Aluminum driveshafts

sharq

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tampa Bay
Ive been pondering a lighter driveshaft for my comanche project. Does anyone have any experience? Any donor vehicles anyone can think of? How much of a weight difference would we be looking at here? Is it enough of a weight saving to even worry about?
 
my thoughts are...

if you damage a stocker its a junkyard run $ if you damage a high price unit well... $$$$

i would keep with the stock unit and find something else up high to save weight. drill some speed holes
 
my thoughts are...

if you damage a stocker its a junkyard run $ if you damage a high price unit well... $$$$

i would keep with the stock unit and find something else up high to save weight. drill some speed holes
How am i going to damage a drive shaft on a truck that only sees the street? If i can find a junkyard donor vehicle then its still only a trip to the JY.
 
How am i going to damage a drive shaft on a truck that only sees the street? If i can find a junkyard donor vehicle then its still only a trip to the JY.

one can only assume your using a 4x4 for offroad. but if your on the street go for the gold. why not go for the platinum. if its not risking hitting anything and you want to spend your money on a couple pounds. carbon fiber is your best bet.
 
Ive been pondering a lighter driveshaft for my comanche project. Does anyone have any experience? Any donor vehicles anyone can think of? How much of a weight difference would we be looking at here? Is it enough of a weight saving to even worry about?

Ignore RedChuck.

Aluminum driveshafts can definitely shed some pounds especially on an MJ since the driveshaft is so long.

A lot of newer Ford Vans come with aluminum driveshafts. Much lighter.

I have 0 personal experience with them.
 
one can only assume your using a 4x4 for offroad. but if your on the street go for the gold. why not go for the platinum. if its not risking hitting anything and you want to spend your money on a couple pounds. carbon fiber is your best bet.
Who said anything about a 4x4? This is the Street and Performance forum.

I doubt ill find a carbon fiber driveshaft in the JY.
 
Ignore RedChuck.

Aluminum driveshafts can definitely shed some pounds especially on an MJ since the driveshaft is so long.

A lot of newer Ford Vans come with aluminum driveshafts. Much lighter.

I have 0 personal experience with them.
Ford vans you say. wonder if they'd bolt to an 8.8 without a yoke adapter.
 
I'm pretty sure I saw some aluminum driveshafts sitting around in the ford pickup section of the yard last time I was there, too. Check for one out of a Ranger maybe? I know they use the 7.5" rearend and I think it has the same flange bolt pattern as an 8.8", not sure if it's a single or double cardan at the transfer case end nor what size U-joint is used up there. Probably a 1330, maybe that special ford joint.
 
Who said anything about a 4x4? This is the Street and Performance forum.

I doubt ill find a carbon fiber driveshaft in the JY.

your right you said nothing about the mj you were working on did you? light component = performance on or off street. and you did not say you were specifically looking for JY parts!

still a custom carbon shaft will shed a lot more weight then a alumn so forget me or not i was attempting to help
 
The 8.8 I used for my swap came from a 2wd explorer. a 99 I believe. It came with a long aluminum drive shaft attached to it. cant help you with the length though. i got rid of it.
 
Ive done some research.
A Crown Vic Police Interceptor P-71 has an aluminum driveshaft that is 55.5" long u-joint center to u-joint center and has 1330 u-joints.
My swb 4.0 ax-15 2wd D35 MJ has a 53.125" DS.

Are the close enough in length given maybe 2" or so of lift?

The P-71 DS already has the correct flange to bolt to an 8.8 which i am also planning on swapping in. Only problem then is the correct tranny yoke. Upon further research on ford transmissions i realized the output shaft the yoke would probably be 28 or 31. My AX-15, i believe, has a 27 spline output shaft. A quick search on summit racing's website revealed this yoke http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TCI-967300/ it has the correct spline count for the AX-15 and uses the 1330 u-joint for the P-71 DS.
seems expensive for a yoke but what do i know? Maybe there is a JY donor vehicle.
 
very unlikely - ~2.375" is a lot of difference. You'll probably have to cut it down.

Also, what splines on that yoke? I know the count is the same but is the shaft actually the same diameter, etc? I'm never sure about that. The easy solution is to use your existing yoke and a 1310 to 1330 conversion U-joint for 20 bucks: http://www.justdifferentials.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=414&products_id=2136

Not sure you'll find a P71 in the junkyard, but good luck! And when you pull it make sure you check to see if the guys at the yard managed to brutalize the driveshaft with their forklift. They're good at that.
 
very unlikely - ~2.375" is a lot of difference. You'll probably have to cut it down.

Also, what splines on that yoke? I know the count is the same but is the shaft actually the same diameter, etc? I'm never sure about that. The easy solution is to use your existing yoke and a 1310 to 1330 conversion U-joint for 20 bucks: http://www.justdifferentials.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=414&products_id=2136

Not sure you'll find a P71 in the junkyard, but good luck! And when you pull it make sure you check to see if the guys at the yard managed to brutalize the driveshaft with their forklift. They're good at that.

I was thinking the same thing about yoke diameter. I assume that spline size is a universal standard and that the spline count determines the size because summit doesnt specify a yoke diameter. But you know what they say about assume. I like your idea about using my existing yoke better anyway. I didnt know about the u-joint adapters.

I might have to search for for a P-71 but im going to continue looking at drive shaft lengths to find a better donor. If i can find one that is the correct length and not have one modified the final cost will be just the shaft, the u-joint, and what ever mod if needed for the pinion yoke. If a bolt in donor is found this will be a very feasible swap for everyone looking to shed some easy driveline weight for street/performance applications.

Anyone know where i can find a reference for drive shaft lengths???
 
adapter U-joints are actually pretty cheap - the one I listed is 20 bucks and it's a real dana/spicer (great quality.) You'd probably want to replace the u-joints in a junkyard driveshaft anyways, so the difference is fairly small - a spicer 5-153x (regular 1310 driveshaft ujoint, greasable) is like 13 bucks.

As for driveshaft length references - I seem to recall finding one while wandering around Dana Spicer's website. Not sure exactly where it was. I know the double cardan shaft reference they have is J321-CV.
 
I thought S10 shafts were 2 peice steel shafts but a 2001 S10 extended cab 4WD auto is supposedly 53" from center u-joints and aluminum. This may be my donor. I imagine similar gen/similar drivetrain combo S10's would be the same length or close. With different drivetrain combos I might even find one that is the same exact length as my stock shaft. I doubt an 1/8" difference from my stock shaft will matter too much anyway. I believe this shaft should be about 10 lbs lighter than my stock shaft.

Just in case anyone stumbles on this thread looking for MJ driveshaft lengths, and there are many drivetrain combos and lwb/swb to consider, heres a thread on comancheclub that has all the lenghts: http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20131&hilit=driveshaft
 
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