What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

How much front driveshaft slip?

There are a couple things here.

Long travel shafts are heavy. Leaf springs suck. Long travel shafts wear out faster. Leaf springs suck. Limiting straps are a part of a well designed suspension system, leaf springs suck. A center limit strap may alleviate your problem, leaf springs suck.

Time to take a step back. Change the approach, change the thought process.

Time to make a new video!

Did I mention if you link it all these problems go away
 
got the video almost done. lol Links are prob in the future but not for a while. Need a solution for now unfortunately
 
@blazinzuk I think linking his front end at this point would be a rash & expensive reaction. Do leaves have disadvantages, yes. Can you engineer out most of those disadvantages, yes. Can they be made to perform reliably and without issue, yes. All @4wheelinfury needed to do was set his driveshaft up correctly the first time as suggested and you wouldn't have heard a peep from him about leafspring related issues
 
Linking doesn't always have to be the end all be all answer. Even if @4wheelinfury did link it you are assuming it would be setup correctly. If he bought a kit from say ORD where all the guess work has already been handled now we're talking about several thousand dollars, ($3,350 to be exact). That's a LOT of replacement driveshafts and again, he'd only need one if he got the right one.
 
Just put it in 2wd. I quit locking my hubs in for the most part in the sand.

My front shaft has held up to a ridiculous amount of abuse in the sand. It uses a lot of slip, and uses it often. I GREASE EVERYTHING every time I go. U joint, rod end, ball joint, drive shaft etc. Stuff holds up if you do that.

If you don't want to cycle springs correctly, then you need to get a monster heavy shaft like Jesse had.

If you take the springs apart and cycle everything, mark where your bump stops will stop the axle, and measure slip accordingly, and you will not have issues with it.

Flexing out is not cycling.
 
I guess it depends on how fast you want to go and do you want no vibrations....I know ive mentioned that here.

Theres a lot of guys rocking the piss out of square front shafts...

If you want vibration free and something thats going to work with your current setup I think youll be having issues until you pull the trigger on HAD or similar 42 degree front shaft. I mean you could limit strap it and run something not so agressive as the 42 degree...

The high angle shaft would be cheaper then linking and it would serve you no matter the suspension setup, so theres that too.

I guess if it were me and I wanted no vibrations id limit strap it and run the same shaft with an 8 inch slip or just get the wallet out and buy the end all front shaft...
 
truck-oholic said:
@blazinzuk I think linking his front end at this point would be a rash & expensive reaction. Do leaves have disadvantages, yes. Can you engineer out most of those disadvantages, yes. Can they be made to perform reliably and without issue, yes. All @4wheelinfury needed to do was set his driveshaft up correctly the first time as suggested and you wouldn't have heard a peep from him about leafspring related issues
Click to expand...


Kind of a joke. I have played lots with long travel leafs. If you already have leafs that are good it is much harder to justify the cost. But starting from the get go links usually make more sense.
 
Id link mine if I did it again, but too late now at this point in my life, and it just plain works. New build sounds like a better plan.

I was just scared of the upfront cost and project it would be, at that time with mine.
With leaf springs, you can still have a working vehicle, and piece stuff together as you have cash. Links, is kinda an all in at once thing.
 
Deuling nailed on the link kit. It's one big cost and a good bit of work all at once. Worth it but you're into a project. Good leaves can be bolted on in the driveway. Blazinzuk also nailed it, if you look at both systems from start to finish, cost isn't as different as you think and the benefits are awesome. One factor that levels the cost is the driveshaft that started this thread and with links you do just about anything you want because you use less than an inch of slip. Leaves obviously require a lot more thought and expense. Then there are things like the limit straps that sometimes have to be added to leaves but come with the coilover kit. Another "hidden" cost.

'fury, I think your problem is impact and binding under throttle coupled with not enough engagement for stability. When that shaft is out that far and you land on it under power you bind the splines and just buckle the shaft. It's not twisting, it's trying to collapse while it's carrying torque and it's too slender at that point. There's is some additive stress of the torque plus the buckling loads involved too.

Those same impacts/jumps, etc in 2wd should work just fine since the power isn't there to bind the splines. That's the problem with the "4 spline" or square tube driveshafts: you don't have to put much torque on them to make them NOT want to slip and when you combine it with systems that need to move a bunch you have a recipe for breaking stuff. Toyotas make 4 splines look pretty good with 22Rs but in a truck with weight and power they tend to break stuff. You might be lucky to be tearing up shafts, the next step is that the shaft holds up and doesn't want to slip and it pushes the T-case off the transmission. Actually experience indicates that if you just had a couple more inches of spline engagement it would be stable and could just plunge and not buckle. It looks like you have plenty of length to make the tube longer to bury more slip at ride height and still not bottom at full stuff. You do have to have some safety room at full stuff so when everything flexes around and pushes back you don't bottom out but you have like 2 inches of insurance and only need one or less. You could limit strap it on the diff side and another truck I've seen is a limit strap on the pinion web or attached to the pinion area of the diff so that when you're at full droop and land on the power the pinion can't pull down and make this all way worse.

I had a buddy that helped fab a top of the line short course truck (Rob Mac's air shock SODA truck) and the guy that set up the rear suspension designed the layout such that driveshaft plunge was less than 1/8" just because of this problem. When you cycle full suspension travel with 800hp on the shaft the splines actually don't like to move and they take out transmission thrust surfaces. Same problem just at a little lower level but it still breaks stuff.
 
Yeah the cost is really not that different in the end.

You need good shocks and good bump stops in either case. Coil overs just happen to be that all in one. (until you add bypasses later).



On the other hand, I was in 4wd here... It is my favorite picture saying Eff You, I have leaf springs, 4wd, and it does whoops and jumps and stuff :flipoff7:

bumped and stuffed blazer.jpg
 
Leaf springs can and do work well.

If you want to max out your capability with leaf springs, you have to mod. J
Stephen said:
Leaf springs: they don't not work.

That's a cool pic Adam!
Click to expand...


Best thing said about leaf springs ever lol.

Most people are not aware of the extensive amount of mods needed for long travel leafs. They tend to try to cheat and get away with certain things.

Like driveshafts
 
Leaf spring cycling is a pain in the ass time consuming process, and I doubt very many people actually do it.

Flexed it out on this log though, so ill set my bumps there and measure for driveshaft.


That pic above shows how much forward the axle moves on droop. And It just barely rubs the rear of the fenders when I stuff it.
 
4wheelinfury said:
man, we lost the plot on this thread huh?
Click to expand...

I think it's running the right way. Not only looking at the shaft but the whole suspension systems and how they work ( And how they don't ) with regards to the front shaft.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom