Plastic Driveshafts for Weight Weenies?

[Chingon]

*****EDIT: Measured weights posted throughout this thread*****

Traxxas 1951X w/ 4928R yokes - 10g
Shortened AX10 (82.7mm fully compressed) - 19g
Traxxas 4951X w/4927X yokes (130.2mm fully compressed) - 25g
Axial Wild Boar (106.4mm fully compressed, shortest stock configuration) - 32g
Axial Wild Boar (150.3mm fully compressed, longest stock configuration) - 36g
Dlux Cut-to-fit (Uncut) - 42g (untrimmed shaft weighs 14g, therefore probably ~30g when cut as short as possible)
Injora steel (104.2mm fully compressed) - 45g
Injora steel (119.0mm full compressed) - 51g

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am trying to save some weight on my 1.9 comp car, lower the CG some more, and improve the forward weight bias, so I am looking at swapping my rear steel driveshaft out for a plastic one. I am running an OG AX10 plastic driveshaft in the front, and it has held up great, but it doesn't look like you can buy those anymore. I need a 112mm running length, does anyone have any suggestions for where to look? Standard 5mm outputs at the transmission and axle.

 

[hnoroian]

Element driveshaft

 

[jes4man]

Axial wild boar driveshafts are a good plastic option. Cheaper if you can find some take offs and are modular in design with different lengths of the female side allowing changes in length on both axle and transmission sides.

Another option would be the rear driveshafts for the 2wd traxxas stampede, but I am not sure if those would be long enough. You can buy a pair for both sides and take the stub axle off of one and and swap it with the 5mm outdrive from the other, or you can buy a set for one side and buy extra outdrives and swap one of those with the stub axle. These are what many people used back in the day before dedicated crawler parts were available. On one of the vanquish livestreams brandon said he still has traxxas driveshafts on his ripper.

 

[Gula]

Traxxaa Jato driveshafts

 

[ferp420]

Axial wild boar driveshafts are a good plastic option. Cheaper if you can find some take offs and are modular in design with different lengths of the female side allowing changes in length on both axle and transmission sides.

Another option would be the rear driveshafts for the 2wd traxxas stampede, but I am not sure if those would be long enough. You can buy a pair for both sides and take the stub axle off of one and and swap it with the 5mm outdrive from the other, or you can buy a set for one side and buy extra outdrives and swap one of those with the stub axle. These are what many people used back in the day before dedicated crawler parts were available. On one of the vanquish livestreams brandon said he still has traxxas driveshafts on his ripper.

i second the wild boar hd2 driveshafts they kick but and can be made any length probably the strongest plastic shaft available

 

[Chingon]

Element driveshaft

Where do you get the U-joints and output couplers?

i second the wild boar hd2 driveshafts they kick but and can be made any length probably the strongest plastic shaft available

These ones? Wild Boar Driveshaft Set: Capra 1.9 UTB | Axial Adventure
Same question about U-joints and couplers.

I like the looks of the Traxxas driveshafts, I just don't like the idea of have to buy two of them to combine and make one good drive shaft.

 

[jes4man]

these

 

[ferp420]

Where do you get the U-joints and output couplers?



These ones? Wild Boar Driveshaft Set: Capra 1.9 UTB | Axial Adventure
Same question about U-joints and couplers.

I like the looks of the Traxxas driveshafts, I just don't like the idea of have to buy two of them to combine and make one good drive shaft.

these

ya buying a take off set is your cheapest option and if ya for some reason need alonger shaft then you xan get the extra sections

 

[Chingon]

Looks like Amazon has AXIC8082 (the master Wild Boar driveshaft kit with the couplers) on sale for slightly more than the SCX10 III CJ7 and RBX10 takeoffs from Jenny's RC right now: Amazon

Thanks for the leads everyone, I am probably going to order AXIC8082 off Amazon.

 

[Chingon]

I got the Wild Boar drive shafts in, and it is not a bad kit for the $33 I paid; the $74 MSRP is ridiculous. They are lighter than the Injora steel drive shaft I was running, but not by much. They are significantly heavier than the AX10 driveshafts like what I am running in the front of my 1.9 truck.

