Square Driveshafts??? help for weekend trip, thank you

marty79

marty79

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Location
Newton, NC
Hey guys so I made my first ever square driveshaft and I need help/opinions if it "looks" worthy to you guys from the pictures. Outside of all jokes and bashing about my welds/control arms and build, I'd like some honest opinion of if this looks ok to you guys to use. I ground out the ends like you're supposed to and inserted the square tube into each end and did 3 passes figuring that would be enough?? I don't want to cause more issues running this, just trying to eliminate the weak link which now seems to be the rear driveshaft. Thank you for your help
2016-05-12 15.57.16.jpg
2016-05-12 15.57.31.jpg
2016-05-12 15.57.58.jpg
 
I made sure to clean very thoroughly between each layer of weld and layed it on pretty thick on the third pass. I usually would just make something and go with it but this is new realm to me and don't want to screw up the transfer case or rear pinion bearings by this setup so just making sure it is made ok/good enough according to what you guys see. thank you
 
Jody Treadway said:
I'd look for the bird flying around your shop with a bad case of diarrhea.
o_O

It looks good enough to hold for what you're doing with it. Ever considered a driveshaft safety loop?
Click to expand...
i guess that was a joke for the yellow faded paint? lol (I hope).
So it looks good for my setup. Thank you very much
 
Thank you Jody, I will look into doing that but don't think I have time before this trip. I hope this square one will hold up and not be the weak link. From what I've heard/been told, they hold up as strong as needs to be and usually other parts will give first but I will make one of those soon. Thank you
 
Just to be certain. This iss for the toy and not the motorhome, correct?
And you are towing the toy to the ride, correct?

Ill wait on those answers to respond..
 
Ron said:
Just to be certain. This iss for the toy and not the motorhome, correct?
And you are towing the toy to the ride, correct?

Ill wait on those answers to respond..
Click to expand...
yes of course for my jeep and yes it's trailered there always. I know can't run them on the street and people have told me for a while to make one as they are very strong so i decided to make one finally with the one I broke in half last trip.
 
Rock On then.
 
I see you still can't clean a weld.
 
I thought I was gonna see some old school "4 spline" driveshaft tech.


Carry on.
 
Jeff B said:
I see you still can't clean a weld.
Click to expand...
well I've not bee taught the "proper" way to clean a weld so I guess not lol. I did make sure to really really scrape away the slag and wire brush the heck out of it in between each pass to make sure it grabs the best it can.
Thank you very much everyone for your input and now i'm exited to have little peace of mind or my rear driveshaft not twisting in half. See everyone this weekend!! Safe travels for those coming, It's gonna be Muddy it looks like!!
 
I would run it
 
marty79 said:
well I've not bee taught the "proper" way to clean a weld so I guess not lol. I did make sure to really really scrape away the slag and wire brush the heck out of it in between each pass to make sure it grabs the best it can.
Thank you very much everyone for your input and now i'm exited to have little peace of mind or my rear driveshaft not twisting in half. See everyone this weekend!! Safe travels for those coming, It's gonna be Muddy it looks like!!
Click to expand...

You're smart enough to try to weld

you're smart enough to argue to nearly any advice

You're smart enough to build a jeep (questionable)


But you're to dumb to use google to pose a question that can only help you? :shaking:


Let me google that for you
 
So if you made a square driveshaft, but don't have a telescoping slip joint to keep from rotating (square tubing inside square tubing), then why didn't you just make a nice simple round driveshaft which would be easier to make with your existing joints?

Is this about heavy wall square tubing being cheaper than heavy wall round? I can't see any other reason to use square, it's not as strong or as torsionally stiff as round for the same wall thickness and nominal size... Am I missing something here?

Also, forget about making that with enough precision to balance, ever. It sounds like you've already figured that one out.
 
Last edited:
It definitely passed the test today! That was a good beat down on Ol Stumpy this morning.
 
Back
Top