Breaking points...

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lowtideride

lowtideride

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Instead of getting another stock drive shaft to carry around on the trail im going to make my own. First i thought i would make it beefy for use on the trail only. But the more i thought about it. i think i rather dent or bust a drive shaft than have a pinion snap off, or put that much stress on the output shaft on the t/c.

So, what are your guys thoughts? I almost feel its better to have a breaking point like a drive shaft or a birf as instead of moving the breaking point to the t-case, pinion, and gears.

thoughts????

-Al
 
Your line of thought makes sense to me (which has me questioning myself :D). Drive shafts are a much easier trail fix, and easier to source than tranny and xfer parts crunching.

I don't have much experience turning big tread. Building your own? Are there balancing/tuning issues that would be a problem without access to specialized equip?
 
I thought it always .. when you go with cromo front set + ARB + 37" + 4.56 + tire chains what broke first .. :O

When you buy an cromo set, it's banner say, first you broke your R&P :D fine, but what's up when your R&P ( presision gear in my case ) banner said, you first broke your axle .. ? jajajajajaa and ARB said, you first broke R&P ..

Obiusly, drive shaft is a most easy repair, but I want drive and enjoy my rig, not repair it on the trail .. :D
 
I figure that the easiest trail repair would be a locking hub.

That's why I am going to keep my weak warn locking hubs rather than 'upgrade' to aisin lockign hubs.

Here's my train of thought....
First of all, I'd rather not break somethign and have to fix it. But if I DO break something,
I'd rather fix a locking hub than a birfield. and I'd rather fix a birfield than a broken pinion.
 
Search big rig and RV outfits for a product called "Driveshaft fuses".
The idea is the flange bolts shear first, saving your d-shaft and the rest of your drivetrain.
If you have a spare set, just get out, put em in, and get on with your trail ride.

This is the route I will be taking when I put the diesel in mine.
 
So how do you determine what size fuse? How do you make it just weaker than the weakest link? Isn't all the modification just an endless loop of stronger R&P, U-joints, Tcase, bigger tires, more power?
 
Here's an idea. Several of our CNC lathes have a special coupling between the axis way motors and the ball screw. The idea is that if you crash it - ie run it into a hard stop that excedes the torque limit of the coupling, it pops loose so you don't break something expensive. What about adding a break away coupling to the drive shaft (or hubs for locked axles) on your Cruiser? It would be similar to the clutch on your cordless drill. Maybe make it adjustable so that if you find it slipping too often, you can turn it up a click or two. What do think? I think it would great if you happen to have a built V8 that can develop big power with a bump of the gas pedal.
 
Cool, but having to replace the fuse bolts looks like a hassle. I want a spring loaded arrangement that resets itself when the load drops - and is adjustable. Man, I love s*** that is adjustable. Tweaking things is way better than being stuck with one setting.
 
60'swag...not a bad idea at all....kinda like it. I wonder how easy it would be to make. the only problem is.. they reason my last drive shaft twisted right off is because i first dented it on a large boulder and after denting it, it became weak not more than a few seconds later the drive shat just twisted in two.

My idea was to make a thicker shaft for the on the trail that would not dent and twist off like a stocker. but the more i got to think about it, busting a pinion off instead of denting a drive shaft doesnt really sound all that smart. So for now i think im gonna build the shaft a tiny bit stronger with 1/8 wall. I rather keep the breaking point the drive shaft when it comes to wacking it off large rocks.
 
I may be wrong, but i really cannot see a driveshaft being the weak link or fuse in a driveline. Only in high horsepower situations should you be able to twist a driveshaft, or after banging on some rocks.

longs and treated inners should due you just fine until you get upwords of 40" tires. I know lots of guys who are running 38.5" SX's on longs alone, and some with longs and chromo inners. Yea, you will pop one eventually. Just make up a square tube for the trail and call it good. I don't see a lot of point in making the driveshaft a weak point.

Why are you worried about breaking your t case?
 
Why are you worried about breaking your t case?[/QUOTE]

2 guys at GSMTR broke theres....and my buddy blew a who in his before.

I still think it is the weak point. becase it is hang out and is rock attracter. Coming up over a large rock or boulder and having you 60 with a fat ass loaded with gear catch a rock on the drive shaft causing it to dent, I think is better then busting a pinion off or messing up your out put shaft on the t-case. Just a thought. But i see what you mean, but that would only hold true if the drive shaft never touched anything.
 
hj60 said:
Search big rig and RV outfits for a product called "Driveshaft fuses".
The idea is the flange bolts shear first, saving your d-shaft and the rest of your drivetrain.
If you have a spare set, just get out, put em in, and get on with your trail ride.

This is the route I will be taking when I put the diesel in mine.
Click to expand...

there is something similar to this on boat propellers, they have shear pins so when you hit a rock, oyster bead or something hard it shears the pin. this save you from destroying your lower gear housing.

Shear pin drive shafts for 4 wheeling might work.
 
Al - excuse me if I missed it, but exactly what caused the Dshaft to blow? If it was contact, then these fuses might not be of any use. If it was torque (you're still 2F, right?), then it could have blown when you needed it most, & all the torque would have shifted to the remaining Dshaft & blown it, too, sending you powerless down a steep slope.

The fuses are intriguing, but I fear the testing & engineering required to select the proper one would be outside the scope of most of us (Waggoner5 excluded, perhaps).
 
the drive shaft twisted in half becuase it dented on a rock, that dent weakened the whole shaft since it was no longer circular.

Tinker,
there is still a front drive shaft and had that been the situation , i would not have been powerless. and Yulp its still has the 2f but, the 2f has smoked the 35s on rocks plenty o times and was starting to when the shaft blew.

My fear was build the shaft to strong would case damage to the pinion or t-case output shaft.
 
I do know what you mean about the long shafts in 60's. I managed to grove a nice line in mine last weekend. Had me worried about the ride home, but managed ok. Homemade shafts are cheap, real shafts are not. I typically carry with me a spare 3rd member. Not all the time but if I'm going wheeling for a weekend I carry it in a bucket and leave it at the camp site. I've got 3 of these in the garage. 3.73 3rds can be had for pretty cheap. Birfs are a bitch to swap, but can be done in 15 min when you get good at it. I have yet (yet being the operative word) to break anything on the trail. I'm not extreme mind you, but Locked front/rear with 35's and stock birfs. I think my front ARB saves me a lot, but becomes a crutch sometimes.

The split case is a strong t/case. In theory you should be breaking birfs / inners far before you break the r/p or output on the t case. If you broke a tcase on the trail that would pose a serious threat to getting off the trail / getting home. If you did try to make a fuse in the driveshaft you may be changing your driveshafts a little more often than you would like, and that would be a drag.

Get some longs / chromo inners and call it good.

Those are my thoughts anyway.
 
Manjanrk,
Good points and i do agree with ya....it was just a disscusion and was wondering what people thought..

but i'll be headin down longs /chromo inners in some time (not a rich dude by any means)
 
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