One piece driveshaft questions?

[jefferson]

I wanted to see what you guys have to say about this and what reservations you have. I have a driveline shop in town that can make a one piece driveshaft for me. I am pretty sure they don't do chromoly so it would have to be a regular steel driveshaft. I am pretty sure the longer the shaft the larger diameter the shaft has to be.

I am trying to get rid of a driveshaft rumble and instead of having 3 u-joints and a carrier bearing, I could get by with just 2 joints. Should lose some weight in the process too. I would love to do a light weight aluminum one, but that isn't in the budget.

Jeff

[Legacy777]

Sounds like you just need to either replace the u-joints and/or have the drive shaft balanced.

Regarding the long driveshaft, personally I would not want a driveshaft of that length to be unsupported. The center section where the carrier bearing and middle u-joint is located provides some lateral stiffness/support as well as supports it vertically. To make the driveshaft beefy and rigid enough, the size and weight will likely need to be increased, which for the size of these cars is going to be detrimental.

I'm not sure if the stock driveline is perfectly straight at that middle joint/section. If it's not, by going to a one-piece driveshaft, it's going to hang down lower and may cause interference issues with the exhaust.

Just my thoughts....