Driveshaft retube

[wesintl]

I'm taking my DS in to get retubed at englewood DS (unless there is somewhere better) as soon as my u joints come in.

I'm guessing they will know what to retube it with but should I go up in thickness?

Romer, what thickness did you get yours retubed with

I don't want to slow down the 95HP with more rotating mass a whole lot more than I aready have.

 

[leiniesred]

.120 for durability. .096 for a little more "street."

frontrange driveline at federal and 285 always does a great job for me.

I've had 3 shafts fixed up/made there and they all are still driveable. (one just has a really worn out slipyoke. nobody's fault.)

Thicknesses:

I destroyed a stock mini-truck shaft on a single rock in lefthand carnage canyon once. I think that was about .060. I drove Boulder to Aurora at 35 mph on that one.

I had that wreck re-tubed by a shop out in Commerce City. That shaft got wrecked again on rocks @ billing's canyon. The tube was smaller in diameter for the last 4 inches after rubbing it on the ledges. It didn't fail, but it sucked driving home to Aurora from Grand Junction on the necked down, slightly bent shaft at 70mph. I think that shaft was .096.

My FrontRange driveline shafts have not dented or broken yet. I told them I plan on parking the truck on the driveshafts and when the guy looked under my truck at the dents/scrapes he understood. So far, the front range shafts have only lost paint and a few grease nipples. I cannot tell the difference in the tubing thicknesses while driving on the road. I say go thick. My current units are .120.

My spare square front driveshaft is .250. That is a little overkill.

 

[Red_Chili]

Englewood will take care of ya...
Specify Toyota U joints if needed, however. He likes Spicer.

 

[wesintl]

Specify Toyota U joints if needed, however.

I'm taking in Toyota u-joints when they arrive(hopefully) fri.

so what's stock roughly on oem tubes?

 

[Hulk]

Don't remember, but it's thinner than what he usually uses. "These Toyota u-joints and yokes are fine, but the tube is kinda thin." That's what he told me when he retubed my rear fj40 driveshaft in 2001.

 

[Crash]

I'm taking in Toyota u-joints when they arrive(hopefully) fri.

so what's stock roughly on oem tubes?

.060" or maybe a hair more for OEM. .120" is really stout and can withstand serious abuse but it then transfers the abuse to the next part in the chain - the U-joints and then to the pinion or t/case bearings. Two different drive train shops I have worked with may prefer to sell you their favorite brand u-joints but both have had nothing but the highest regard for Toyota joints. With regular maintenance they are virtually bullet proof. Imagine that!

 

[farnhamstj]

I went .120 on my 100 rear. Tagged it once and it's still straight and balanced.

 

[Uncle Ben]

I think stock is .065". I did .120 wall on my 80 and the Tom Woods shafts on my 40 are .120 as well. It takes a lot to dent .120 wall! Stock will dent very easy and once it dents it will twist soon after!

 

[Romer]

I don't recall the exact number. I know I went there with a recommendation from Mud and they talked me out of it saying it was too thick. Those guys know their stuff and I went with what they thought.

 

[Uncle Ben]

I don't recall the exact number. I know I went there with a recommendation from Mud and they talked me out of it saying it was too thick. Those guys know their stuff and I went with what they thought.

If they said it was too thick that tells me they didn't stock what you asked for!

 

[wesintl]

So maybe ~.90 is a good compromise between stronger than stock and not quite heavy duty...?

 

[Red_Chili]

AFAIK Englewood did mine in .120. Romer, just where did you go?

 

[MDH33]

Treeroot, in his Orion write-up, recommended:

Rocky Mountain Driveline

4210 Tennyson, Lakewood, CO

(303)433-8683

He mentions going with .120 wall tubing as well. Here's his before/after shot:

 

[Hulk]

Both shops are great. We South Sidahs use Englewood Driveshaft.

South Side represent!

 

[Red_Chili]

I used Rocky Mountain, they were fine.
I then used Englewood, they wuz finah.

Sou'sidahs rool!

Hey Martin, have you done shackle reversal in the front? If so, allow for more spline length. You 40 fellers don't use CV shafts, huh? CVs rool too.

 

[Cheeseman]

The guys at Rocky Mountain Driveline seemed to know off roading quite well. They have done both shafts on my runner. The front was resplined for long travel and has done quite well. I told them what I was doing and they made it easy to understand what should be done. Just look at the pictures when you go into there shop.

Greg Luer
________
Shemale latin

 

[Romer]

AFAIK Englewood did mine in .120. Romer, just where did you go?

I went to Englewood and am happy with the results. I don't recall if I ended up with .120 or not I'm getting old

Kevin, they had the other thickness in stock and said they would do it that way if I wanted, but then gave me a technical reason to go with a different thickness. I don't remember that either.


Where the hell are my teeth??

 

[wesintl]

I dropped them off at lunch. He recommended .09 something and said stock was .6 something. I asked about the .120 and he said it was on the thick end and that the tube won't twist very easily or at all causing more broken parts other places. .9 Seemed fine for me.

I'm going to take in my front for them to replace the u joints. They charge $10ea. Hell, it sure aint worth my time wrastling 2 u joints for $20 bucks on my front DS.

They really aren't that hard to find either. between floyd and girard in the back, you pull right up

 

[Red_Chili]

Just another plug for Englewood DS: they were making a shaft for my son, and he was later than he promised because of a delay in getting the parts (not his fault). He stayed late on a Friday night and left the shaft with a neighboring store on Saturday to make it easy for Justin to pick up the shaft early Saturday (when E.D.S. is closed).

Very fine customer service not found elsewhere, IMHO.