V8 driveshaft torque capacity (not fitment question)

[baddad457]

I believe mine is either a 3 1/2" or a 3 3/4" one piece driveshaft I had custom made by a local driveline shop for $185. It's much better than the wimpy 2-piece(which I think was 2 3/4" dia.) Even spritzed for the Spicer joints.

This is definitly one area you don't want to cheap out on. I didn't have a lot of money at the time, but I knew that it would be well worth it.

The wimpy 2 piece's diameter wasn't the problem, it was the middle yokes. The front half of mine had thicker walls based on it's weight. The joints never failed me either. But I was using the grease-less joints though too.

 

[1mean02hd]

The middle yokes are definitely a problem. I grenaded one when acting a fool trying to do a burnout. Luckily I had my factory driveshaft still and just swapped them out. BUT I did notice this- my truck was originally a 4.0L equipped truck and the driveshaft I had shortened and used I got off of a guy. The middle yoke from my 4.0L shaft has bigger U joints and is alll over beefier than the one I grenaded. I'm guessing the the driveshaft I used was from a truck that had a 3.0L or 2.3L in it. SO... don't use the 2 piece shaft from anything other than a 4.0L equipped truck. I think eventually I'm gonna do a 1 piece shaft.

 

[baddad457]

Mine was originally a 2.9 truck with the tiny U joints in the middle Never could figure the reason for that, other than production cost savings. The end joints were 1310's or 1330's.

 

[1mean02hd]

Mine was originally a 2.9 truck with the tiny U joints in the middle Never could figure the reason for that, other than production cost savings. The end joints were 1310's or 1330's.

The Fox Mustangs are the same way. The automatic cars have small U joints and the stick shift cars have the bigs ones, regardless if it's a 4 cylinder or a V8. Crazy considering the driveshafts are the same except for the damper ring (which gets removed most of the time) on the 5 speed shafts.

 

[baddad457]

Mine was a 5 speed though with the tiny u joints.