Axleshaft and driveshaft spare storage re-revisited

[CyberSniper]

See previous thread here.

I know this is long... but please bear with me.


I had been contemplating putting my axleshaft and driveshaft spares in PVC pipe for quite some time.

So far, I've bought:
10' stick of 4" schedule 30 (thinwall drainfield pipe)
2 caps for the schedule 30
10' stick of 4" schedule 40 (wastewater pipe)
2 schedule 40 weld-to-female-threaded 4" adapters
2 4" screw caps
2 4" schedule 40 weld caps

I've got about $60 into it thus far. PVC stuff is expensive around here. About $12 more than Home Depot from my hometown.

I've got my spare rear driveshaft in the 4" thinwall stuff. I cut the pipe to 54" (driveshaft is about 53 3/8"). I taped the yoke end with wide electrical tape with about 10 wraps to try to keep the universal joint caps from going AWOL. The slip yoke end I wrapped a doubled-over blue shop rag and then covered it all with tape. I painted the driveshaft.

The front 10 bolt axleshafts easily fit inside the 4" schedule 40 pipe and the weld-to-female-threaded adapters. They're painted, coated with Maxima Chain Wax, and covered as well but I need to find a way to support the ends of the shafts so they don't flop around inside. I'll probably be making it out of wood.

The intention is to hold the three tubes together using some giant chicken bands/zip ties GM uses to ship large objects.


The front driveshaft, being Saginaw type, has a flange on it just under 5". So, it'd have to go inside a 6" PVC pipe. That runs about $37 per stick around here with the cost of fittings unknown. Also, the flange on a 10 bolt rear axleshaft is just a bit over 7" in diameter. I have no idea how much a piece of 8" PVC costs but I know no one has any around here. Since I only need 3' for one and 3.5' for the other I'd be buying a lot of pipe I don't need.

Got any ideas for the remaining two shafts?

I'm tired of having stuff loose in the back of my truck. Last weekend I got to listen to my crap roll around in the back of my truck even though I had all the shafts between my two Hi-Lifts on my bedmat. My goal is to have everything secure in the back of my truck. That means mounting at least one Hi-Lift to the box side, shovel to the other box side, and ax to the truck box. I don't really need to carry two Hi-Lifts anymore now that I've got a winch. There are some things that'll probably remain loose like the tubes with shafts in them, my multimount winch, and my recovery toolbox. Now that I have a winch and don't really need to carry my 5/16" chain and 4 ton Come-Along so I have some more room in the truck box.

Except for last weekend, I usually throw all my junk in my truck box except the winch and the recovery gear toolbox. Last weekend I had a bunch of camping gear and a cooler in the truck box.


Also, what do I paint the PVC with to keep it from decaying? I have been told only to use Latex paint because anything else will attack the polyvinylchloride but I know that Latex won't survive much roughy handling.

 

[motofool]

maybe have it lined with bedliner material to protect it?

 

[mogas]

I use pipe insulation foam to protect mine. Kind of like rollbar padding. Cheap and effective protection. /forums/images/graemlins/pimp1.gif

 

[jjlaughner]

if you have 6" left at the end of the pipe stuff some work rags in there to keep the shafts from sliding back and forth making a clunking sound anytime you go up or down a hill.

I like the water pipe insulation tip /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif I have a couple 4" PVC tubes I'm using so I'll have to try that.

Also thinking about a couple of those moisture packs since the tubes will be sealed going from hot to cold alot. /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[CyberSniper]

Well, I assembled all the stuff today. I used some wax-removal towels to wrap the ear area on the front shafts to keep them from sliding around. The end of the shaft fits nicely into the "square" part of the screw caps. Since the other end fits into the convex part of the other endcap the shafts don't slop around. They do move side to side a bit but you can't hear it. It turned out nice.

I tried zip-tying it all together. It looked great on paper but in practice it doesn't work so well.

First off, since the caps keep the tubes from contacting each other they tend to twist so the tubes touch.

Second, the thinwall caps for the rear driveshaft are too weak. The driveshaft split the cap when I tried seeing how well it'd survive having the driveshaft slide into it.

Third, it weighs a lot. I'd say it's easier to carry around my multimount winch.

It's still a lot better than what I had before but it didn't live up to my expectations.

 

[RockinChevy]

Bringing this back from the dead....

I'm getting spare parts and I'd like to secure it also. Has anybody come up with innovative ideas since this thread? I've always had PVC in my mind but wondered if it would ever hold up. Show some pics and some details if you guys don't mind. Thanks.

 

[sarasotausmc]

I have to take pics, but I zip tied mine to the brackets that used to hold the interior panels to the inside bedwall. I tied them down as tight as I could, because I am noticing some stress on those brackets. The axles rest on the fenderwell (which still have the carpet) and put some pieces of rug in between where the metal touches metal. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them. They fit well where they are at, and with the ghetto sound proofing, make no noise at all back there. Plus, they are out of the way of everything else I carry back there.

Haven't figured out what to do with the drive shaft yet.

There's a couple of write ups here about a deck at the same height of the fenderwells to allow for some storage underneath, and not killing the storage space in the back. I plan to do that sometime or another.