building steel driveshafts

[stanmondz]

i need driveshafts for 2 trucks. lack of funds prevent me from buying em right now.

i went poking around lowes yesterday and came out with a section of 1/2" steel tube,a 3/8" pack of tension pens and a couple 8/32" grub screws a 8/23 TAP,2 PACK OF 5/64 DRILL BITS,and red locktite. less than 20 bucks
this is what i came up with. all im working with is a dremal and a drill, not perfect but it works.
i still got some cleaning up to do,and 3 more to build. im going to stone mountain this weekend so ill be testing the hell out of em


the pen fits in the 1/2" tube


one side is drilled and tapped with the grub screw going through the tube and pen to keep it stationary. I stacked 3 cut off wheels on the arbor to widen the slot in the tension pen


the other side is drilled and tapped for the grub screw to only go through the tube. the screw on this side keeps the pen from turning in the tube. the widen slot fits the screw tight and allows the shaft to collapses and expand


on the rear of my truck. one down 3 to go

[offroad1911]

I like your way of thinking, I do the same with links,bumper mount, and chassis servo mount. Why buy it at first when you can make it your own. Keep us informed on how they worked out.

[Nvghostrider]

Extension pins? Is that another name for roll pins? Thinking I'm doing this build after vacation.

[stanmondz]

yeah. tension pin,roll pin. same thing

[stanmondz]

built my front shaft tonight. it turned out better than the rear. sorry for crappy pics. i use my phone


i did re do the tranny side of the rear shaft and made it almost a 1/2" longer, the rear is 4 linked so it flexes more than the front. i left plenty of room for it to collapse


i drove it around the house. everything works fine. saturdays stone mountain will be the real test.

im thinking about getting some big heat shrink and covering em just to hide the spaces

[stanmondz]

they survived stone mountain without a hitch

[Nvghostrider]

We are looking to hit ATL a few days early before Dragon*Con and my wife mentioned heading out to Stone Mountain. She knew something was up when I simply said "Cool" and tried not to grin.

[stanmondz]

when you coming?

[mitchr97]

Looking good make me some??? haha! just kidding.

[Nvghostrider]

Probably not his year but next year, labor day weekend. Hoping to get some footage cruising the con floor with a themed body of some sort. Since we might visit the stone mountain area I may duplicate a Walking Dead rig for some video to show off the terrain.

[steele42]

Nice thinking! Can't say I've seen homemade driveshafts yet.

[stanmondz]

Originally Posted by steele42

Nice thinking! Can't say I've seen homemade driveshafts yet.

thanks guys.that was my biggest motivator for trying it

[doublej]

I'm still surprised noone has made cheap'o Toyota square shafts.

[stanmondz]

i just finished version 2 last night. they came about by accident. i was looking through my tool box for some screws and found some spare venom cvd stub axles,and a few cv ends for plastic venom driveshafts
the first set was still holding,but there were showing some wear around the little ears the the pins went through.

i pulled the yokes off and cut the ears off the shaft. the venom stub fit inside the 1/2" tube with some persuasion.(drove it in with a hammer) a little heat and some bronze brazing rod and i got V2

[mitchr97]

That is awesome! like the idea!