So what did you do with your truck today?

[KansasIDI]

The driveshaft felt OK last night for a mile on our (bad) dirt roads. Today I took it out on the highway and as soon as I got to 25 mph I felt a vibration I didn't like (and didn't want a repeat of U-joints and yokes forcibly divorcing). I took the shaft back off and ran it over to Driveline Services.
They just called and said "it's bent just about every way a shaft can be bent"... two weld yokes, piece of tubing, reusing my new U-joints and slip yoke, labor, taxes... $314 It's gone up a bit since the last time I had a shaft made!

What in the… I was quoted $1200 to fix my driveshaft, and $800 for a new one! Guess I got ripped off…

 

[ISPKI]

What in the… I was quoted $1200 ti fix my driveshaft, and $800 for a new one! Guess I got ripped off…

Was it made of aluminum? Or Gold? My local speed shop built me a new shaft for 370$ with a warranty just last year.

 

[DrCharles]

I had already bought two new U-joints @ $33 each and a front yoke for $105, about what the shop charges, so this would have been closer to a $500 job for the complete shaft

 

[KansasIDI]

Was it made of aluminum? Or Gold? My local speed shop built me a new shaft for 370$ with a warranty just last year.

No I just wanted a steel 2 piece 1330 stock style driveshaft…

They must have thought I said titanium, I have a 1-piece titanium driveshaft on my Dodge, previous owner said it cost $1300 for that…

 

[rreegg]

No I just wanted a steel 2 piece 1330 stock style driveshaft…

They must have thought I said titanium, I have a 1-piece titanium driveshaft on my Dodge, previous owner said it cost $1300 for that…

Wow no kidding that's cool about the Ti driveshaft, any specific reason or benefit for it?

 

[DrCharles]

Compared to a steel tube: Lighter, stiffer, stronger?

 

[KansasIDI]

Wow no kidding that's cool about the Ti driveshaft, any specific reason or benefit for it?

He knew a guy… and needed a driveshaft… supposedly the last one you’ll ever need… if Ti…

 

[IDIBRONCO]

supposedly the last one you’ll ever need… if Ti…

I call B S on that one. I've know a few people who would have that thing tore up in a year or less. Not that they drove like sane people or ever had a vehicle last them very long. The youngest one, I KNOW for a fact that he had more vehicles by the time that he graduated high school than I had by the age of 35. That's not counting his parents' that he tore up and probably some driven by friends too.

 

[KansasIDI]

I call B S on that one. I've know a few people who would have that thing tore up in a year or less. Not that they drove like sane people or ever had a vehicle last them very long. The youngest one, I KNOW for a fact that he had more vehicles by the time that he graduated high school than I had by the age of 35. That's not counting his parents' that he tore up and probably some driven by friends too.

Idk. I think that driveshaft must have been put on long ago, as I was quoted $3700 for a Ti driveshaft for Duchess, my 86

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Well Ti is expensive, so I guess I can see that.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

The driveshaft felt OK last night for a mile on our (bad) dirt roads. Today I took it out on the highway and as soon as I got to 25 mph I felt a vibration I didn't like (and didn't want a repeat of U-joints and yokes forcibly divorcing). I took the shaft back off and ran it over to Driveline Services.
They just called and said "it's bent just about every way a shaft can be bent"... two weld yokes, piece of tubing, reusing my new U-joints and slip yoke, labor, taxes... $314 It's gone up a bit since the last time I had a shaft made!

Haha, that's at least a $700 fix in the Seattle area. So don't feel ripped-off! But at least you're getting it done right and can have peace of mind and a smooth ride for many years to come.

 

[ISPKI]

Titanium driveshaft would probably be a 6AL-4V alloy (thats alloyed with ~6% Aluminum and ~4% Vanadium for additional strength amongst other things), one of the most commercially available (cheapest) formulations of Titanium. This grade of Titanium has mechanical properties (tensile and yield strength, hardness, etc) similar to hardened medium carbon steel (1060ish range), with the primary possible downside being a noticeably reduced elastic modulus - that is to say, it cant stretch as much without permanently deforming.

At the same time, Titanium weighs almost 50% less than carbon steel. A driveshaft could be made 25% thicker, which would likely makeup for the reduce elasticity while being noticeably stronger in every other mechanical category than a standard steel driveshaft. I am assuming driveshafts are made of some kind of really generic low carbon steel but I dont actually know. Might have to test some of the shafts that I have in my shop. Assuming they are low carbon annealed steel seamless tubing, that would mean a titanium shaft of the same wall thickness should be noticeably stronger across the board while weighing about half as much.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Titanium driveshaft would probably be a 6AL-4V alloy (thats alloyed with ~6% Aluminum and ~4% Vanadium for additional strength amongst other things), one of the most commercially available (cheapest) formulations of Titanium. This grade of Titanium has mechanical properties (tensile and yield strength, hardness, etc) similar to hardened medium carbon steel (1060ish range), with the primary possible downside being a noticeably reduced elastic modulus - that is to say, it cant stretch as much without permanently deforming.

At the same time, Titanium weighs almost 50% less than carbon steel. A driveshaft could be made 25% thicker, which would likely makeup for the reduce elasticity while being noticeably stronger in every other mechanical category than a standard steel driveshaft. I am assuming driveshafts are made of some kind of really generic low carbon steel but I dont actually know. Might have to test some of the shafts that I have in my shop. Assuming they are low carbon annealed steel seamless tubing, that would mean a titanium shaft of the same wall thickness should be noticeably stronger across the board while weighing about half as much.

Since I've never had a vehicle with enough power to tear up a driveshaft, I'll just go along with all of this.

 

[XOLATEM]

Might have to test some of the shafts that I have in my shop.

That would be great....keep us posted...since you probably don't have to landscape right now...

By the way...didn't you say you were going to whack off a small chunk of your ZTM and analyze it...? You could do that while you are at it...

Happy Holidays...

On the driveshaft thing....the one driveshaft I had made up in the 80's for my street-and-strip car vibrated like hell....probably would have gone faster if my poor engine didn't have to fight the drag...

Had someone else try to balance the thing but it didn't get any better...and it was not a problem with the mounts or positioning...

I had another factory driveshaft in an AMC that would toss U-joints...

The one really great driveshaft I had was a Ford aluminum shaft...now..that one delivered the goods and improved performance...

One day I might treat myself to a good driveshaft...but I have been avoiding it because I lost confidence in people actually doing what they promise...

Anybody got any recommendations for a good driveline fab shop..?

 

[DrCharles]

On the driveshaft thing....the one driveshaft I had made up in the 80's for my street-and-strip car vibrated like hell....probably would have gone faster if my poor engine didn't have to fight the drag...

Had someone else try to balance the thing but it didn't get any better...and it was not a problem with the mounts or positioning...

Hmm... sounds like your rear gears were low enough (numerically higher) that your shaft reached the critical speed? No amount of balancing will prevent it from going nuts then. If that was the problem, a larger diameter tube (or thicker, or both) is the answer.