Ranger Driveshaft Lengths i to i

[Teddyzee]

Couple of notes,
The driveshaft will be longer for regular cabs starting in 1998, as the cab grew.
Ujoint to ujoint measurement for my 1997 manual trans Supercab two piece shaft was @ 69"
I replaced it with a 4" OD aluminum one piece from a 2008 manaul trans supercab, also 69" joint to joint.

They're not lined up in the pics, but you can see the tape on each one.

 

[Mac]

I've always gone with joint center to center, most online shops I've seen ask for that. Teddy Jingled my mind enough to remember a good reason as in replacing a two peice with a one peice. Weld to weld might be great in a JY trying to find the correct one.
Dave

 

[yellowoctupus]

I replaced it with a 4" OD aluminum one piece from a 2008 manaul trans supercab, also 69" joint to joint.

Holy cow! That is super long for a one piece driveshaft Teddyzee! I just ran through Dana Spicer's driveshaft design manual and the calculated 'Standard Equation' critical speed is at most (ie, no wall thickness=highest CS) is 5666RPM! Which means if you had a 1:1 output speed, you shouldn't hit 5500rpm, and if you have any sort of OD trans it's even limited further. (a 0.78 5th gear would bring you down to 4420rpm for the aluminum shaft).

Am I missing something here? How does this work?

 

[Teddyzee]

lol... at 5500 RPM in fourth gear, I'd be doing 120mph. In fifth I'd be well over 175mph...
Sooo, kind of a non issue!

 

[yellowoctupus]

All of a sudden I feel dumb. I was hoping I posted this up at like 2am or something, but no, it had to be 7pm. D'oh.

 

[ZombieSoldier]

Autos are LONGER? I thought it was the other way around? Obviously, I should have paid more attention to bed length and ext cab vs. regular cab. (I forgot to write it down on my notes on a most of them... d'oh!)

Here's just the Ranger/Exploder ones I measured the other day:
(note, these are VERY ROUGH dimensions +/-0.5)

90 Ranger 6ftbed stdcab 2wd A/T 47.5 Steel
93 Exploder 4dr .............2wd A/T 51.5 Aluminum
95 Ranger 6ftbed stdcab 2wd A/T 47.5 Steel
90 Ranger (bed?) stdcab 2wd M/T 50.5 Steel
87 Ranger ....................2wd M/T 57.0 Steel
92 Exploder.................. 2wd A/T 54.5 Steel
95 Ranger 6ftbed stdcab 2wd A/T 47.5 Steel
84 Ranger ....................2wd M/T 57.0 Steel

That's what I'm seeing a lot of. Doesn't it seem counter-intuitive? I understand if you're making one that it would be a necessary measurement, but otherwise, wouldn't the "tube yoke" dimension add in a lot of variance to the center to center measurement? Last time I had one made (for my 4.6+280z) I gave him my center to center, then subtracted the center to yoke flanges on both ends which gave us the weld to weld.

Did any 2wd shortbed, std cab autos come with an aluminum d/s that you know of? I've never run an aluminum one, but the general consensus is that they are a bit smoother as far as vibrations are concerned. (I'm not OVERLY concerned about the 5# weight savings, or the rotating inertia business.) And when you say 'body setup' do you mean body style, (generational bodies ie. 89-92,93-97, etc, or just 'standard cab, short bed' body style?

Thanks again for your help!

I know this was a LONG time ago, but were these measured weld to weld or center of yoke to center of yoke, which should prove to be more accurate in measurements?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

(I measured the D/S from the center of the two U joint bearing caps. Not weld to weld. I saw a bunch online measured weld to weld. WTF.

.

 

[jeremysdad]

Holy 'meant to hit bookmark' zombie thread resurrection, floored!

Cheers and a beer, Sir! Made me giggle!