Driveshafts - Steel vs Aluminium vs Composite what is good for the street?

[chicane67]

So what are the advantages of the different materials on the street? Is a composite driveshaft overkill? Steel certainly seems like the best bang for the buck. Also sounds like Aluminium sometimes has some vibration issues (which a Composite seems to solve?)

Is composite overkill... in most cases, yes. In critical speed and vibrational environment cases... no.

4130 is the most durable for any street application. An aluminum shaft has a natural resonant frequency that does absorb/dampen better than that of steel... and the same goes for the CF shafts... it does an even better job for absorbtion of drivetrain frequencies than that of aluminum. What that really does... is make the bearings live longer and it does run somewhat quieter. The CF shafts have been around a while. And as the horror stories have been told... even the slightest road debris can be an end to a $900+ plus shaft.

I however, am sure you will be hapy with your material and manufacturer selection.

I too have been on the fence myself, as weather to go with a specific material. Reality dictates that if it is primarily a street based chassis... there is no better material to use than a ChroMo shaft. It is hands down, the most durable, packaging friendly and... MW is best finished shaft on the market.

Unfortunately my latest endeavors put my driveshaft speed in question (just a tick under 9.9k RPM)... as does the 3.5" exhaust system that it needs to live in close proximity with. I wish... I could run a small diameter ChroMo shaft... but it looks like I am right in between the 4.0" MMC and the CF shaft for critical speed requirements.

I myself would perfer to run the MMC... since the 67 will be driven on the street... but, we'll see. It would however... be nice to have any recent part actually be under $1k...

[vsefiream]

My car is on a pretty tight budget so I have been doing a lot of research before purchasing parts as of late. In my search for a good quality driveshaft, I ran across a few ebay listings for used Nascar driveshafts. I picked up a nice 4" DOM steel DynoTech driveshaft with a billet steel slip yoke and 1350 joints shipped to my house for less than $55.00. I am very happy with it and it left enough in my wallet to pick up a billet pinion yoke from Denny's for the 1350 joint.
Here is another one:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...2BSI%26otn%3D4

[zman1969]

It was supposed to be funny and meaning my post was spam. Sorry dude

Spam Spam Spam ... ... ... sorry, you gotta know Monty Python ,now for something completely different


I swapped a steel shaft in my 87 Trans am for a stock LS1 aluminum one (direct bolt in) and saved 5lbs

[6'9"Witha69]

Spam Spam Spam ... ... ... sorry, you gotta know Monty Python ,now for something completely different


I swapped a steel shaft in my 87 Trans am for a stock LS1 aluminum one (direct bolt in) and saved 5lbs

"Egg and Spam, Egg Bacon and Spam, Egg Sausage and Spam, . . . ,Spam Spam Spam Baked Beans and Spam, . . ."

[zman1969]

"Egg and Spam, Egg Bacon and Spam, Egg Sausage and Spam, . . . ,Spam Spam Spam Baked Beans and Spam, . . ."

ROFLMAO - good times
my Parrot is dead. no he's not he's just sleeping.

sorry off topic, my bad

[wmhjr]

FWIW, the 3.5" aluminum driveshaft w/1350 on it arrived yesterday from Inland Empire Driveline. I unpacked it and test fitted it today. It's a really nice item. I was actually surprised at how nicely it's finished. I checked and it's exactly to the measurements I gave them on the order.

[jackfrost]

FWIW, the 3.5" aluminum driveshaft w/1350 on it arrived yesterday from Inland Empire Driveline. I unpacked it and test fitted it today. It's a really nice item. I was actually surprised at how nicely it's finished. I checked and it's exactly to the measurements I gave them on the order.

can you weigh it?

[wmhjr]

can you weigh it?

Not at this point. It's installed and the tranny is filled, and I delivered the rolling chassis to the body/paint shop yesterday. Just guessing, I'd say it was "light"