Rear suspension overhaul....

MYBAD79

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today I got the last parts for my rear suspension overhaul, the big brown truck delivered the straps, FedEx delivered the yokes.... USPS delivered the new half shafts yesterday, stripped and painted the shafts today.

The yokes are Lonestar with hardened tip, judging by the blue discolorization at the tip these seem to be hardened :thumbs:

The half shafts are FtWayneClutch 3" shafts with Spicer Ujoints, should last a while :)

214efbc1514760f.jpg
 
Karsten -
How long before TT makes a comment about the Gold -- that it looks like yellow and, where is the purple - or such?

Old thread reference -- but it was funny!

Those look sharp - BTW
Cheers - Jim
 
Nice pieces. Are you going to replace the bearings and seals in the diff?

diff seems to be fine, had it apart in 2004 and haven't driven a whole lot since then , I think I'll leave it alone.... unless of course I find something wrong this time (fingers crossed)
 
German tuning! all it needs is a blue diff with a yellow cover and a rebel flag on the spare tire carrier... :D

I dig black and gold!
 
Karsten -
How long before TT makes a comment about the Gold -- that it looks like yellow and, where is the purple - or such?

Old thread reference -- but it was funny!

Those look sharp - BTW
Cheers - Jim

maybe I should paint the diff "plum crazy" :drink::3rd:

I painted these half shafts a golden base coat, then a coat of clear with gold ghost pearl and medium gold pearl mixed in..... top coated with two coats clear :D

not that anybody sees these but I wanted to try something new (gold pearl) and if I messed it up It wouldn't be all that noticeable under the car ;)
 
while I really like the color combo Marck suggested, I think I'm going to paint the diff gold pearl :bump:
 
Like I told my home remodeling clients, 'purple with pink polka dots'....

look for the STARE or 'reaction' and crack up laughing......

then saying it's YOUR house, not mine.....I can't tell you what to do.....

course if your 'house' was seen in public, well maybe something else applies....

like


'Taste'??

:hissyfit::crylol::bump:
 
Karsten
What is the wall thickness on those 3" shafts, 083" 095" or something else?

Were your old 3"s shaft junk? If so can you cut one in 1/2 and measure the wall thickness. I cut a 67 2.5" shaft in 1/2 last year and it was .130" wall- pretty good compared to what is offered today.
 
i "believe" my old shafts are 2.5", will have to measure.... they're 33 years old and had some major rust - I took a angle grinder with a sandpaper flapper disc to them and painted them back in 2004. Too bad there's no easy way to get he wall thickness other han cutting the shaft. I'll call FtWayneClutch and ask what wall thickness hey use on their shafts. They use solid Spicer joints and yoke ends so I hope they dont use thin wall pipe..... I'll have to see if the old shafts are 3", if they are I'll put old and new on a scale to see if here's a difference, hopefully the new ones are heavier....
 
I spoke with Ft Wayne today as well. I have a set of 2.5" x 095 on order for a street car. They should work out fine. However I was able to cut in 1/2 the set off this 71 and they were exactly the same tube thickness of the 67's, .132"

Again I don't have any scrap 3" shafts to cut in 1/2 to compare. For a street car with no abuse these are fine to use but for HP use I go to Tom's steel shafts, no aluminum, carbon fiber, or thinner walls.

197125INchShafts1326.jpg

197125INchShafts1325.jpg

197125INchShafts1322.jpg
 
I called them too. This topic seemed to be very fresh in their memory, apparently I called after you talked to them :D

I think the guys name is Tom, he's an older gentleman judging by the voice and the guy who builds these shafts.... seems to be a nice guy.... unfortunately he confirmed the wall thickness on their 3" half shafts is .085" ... however, he says he's certain the stock wall thickness of these 3" shafts is also .085" (who's going to cut an old shaft to verify ???)... I am not too concerned because I'm only at maybe 400HP but why the heck do they advertize these as "heavy duty" ???

I'll weigh my shafts once the old ones are out, if the old shafts are heavier I'll probably just use the new Spicer joints on the old shafts :mad::push:
 
I called them too. This topic seemed to be very fresh in their memory, apparently I called after you talked to them :D

I think the guys name is Tom, he's an older gentleman judging by the voice and the guy who builds these shafts.... seems to be a nice guy.... unfortunately he confirmed the wall thickness on their 3" half shafts is .085" ... however, he says he's certain the stock wall thickness of these 3" shafts is also .085" (who's going to cut an old shaft to verify ???)... I am not too concerned because I'm only at maybe 400HP but why the heck do they advertize these as "heavy duty" ???

I'll weigh my shafts once the old ones are out, if the old shafts are heavier I'll probably just use the new Spicer joints on the old shafts :mad::push:

Karsten, I'm confused why you're focusing on the weight of the shafts. Strength should be the issue. Seems to me 3" shafts at .085" wall should be stronger than 2.5" shafts at .132" wall. Also the 3" shafts (@.085" wall) should have the benefit of being lighter than the smaller .132" wall shafts (I just did a quick wall thickness multiplied by circumference to get the cross sectional area of the tube material).
What am I missing?
 
I haven't measured the diameter of my old shafts yet but it looks like my old shafts are 3" so the weight of old and new is probably the easiest non-detructive method to compare wall thickness. If they weigh the same I'll just use the new ones, but if the old ones are signifficantly heavier then that indicates heavier wall as the tube ends should be the same....

the new shafts sure look very nice now that they're gold pearl painted :push:
 
I haven't measured the diameter of my old shafts yet but it looks like my old shafts are 3" so the weight of old and new is probably the easiest non-detructive method to compare wall thickness. If they weigh the same I'll just use the new ones, but if the old ones are signifficantly heavier then that indicates heavier wall as the tube ends should be the same....

the new shafts sure look very nice now that they're gold pearl painted :push:

Got it!
 
I don't think you're going to have a problem but I would like to know as well what the thickness of the 3" shafts are. Like I said for HD use, I'll still use Tom's 3.5" x .134 shafts. I haven't seen one of those fail in hard use.
 
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