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mopar drive shafts?


dynaflash_8

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There should be no rotational play in the driveshaft at all. But there is end to end movement with springs at each end to keep the shaft centered.

It is about the same cost (or maybe more) to rebuild as it is to have a modern style one fabricated. Since you need to get a shorter driveshaft it would make sense to me to have a modern style one fabricated.

In 1978 I had a modern style drive shaft fabricated for my 1933 because I could not at the time find complete kits for the originals. I needed to replace the whole kit and caboodle and I couldn't find the housings. I later took the whole car apart and it took me years to get things back together. Once back on the road I had some vibration at speeds between 50 and 60 that I just could not get rid of. I finally got the original Detroit ball and trunnion style driveshaft rebuilt and reinstalled it about a month ago. I noticed coming back home on the freeway yesterday afternoon that the vibration was gone. Not sure why the replacement driveshaft that seemed to have no issues when installed in 1978 and had very little mileage on it was giving a problem. Maybe someday I'll take it by a driveline shop and have it looked at.

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i have one that was rebuilt, and the other one seems ok, but both boots were torn.

Anybody shortened one at home?

I guess if one were both a skilled machinist and a skilled welder you could try it: It has to be strong and it has to be perfectly aligned and well balanced. I suspect that if you have to ask about doing one "at home" you probably shouldn't.

Regarding rubber boots: The few that I tried were basically 50 year old rubber that were primed to fail immediately. Tore two up trying to get them installed. Another looked like it was fine but a month later, still sitting on my work bench I saw age cracks on it. Never made it on to the car before it failed. I found some leather boots that had a few more layers and fasteners than the typical lace up ones. they seemed to go on tightly enough that they should keep the muck off the road from getting in.

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I rebuilt mine. Rebuild kit was of decent quality and the job itself wasn't too hard.

That being said, once my car is on the road I think that is the first thing I will be tossing. The old trunion drive shafts just dont have a very good reputation as far as vibration and such goes. And for not much more expense you get the advantage of being able to get parts at any autostore.

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I rebuilt mine. Rebuild kit was of decent quality and the job itself wasn't too hard.

That being said, once my car is on the road I think that is the first thing I will be tossing. The old trunion drive shafts just dont have a very good reputation as far as vibration and such goes. And for not much more expense you get the advantage of being able to get parts at any autostore.

Written, I think, in the late 1950s or early 1960s by Carl Breer regarding issues with the Spicer joint and shaft:

Fortunately our setup made it possible to develop with confidence a new and novel universal shaft design that was brought to us by a Mr. Flick who had a small design shop. Flick's shaft cost less, was lighter in weight, and would allow the shaft to move endwise in its housing under full load with minimum friction via a ball mounting trunnion. This change eliminated the annoying, clunky noise that occurred when we were bouncing over the highway. (The Spicer shaft had a multiple shaft spline slip joint to allow for end movement. When under load, the high static friction would let go to the lower friction in motion and cause a lurch hence the clunky noise.)

The new universal joint was really developed for commercial purposes on our test equipment. I resulted in the build up of an important supplier company--the Universal Products Company, later known as the Detroit Universal Products Corporation, owned by the Chrysler Corporation. Flick's ball joint design with its freedom from spline friction continues to be popular today, and has no substitutes to date.

Any design that Chrysler kept in production for three decades can't be all bad. Different, yes. All bad, probably not.

The real issue is that the system is like a modern CV joint: It has to be kept sealed by the boot and a boot failure will rapidly lead to a joint failure. The problem is that the rubber boots that seem to be available are old stock and the rubber is no longer up to the task. Thus my preference for leather boots. However most of the leather boots are a cheap aftermarket design that never were up to the job. I did get some boots from Roberts that were more expensive than the usual. They have an inner grease retainer collar with snap closure. On the outside there are multiple layers of leather that interleave and are secured with metal tabs. Looks like a all round better design than the lace up single piece leather boots I normally see.

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I rebuilt mine with the old style rubber boots and with zero miles on the driveshaft they are already cracking. So I definitely agree that the boots are the big issue, and the leather ones you mention sound like a good alternative.

The vibration issue is only something I've read about, but got the impression it is a common problem. I may not even encounter it once my car is on the road, in that case the leather boots sound like the perfect solution. But if it does vibrate, I don't thing switching to a modern unit is a bad deal considering the price and availability of replacement parts at any auto-parts store.

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The vibration issue is only something I've read about, but got the impression it is a common problem. I may not even encounter it once my car is on the road, in that case the leather boots sound like the perfect solution. But if it does vibrate, I don't thing switching to a modern unit is a bad deal considering the price and availability of replacement parts at any auto-parts store.

My vibration issue was the reverse: I had issues with a modern style replacement that went away once I rebuilt and reinstalled the original style. The original has only been on the car for maybe 100 miles but so far so good. We are leaving this Sunday for a 1800 mile trip so we will see how that goes.

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The original has only been on the car for maybe 100 miles but so far so good. We are leaving this Sunday for a 1800 mile trip so we will see how that goes.

sounds like fun! let us know how it goes!

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Tod are you headed to Portland?

Yes, will be with a group of others. Total of 9 cars from the Bay Area up via US 101. The actual distance up and back is less than 1800 miles but I figure by the time we get done with the day trip sightseeing and other miscellaneous driving that will be pretty close.

One car is coming up from Southern California, so they will be adding about 900 more miles to that total.

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Have fun. Sounds like it will be a nice meet. Little too far for me to go at this time. We'll be attending back to the 50s instead.

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