Aluminum driveshaft with dents

ratdude747 · Apr 18, 2017

Last weekend I scored an aluminum driveshaft off a 1991 Ranger with a long bed. The good news is it looks to be a drop in replacement for the steel unit in my 1995 long bed.

The bad news is that being a JY unit, it does have some dents from the forklift. There's about 3-5 of them, all shallow gradual (no creases) dents less than 1/8" deep.

Can this be resolved by taking it to a driveshaft shop and getting it rebalanced? (it needs new U-joints anyway, the stock ones are half frozen and fresh grease didn't help)? Or did I blow $25 of a hunk of scrap aluminum?

adsm08 · Apr 19, 2017

Pictures would be good. Generally a dented drive shaft is useless as it becomes unbalanced, but something extremely minor can be ok.

BLOODBANE · Apr 19, 2017

If you have a drive line shop near by you can have them check it for balance. Some tractor places can balance shafts as well as some equipment uses shafts to be driven

turbo91xlt · Apr 19, 2017

Find a P71 Crown Vic with a good shaft and use that. 99% chance thats what that shaft is out of.

ratdude747 · Apr 19, 2017

turbo91xlt said:
Find a P71 Crown Vic with a good shaft and use that. 99% chance thats what that shaft is out of.

I thought that only worked for shorties. I have a long bed.

I did pull it with my own two hands out of a 1991 ranger with a A4LD and a 4.0. Nice truck before it went to PAP. Used to be somebody's pride and joy given all the options it had.

I have pics which I'll upload later.

ratdude747 · Apr 19, 2017

Pictures:

Closeup of damage:

Side view of deepest dent:

Wide and shallow...

turbo91xlt · Apr 19, 2017

I have a '91 long bed (114" wb). The crown vic shaft was a direct bolt in besides needing to upgrade the U-joints from 1310 to 1330 series. No ranger pre '98 ever had an aluminum shaft factory.

ratdude747 · Apr 19, 2017

turbo91xlt said:
I have a '91 long bed (114" wb). The crown vic shaft was a direct bolt in besides needing to upgrade the U-joints from 1310 to 1330 series. No ranger pre '98 ever had an aluminum shaft factory.

Must have been then if you had the exact same truck (year and WB) Explains the servicable u joints which I didn't think were stock (but also sadly seized). Oddly it had different yokes than yours (same as my 1995's though- you driving a stick?). Mine also had three colored bands at the front of the shaft which yours is missing. Otherwise it was the same thing.

You think a crown vic police interceptor one would be less likely to have forklift rash? If so, I may try again and either warranty exchange this one or keep it for the yokes.

turbo91xlt · Apr 19, 2017

The yoke is different as the auto trans in the crown vic has a larger output shaft. I bought a new yoke to use with a T5/m5od/C4. My truck is a manual. Honestly it'll be hit or miss if the shaft is damage. Luckily they made a billion crown vics so finding a good shaft shouldn't be too hard.

4x4junkie · Apr 20, 2017

I have to agree with adsm, anything beyond the tiniest dent and it's scrap. Even if you could rebalance it, dents can severely weaken the shaft (creates points where it could twist & collapse under torque). Those dents look pretty major to me.

turbo91xlt said:
No ranger pre '98 ever had an aluminum shaft factory.

The '93 4.0L 2WD longbed I bought new had an aluminum drive shaft.

Shran · Apr 20, 2017

I'd be OK with using it as a spare but dented driveshafts are like playing with fire, there is every possibility that it'll twist in half under load at some point and hit all kinds of stuff under the truck.

I have broken enough of my own and seen many others get twisted off. It's amazing how even tiny looking dings can cause catastrophic failure.

turbo91xlt · Apr 20, 2017

4x4junkie said:
The '93 4.0L 2WD longbed I bought new had an aluminum drive shaft.

Interesting... thats the 1st I've ever heard. I've never seen one out of all the rbvs I've come across in the pick n pulls.

gw33gp · Apr 20, 2017

Yes, there is a reason driveshafts are perfectly round. The dents do make an area that is weaker and will initiate a point of failure at a lower load. That driveshaft is scrap unless you use it at somewhere less than 50% of its designed load rating. Just know that even light loads at high rpm can fail it.

ratdude747 · Apr 20, 2017

Junk it is then. I'll exchange it under warranty at PAP this weekend.

ratdude747 · Apr 24, 2017

Scored a driveshaft out of a 1998 Crown Vic... and it doesn't fit.

Issues:

The shaft is approximatly 2-3" too long
It uses a larger spider size (would require a spicer conversion u joint)
It has some nasty scoring ares (two of them 3" apart) in the center, which I didn't pick up on at first. This was due to somebody hanging the exhaust with bailing wire from said shaft and me not realizing that PAP didn't do that themselves.

My understanding is that when a shaft is shortened, they cut at the end and not the center, thus making me 0/2 for getting good shafts? Or can a shop shorten an aluminum shaft in the middle, which would/could make this a salvageable unit?

Aluminum driveshaft with dents

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