Bender, here is my rebuttal to your comments. First off, if you've had such a good idea as this, why haven't you shared it with everybody???? All I am trying to do is to show alternatives. Other than the $4 seal, and the nut and washer, and the $40 flange, I scrounged all the rest. I expect that anyone that is going to do something of this magnitude will have a drill and can lay hands on a bit and tap. That's like saying that a longarm kit should be quoted with a welder.
As for the powder coating, yes I have a powder coater. This can be done with other types of paint as well as you would have found out from the finished article. I actually used Hammerite on one of the protos. You have to be careful on what paint you use because the ATF will attack many of them.
Yes my idea was motivated by the use of a flange only on the newer t-cases. Those with early model cases don't have that option. They have to buy the casting as well. The hack-n-tap for the early cases is more than $40+ dollars. On the later case, the flange is way too far from the support bearing for my liking.
Yes, I lengthen and shorten drive shafts. It's not called luck, it called expertise and experience. I've been machining and fabing for longer than you have probably been alive. I can get a shaft balanced locally for $42 if I am off a bit. Heck, I can get a shaft shortened and balanced for $110. The biggest thing is to take an already balanced shaft and in the lengthening, keep everything balanced. If you follow a few steps, it can be done without problem. If it vibrates, it is normally because you didn't get it welded straight. That can be tweaked with a torch and water. Notice I said that this is how I do mine, and that it isn't for everybody. It can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Hell, its got to be better than the square tubing solutions that people are building. As for my credentials, I've made my living as a EE/CS/ME and tool and die maker for 35+ years. Heck, you just said it cost you $200 to lengthen a shaft. What I propose is to try it yourself and invest maybe $5 in a piece of chromolly and a bit of time. If it works fine. Maybe all you do is make a trail spare. The worst that happens is that if it vibrates, you can still spend the $200 and have a shop fix it.
Right now, I am trying to nail down exactly what junk yard shafts can be modified without having to hack them. It appears that there are certain Bronco shafts that work quite well. I want to get people thinking out of the box. One of my aims is to get a bunch of guys to start looking at driveshafts from donor rigs in the yards and understand that the ends can be changed to fit.
Maybe to you saving $50 - $100 on a sye or $100 on a shaft isn't a big deal, or being able to say you did it yourself, but to many it is a big deal. So I kindly ask you to back off and let some people learn some things. I'm not selling anything. I'm giving away information. They will get enough info to make an informed decision on what way they want to go.
Yes, this article is probably going to piss off some manufacturers and shops because it is going to take some work away from them. I say, get over it. We live in a world where everybody has to compete and adapt. I am now competing agains't $.50 an hour engineers from China. That is one of the reasons why I do things myself. Money isn't as easy to make as it once was. Bottom line, the guy who is going to do this is the type who doesn't normally pay others to do things for him anyway.
I've been working a deal with a driveline manufacturer to manufacture a different output yoke instead of the companion flange. That way it will bolt to a standard front Cherokee drive shaft. You could then use one shaft as a spare for both front and rear. I don't have the $$$ to fund the purchase of the quantity that the initial order requires. I am not doing this to make any $$$. If we can get a bulk buy going to get a new part setup that can save everybody a lot of $$$ then fine. I would like one myself but that will be some time in the future and what I have proposed is a good workable solution that is definately cheaper that what's out there if the person is willing to scrounge a bit. No this is not an out of the box, slap it on project. That's what makes it fun.
