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sqaure driveshaft?? anyone?

D

drbobxj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Hemet, CA
Hey, just looking around on a toy forum, found a sqaure shaft. Has anyone made a sqaure shaft for the XJ??

If not is there a problem with it? I'm thinking of doing it, I need a longer one in the rear and I'm too cheap for a tom woods.. so I'm thinking of a RE hack N' tap, with a square shaft, using a front shaft CV, and U-joint. What do you all think? good Idea or bad?
 
Trail rig only, or street driven?

Good theory, but I can see it being hard to balance.

Make sure you weld the yokes on in phase.
 
Dirk Pitt said:
Trail rig only, or street driven?

Good theory, but I can see it being hard to balance.

Make sure you weld the yokes on in phase.
Click to expand...

that and the strength would drop a lot...

going from 27 splines to 4...
 
XJ_ranger said:
that and the strength would drop a lot...

going from 27 splines to 4...
Click to expand...

Debatable

I doubt it is an issue with rigs powered like ours.
 
XJ_ranger said:
that and the strength would drop a lot...

going from 27 splines to 4...
Click to expand...



haha, a .250 thick square drive shaft will be twice as strong as a stock xj shaft (not the joints)

unless you need a long travel drive line , its a trail only rig, and you have no money then go ahead. but one thing i dont understand is why building drive lines is over rated. first drive line i ever built would go to 70 mph with barely the slightest vibration (rear shaft)

the cheapest most effective way to do it(if you can weld and have common fab skills) buy a hack and tap from RE with the flange not the yoke then buy a junk yard toyota shaft and cut off one end then take your stock shaft and cut the axle end off weld it to the yota shaft. use a metal chop saw and take your time setting the pieces up in the chop saw so that you get pefectly lined cuts. i used two lengths of STRAIGHT boards and layed the drive line inbetween them and it self straightened the shaft

blew the u joints in my front shaft, couple birfrields,one cross pin in the carrier, flopped it 3 times all with 38.5 boggers and my rear shaft never blinked once. mind that was on a toyota but ive owned 3 cherokees and the 30 and 35 would let go before i could wheel any where near as a hard as i did in the yota so unless you have 60's i dont see the shaft being a problem
 
88rockxj said:
haha, a .250 thick square drive shaft will be twice as strong as a stock xj shaft (not the joints)

unless you need a long travel drive line , its a trail only rig, and you have no money then go ahead. but one thing i dont understand is why building drive lines is over rated. first drive line i ever built would go to 70 mph with barely the slightest vibration (rear shaft)

the cheapest most effective way to do it(if you can weld and have common fab skills) buy a hack and tap from RE with the flange not the yoke then buy a junk yard toyota shaft and cut off one end then take your stock shaft and cut the axle end off weld it to the yota shaft. use a metal chop saw and take your time setting the pieces up in the chop saw so that you get pefectly lined cuts. i used two lengths of STRAIGHT boards and layed the drive line inbetween them and it self straightened the shaft

blew the u joints in my front shaft, couple birfrields,one cross pin in the carrier, flopped it 3 times all with 38.5 boggers and my rear shaft never blinked once. mind that was on a toyota but ive owned 3 cherokees and the 30 and 35 would let go before i could wheel any where near as a hard as i did in the yota so unless you have 60's i dont see the shaft being a problem
Click to expand...


So your saying a rear toy shaft will mount with or with out new holes??? to a RE hack N' Tap flange? I haven't look at nether yet.
 
drbobxj said:
So your saying a rear toy shaft will mount with or with out new holes??? to a RE hack N' Tap flange? I haven't look at nether yet.
Click to expand...


if it doesnt simply drill 4 new holes in the RE flange , did this to my yota flange so i could use a regular u joint on the front shaft instead of the cv

but if somone knows the measurments of the RE flange then i can tell you and i can post all the different measurments of the different toyota flanges through out the years
 
All I have to say is it sounds like a bad idea. Sharp corners cause stress concentrations. I would not recommend it. I would not recommend creating stress concentrations in your driveshaft.

Adam
 
They did that on eXtreme 4x4.

They used 2 pieces of 1/4" square tubing(each different sizes), welded the cut-off ends of their stock shafts onto the ends of the square tube.

I would only do that if a wheelin' trip was coming up and I didn't have a shaft. If you ever took that faster than 30 You'd probably screw up some u-joints. Balancing is WAY off.
 
i have seen many and heard about many they DO work, most people are either using them because they are easy to make or for the long slip yoke. some will say otherwise but they should not be run at high speed because of ballancing and a loose slip joint. great to toss in the back as a spare because you can make on that can fit front and rear.
 
highway speeds you will break the rear output on the t-case....roomate destroyed his 3rd member on way back from MC a few weeks ago driving up 80 with his trail spare square shaft at 40mhp.... I wouldnt worry about strength, I saw an exo yota on 42's highcenter on the Con and "walk" is truck sideways with the square shaft
 
BrettM said:
are you retarded?

a 14 bolt FF is 30 spline, does that mean my 30 spline D44 and Toy 8" are just as strong?
Click to expand...

not at all

It was an oversimplification i guess...

i dont feel like explaining my missing logic on that one...
 
Are the square shafts on an annual or bi-annual thread rotation?
 
Thats all my brother-in-law and all his buddies use(Toyotas w/ SBC's).But as stated its for trailered rigs only.
 
XJ_ranger said:
not at all

It was an oversimplification i guess...

i dont feel like explaining my missing logic on that one...
Click to expand...


then lets see a pic of a broken square shaft, ive seen a million stock round shafts destroyed, never once seen or herd anything about a square shaft breaking beides u joints or the ears for the u joint not that actual square shaft. how many splines are on rockwell shafts? or an sm465 ?
 
um usually guys run square d shafts in the front ( like i am on my cherokee on full widths) and if u have any bad a rig u will have manual hubs so u can drive u shit i the street. And there is no way you are gann a break the square d shaft except for u joints. and for that get some the are heat and freezed u joint and that have a liftetime warranty.
 
I saw that extreme 4X4 where they wheeled the CJ7 with their homwbrew square shaft. There is no question that the square tubing is stronger than a factory shaft (especially the slip-joint) but just be sure your welds are up to the task on the yolks themselves. Theirs weren't and they ended the day early! And they are not for street use! Has anyone brought up the possibility of using a front shaft in the rear yet? I've seen a couple of guys over on jeepforum.com running them w/ success.
 
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