The AX10 driveshaft I have in these comparison pictures was shortened a good bit, but I'd bet a full length AX10 driveshaft isn't even 5g heavier. I wish you could still buy the AX10 driveshafts.

All fully compressed; AX10 top, Injora steel middle, and shortest Wild Boar configuration which I am running.

Old Injora weight, 45g

New Wild Boar weight, 32g

And lastly, shortened AX10, 19g

 

[hnoroian]

Those joints don’t look too bad in the OG, why the swap? I thought they were is disrepair or something.

 

[Col_Sanders]

I run Dlux cut to length in my comp trucks. There are some clones of them on Amazon. Some of the guys i run with use the Amazon specials and it seems that some of those are good and some suck.

 

[Chingon]

Those joints don’t look too bad in the OG, why the swap? I thought they were is disrepair or something.

The AX10 shaft that's pictured has been shortened too much, and I had previously twisted it off during a competition when I got wrapped up in some long grass and tried to power through with only a 3.31:1 reduction at the diff.

I run Dlux cut to length in my comp trucks. There are some clones of them on Amazon. Some of the guys i run with use the Amazon specials and it seems that some of those are good and some suck.

How much do the real Dlux cut to length shafts weigh? Can you get under 25g for the 112mm running length I mentioned?


Anyway, some future notes for myself: Looks like Traxxas 4927X outputs fit a 5mm shaft, although they have flats that need to be drilled out. Traxxas 4928X and 4928R are for 6mm outputs maybe, can anyone confirm? All of these Traxxas outputs pair with the Traxxas 4951X drive shafts which have a larger U-joint than the Traxxas 1951X drive shafts that should fit the Axial AX10 outputs. The Traxxas stuff is cheap enough, I might order some up to see if they are significantly lighter than the Axial Wild Boar stuff or not.

Also, looks like the 1951s are 2.48" or 63mm center to center fully compressed not including outputs, and the 4951s are 3.07" or 78mm for future reference.

 

[Col_Sanders]

My scale shows 42gr as the weight on a full lenght dlux. The shaft was 14gr of that. They also have a slim version that is substantially lighter, but i do not have a full length one here to weigh.

 

[Gula]

Traxxas jato driveshafts.......

 

[Chingon]

My scale shows 42gr as the weight on a full lenght dlux. The shaft was 14gr of that. They also have a slim version that is substantially lighter, but i do not have a full length one here to weigh.

Thanks for the data point. Looks like the Dlux shafts are still going to be heavier than plastic. In my application, space isn't really a concern, so the smaller diameter of the Dlux shafts isn't much of an advantage since the driveshaft is above the links.

Traxxas jato driveshafts.......

Are the Jato driveshafts not the 1951x shafts? They look like they are the same thing.

 

[Gula]

Naw, Jato shafts are Traxxas Half Shaft Set (Jato) [TRA5550] they're much longer.

IIRC the diff outputs are 5mm (jato) and have flats. If you need 6mm output yokes, the old 3906 emaxx trans output yoke is 6mm, and fits IIRC

How much money, and time you got, know a machinist?

Hot Racing Losi Aftershock LST Titanium Center CVD Driveshaft TLST1237 | eBay

Hot Racing front and rear titanium center CV drive shafts for the Losi LST and LST2. - Replaces Losi LOSB3545 SN August 15, 2018. - CNC machined titanium for strong, light weight shafts. - Front and rear center CV drive shafts.

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Could be made to work.....

 

[hnoroian]

Similar to your OG ones Redcats are mirror images of them. Gen8 shafts might be your ticket. I believe that these have the metal outputs and shaft attachments with a plastic shaft when I ordered them last a long time ago.

 

[Gula]

Ooooooo, aaaaaaaa, here's a dumb idea, why not make driveshafts from carbon fiber rod/tube?

*similar to what's attached. If you drill the rod for the pin, and slot the tube?

 

[Gula]

Hmm, I wonder if there would be a market for Ti driveshafts......and how much time one would take to make.....