DIY doube cardan rear driveshaft

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davegonz

davegonz

Keeping it Weird
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I've got major vibes on my rig due to funky driveline angles and was just wondering how hard it would be to take an FJ60 front double cardan shaft and grind off the CV joint then weld it to my shortened rear drive shaft? Is it as straight forward as that? Grind off weld, shorten rear ds, then weld on DC joint? I'd then take it to the drive shaft shop to get it balanced. I have already sourced a double cardan from a local club member.

Who's done this before?
 
Me, I'd take all the parts to a DS guy and let him deal with it- getting the cut square and all that. That's what he does, wouldn't be worth my time to mess with it if it has to go to him anyway to get balanced.

I assume you've already determined that the angles work for a DC shaft.

-Spike
 
Yeah, that's my backup plan. I still need to get some shims to fix the angles on the rear diff.
 
Take it to a driveshaft shop. You'll want to make sure the driveshaft is balanced.
 
getting the cut square is the easiest part,,,, i cut mine with a hacksaw, on the rig with it spinning;), but i dont recommend that. i recommend letting a shop do it since you'll want to get it balanced anyway.
 
x47 on the take-to-a-driveshaft-shop...however, why would you weld part of the new shaft to your old one...will the double-cardan one not just bolt-up to your's (once you get it the correct length ofcourse)?

About taking it to a shop, I talked to the shop I had do mine and they said the hardest part is to get it true..not balanced. You can always balance it, but if it's straight and true then it takes very little to balance it, if it's horribly unaligned then it's never going to be right even if it's technically balanced, just has more weight whipping around, and then more counter-weight whipping around on the other side.
 
Yea it is that easy for a drive shaft shop....

But if you do it yourself your are prolly gonna haev a hard time getting it back together in exactly the right spot as to minimize vibrations in fact if not perfectly centered then what you are experiencing now could be so many time worse. also once its together it will need to be balanced and also watched to ensure all is good.

And personally on something i was gonna daily drive i would really rather have the welds be a nice tig welds but that is a minor concern of mine.

Just take it and let someone else do the drivline work i think it will save you alot of hassle later down the line.
Also have you checked your pinion for play?... if you have been having bad vibrations for a while it can cause excessive wear on the pinion seal, bearings, which can then translate to the carrier.... just something else to think about..... If the pinion or carrier bearing have play it Will cause a vibration that will travel up the shaft and you will feel it.

just my $0.02
 
RHINO said:
getting the cut square is the easiest part,,,, i cut mine with a hacksaw, on the rig with it spinning;)
Click to expand...

"DATELINE: valley of the sunstroke, AZ
Today a local man was killed as he was attempting to cut the driveshaft of his Toyota Land Cruiser in half. The man, whose name is being withheld for reasons that will soon become obvious, was under his truck, with it running, in gear, with the driveshaft turning as he held a hacksaw against it. At the moment that the hacksaw severed the driveshaft the section that was connected to the transfer case flailed wildly hitting the man and severing his...."



Hey man... be careful out there.....
 
woytovich said:
"DATELINE: valley of the sunstroke, AZ
Today a local man was killed as he was attempting to cut the driveshaft of his Toyota Land Cruiser in half. The man, whose name is being withheld for reasons that will soon become obvious, was under his truck, with it running, in gear, with the driveshaft turning as he held a hacksaw against it. At the moment that the hacksaw severed the driveshaft the section that was connected to the transfer case flailed wildly hitting the man and severing his...."



Hey man... be careful out there.....
Click to expand...

LOL! That is too damn funny.

I checked the pinion and I don't feel any play at the moment. I'm going to take the driveline bits and have the shop work on it on Monday.
 
Well, I picked up the front DC driveshaft and the flange that bolts on to the rear output of the transfer case does not match up. Do people swap out the companion flange on the rear output of the xfer when they do this mod???
 
Seems like it would be easier to swap the flange on the driveshaft, but I've never done the mod.
I would think you'd get more advice in a vehicle tech forum, if you need any more.

-Spike
 
Dave-You need a t-case output flange fron an 84 and down split case. Then it matches up. Please note the front and rear flanges are different, so make sure you get a rear. That's way easier than trying to change your driveshaft.

If you do a search under my username, I discussed the early and late flanges at one point in my H55 install.
 
Dave,

Another option is to take the parts you have and give Jess at High Angle a call.
www.highangledriveline.com

He is a great guy to deal with.

Charles
 
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