you need the info to the shop in Oklahoma City (They had mine done and shipped back in less than 24 hours from the time they got it), just let me know. I have it in my notebook.
Well, i got mine done. Ended up going with steel because it was gonna cost too much for aluminum and the guy who makes them told me it wasn't worth it. I ended up paying $200 to have a new one made in 3", including assembly with new bearings.
(http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251525_10150313104168222_579388221_9844192_7956368_n.jpg)
(http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/255124_10150313102763222_579388221_9844182_6663044_n.jpg)
(http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/249468_10150313103113222_579388221_9844187_2616188_n.jpg)
The guy was an artist with the mig welder. I clear coated it to keep that freshly fabricated look.
where do you get adapter u joints? ill see if i can find an aluminum shaft in the junkyard...itd be nice to have a part on the car that wont have to be POR'd to not rust
Any drive shaft shop AND Autozone carry the adapter u-joints.
Be warned that adapter U-joints are weaker than U-joints that have the same span between the caps both east/west AND north/south. I went to the junkyard and found a Crown Vic taxi (Police Interceptor Package) to get an aluminum driveshaft from. Since the Crown Vic had an AOD tranny, I was able to use the front yoke off that car to avoid having to use an adapter U-joint. I couldn't use the rear yoke off the taxi, because the bolt pattern didn't match the bolt pattern on the rear end of my car. Since shops like that have tons of yokes lying around, they gave me a rear yoke that would mate to the rear end in my car and took the rear yoke from the taxi in even exchange. Now I have an aluminum driveshaft without having to use adapter U-joints. If you don't plan on ever putting much power to the ground, using adapter U-joints probably won't come back to bite you in the butt. If you do plan on running sticky tires and making fairly impressive amounts of power though, it would be in your best interest to avoid using adapter U-joints on your car.
Oh yea! Another word of advice. Service-free U-joints are stronger than the ones you CAN grease. If you're worried about strength, that another good bit of advice.
yukon makes some pretty strong conversion joints, i haven't broken 1 yet
Sorry to turn up this old thread, but I found it googling for driveshaft lengths, and this info is HARD to find.
This info is added now for any future google travelers, just to make there lives just a little bit easier.
Explorer aluminum driveshaft (4 door 2wd were only ones with aluminum) = 50.75" long.
Since it was also asked in this thread... 1979-04 Mustang shafts = 45.5" long
And just to top off the Fox body info... a 1978-83 Fox Fairmont driveshaft = 50.5" long.
Hope this helps some future googler, and maybe even someone on the site today!
Dave
Edit: What the heck... here's more.
Crown Vic aluminum shaft = 55.5"
Mark 8 aluminum shaft = 58.2" (However, 93 was the only year for the desireable 1 pc shaft)