I was going to sleeve the stock tube with smaller DOM, but I
stopped by metal supermarket and got 3' of stock diameter DOM tubing for $21.
Since I have plans on hitting the trail before the street, I'm planning
on lengthening the rear driveshaft with 2" O.D. .125" wall tubing.
I may have it redone later and balanced.
Here's another how to:
Stock on the left, new .125 wall stuff is on the right
It's amazing how flimsy looking the stock driveshaft is compared to this stuff.
The driveshaft will have to be lengthened roughly 4" to reach 32 1/2"
center of yolk to center of yolk.
O==========O
I<-----32.5"----->I
Hows that for a techincal drawing?
This is with the slip shaft centered with 1.5" compression and 1.5" extension travel since
the rear springs are almost flat.
Like the front I cut a circumference around the weld
make sure you mark your yolks so they are on the same side because
they need to be in synch (same side, same plane) when it is complete.
1 hit with a bfh and it came right off.
When cutting, make the cuts as straight as possible. That way
when you slide the yolk into the new tube its already close
to being straight.
The slip shaft side. Because the tube wall is thicker than stock I had to reduce
the diameter of the yolk sleeve where it inserts into the tube.
Note how a bfh dented the stock tubing with mild blows.
On the trail with an unforgiving boulder this would have twisted it.
Did you mark your yolks? I put the driveshaft on some steel to make sure the
yolk ears were flat. Initially they were several degrees off.
I measured from the squarely cut tubing (used a chop saw for that)
to the end of the machining on the short yolk for a measurement every 90*
After it was where I wanted it, I tack welded every 90* and re-measured.
The slip shaft was measured to the dust collar (1 5/16" collapsed if I remember right)
every 90*.
For welding, the ground went onto a large piece of right angle and the driveshaft lay cradled in that.
Then as the weld was layed down with the BIG welder the shaft was rotated. One side was done in 2 turns
the other in 3 cause the ground stuck. It'll work for now.