Drive shaft?

[DeamonCharger]

So, one of the standard mods I used to do on a mustang was go from a steel drive shaft, to an aluminum DS. What are ours made of, and would it be worth swapping it out for a lighter DS?

[BMWDON]

Did you ever actually see acceleration gains from a aluminum drive shaft swap in your mustangs? I know it lightens the rotating weight, but it's not a 20-22" rim, it's only 3-4" diameter right? I honestly don't know since I've never done a drive shaft swap before.

[FloridaRT]

The half shafts are so short that I don't see any advantage of going to a lighter metal, besides - no one makes any for our cars, do they?


Update: I was thinking about half shafts, NOT the driveshaft.
My error.........must have been half asleep on this one.

Having a senior moment.......:-)

Bob

[BMWDON]

The half shafts are so short that I don't see any advantage of going to a lighter metal, besides - no one makes any for our cars, do they?

Bob

Half shaft or drive shaft? I think the OP was talking drive shaft?

[Carfinish]

Half shaft or drive shaft? I think the OP was talking drive shaft?

what he means is that our drive shaft is made up of 2 seperate pieces....half shafts....yep 2 pieces.....

Aluminum drive shaft are all about saving weight and that is pretty much it.

For our cars not practical because of one half(rod) of the setup...not typical shaft you think about with one diameter tube through out shaft. Has Universal joint right above the suitcase muffler....one half is like the typical drive shaft all know and the other half is like a steel rod.

[BMWDON]

go from a steel drive shaft, to an aluminum DS.

what he means is that our drive shaft is made up of 2 seperate pieces....half shafts

So what would you call the piece that goes from the back of the trans to the diff? I know what an axle or a halfshaft is, I always called the piece that connects the trans to the diff/pumpkin a driveshaft, and folks replace plenty of those with an aluminum drive shaft to drop weight. I've never done it personally, and I would assume it saves on vehicle weight, but the diameter is only 3-4 inches for most road cars I think, rotating mass couldn't be saved by much switching to a lighter material could it? That's why I asked, I want to know if his mustangs ever actually saw gains by switching the drive shaft out.

http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/html/hd_aluminum.html

[BMWDON]

what he means is that our drive shaft is made up of 2 seperate pieces....half shafts....yep 2 pieces.....

Aluminum drive shaft are all about saving weight and that is pretty much it.

For our cars not practical because of one half(rod) of the setup...not typical shaft you think about with one diameter tube through out shaft. Has Universal joint right above the suitcase muffler....one half is like the typical drive shaft all know and the other half is like a steel rod.

Ahhh....now I see your edit....

[Super T]

For what it's worth, people have been problems with Ram's... they have Al driveshafts and a couple people have reported shattering theirs... something about improper heat treatment and the resonant frequency of the shafts can be hit at the right speed. You'd be looking at a custom shaft for the LX though. Due to the U-joint in the middle I don't know how much weight you could actually save, unless you could do away with it due to modified exhaust.

[aries4life]

All of the driveshafts I've taken off have been lightweight to begin with. They were hollow not solid. Doesn't seem like you would save much weight (a couple of pounds) before you weakened the shaft or created a problem with high speed operation.

[Hemi31]

Only thing I can see is ditching the two piece shaft for a 1 piece.That center bearing is a nightmare waiting to happen.

[CVP33]

Some guys did this with their CTS-V's on the Caddy forum. They converted a two piece to one piece. The driveshaft was cryogenically frozen for added strength and cost in excess of $1,000. Don't know that it was lighter, but it was a helluva lot stronger.

[Hemi31]

Some guys did this with their CTS-V's on the Caddy forum. They converted a two piece to one piece. The driveshaft was cryogenically frozen for added strength and cost in excess of $1,000. Don't know that it was lighter, but it was a helluva lot stronger.

That's crazy.....I would rathe get a custom shaft made out of heavier tube than pay that kind of money for Cryo.I have had lots of driveshaft's custom built and they run half that.

[Super T]

^^What he said, a custom shaft rated for 700-800hp shouldn't run more than $600-$700 tops... not for the older cars anyway, I can't imagine ours would be different unless we have funky lobes on 'em.

[DeamonCharger]

I guess If I wanted to save weight, I wouldn't have gone with the 22's either...lol. I just figured we could get a little less unsprung weight out of a lighter DS. I didn't know they were made in two segments. We could always go for some CF drive shafts!!!