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I need some square tube for a front drive shaft

GsxrMike

GsxrMike

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I went to my local metal supply shop and tried to get some 2.5'' square tubing and 2.0" square tubing to make a front drive shaft but the guy told me it would be a press fit and that the weld seam on the 2.5 would be in the way. Does anybody know where I can order some tube to use for a front drive shaft or have any other ideas? Thanks in advance.
 
GsxrMike said:
I went to my local metal supply shop and tried to get some 2.5'' square tubing and 2.0" square tubing to make a front drive shaft but the guy told me it would be a press fit and that the weld seam on the 2.5 would be in the way. Does anybody know where I can order some tube to use for a front drive shaft or have any other ideas? Thanks in advance.
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I always just grind a groove in the 2" so it will slide into the 2.5" Then its sorta keyed so you can't phase it wrong. I've used this method on all of the square shafts I've made.
 
Grind a groove in the smaller (2") that matches up with the weld seam. You can use a grinder to do this. Make it much wider than the weld seam. Make sure you use a flapper disk to clean up the groove and the corners of the tube. This is what I did and has worked great. Also put a bunch of grease on the tube to aid in slip. Check for any binding and you should be good to go.

Looks like Clark types faster than i do
 
I have to agree with what the others have said. I used receiver tube to make mine which does not have the weld seam inside but it has alot more slop in it then regular square tube. I am planning to remake it with regular tube sometime this winter.
 
Ok I understand grinding a groove for the seam but what do I do about the press fit? I read a thread on here where someone made one with square tube and didn't need to groove or polish anything.
 
GsxrMike said:
Ok I understand grinding a groove for the seam but what do I do about the press fit? I read a thread on here where someone made one with square tube and didn't need to groove or polish anything.
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I had to groove mine for the weld seam and it was certainly not a press fit (using 2.5" and 2" tube). The tubes fit tight into each other but they slide in and out of each other quite smooth.
 
The outside tube needs to be DOM. DOM tube does not have a seam inside.
 
4X4HIGH said:
The outside tube needs to be DOM. DOM tube does not have a seam inside.
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not arguing but why??ive had 2 the clarkjw24 and myself built,he has 1,cb77gmc has 1 and pipeline had 2..none of us have ever had a problem thats 6 shafts all made out of junk steel with NO PROBLEMS..
 
you need to buy reciever hitch box tubing for the outside. if you find some let me know i need some to.
 
38377k5 said:
It doesn't NEED to be seamless (which DOM usually is) but it does make everything easier. None of the steel places around me had seamless square tube.
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You're absolutely correct, it doesn't HAVE to be DOM/seamless but it makes it alot easier and DOM/seamless tubing if VERY precision on the ID making for a better shaft.
 
I have both 2" and 2.5" square DOM on my front shaft. It wasn't quite a tight fit so I used some teflon tape to take some of the slop out of it. Once I forgot to unlock my hubs coming from a solo wheeling trip and I got no vibes at 75 mph.
 
BadAss90K5 said:
I have both 2" and 2.5" square DOM on my front shaft. It wasn't quite a tight fit so I used some teflon tape to take some of the slop out of it. Once I forgot to unlock my hubs coming from a solo wheeling trip and I got no vibes at 75 mph.
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X2, I've run mine up to 60 or so and never noticed any vibes. I think a lot of it matters on how closely you center the square tube on the round weld yokes.
 
38377k5 said:
X2, I've run mine up to 60 or so and never noticed any vibes. I think a lot of it matters on how closely you center the square tube on the round weld yokes.
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Yup, right on point. My buddy's blind in one eye and his other one is the "calibrated" eye. He's pretty darn sharp. My expression = :eek1: when I watched him build it. I ought to have him play that calibrated eye game next time I see him, just to see his score.
 
I just built one for the front D60 last week using 2.5 and 2.0 x.250 wall steel tube.

I milled a 3/16 slot all the way down the 2.0 where the weld seam lines up in the 2.5 tube.

I used a 1410 slip spline yoke for the transfer case side,,which fit perfectly into the end of the 2.5 tube. Squared it and welded it first.

Then I fit the 2.0 tube into the 2.5 ( after polishing up the 2.0 for a nice slip fit) and mounted the shaft in the vise with the 2.0 facing up.

I then used a 4 ft level to square the round 1410 weld yoke to the end of the 2.0 tube by using a c-clamp on the previously welded slip yoke and another c-clamp on the round weld yoke to hold everything in place. I then used a small torpedo level to check square on all axis's and tacked it on to the tube.

Trimmed the tubes to length in the chop saw,,,greased it up and bolted it in..ended up with about 6' of compression and about 14" of extension.

It runs nice and true...plan is to pull it back out and cap the inner tube and install 4 grease fittings,,just ran out of time to do these...
 
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