Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

[Mark42]

Just waiting for a little warmer weather to install it. Its from a 2000 T/A w/about 70K miles on it. Came with two new GM universal joints which have been installed. Man, that plastic the factory uses to hold the original U joints is a pain to deal with.

After the new joints went in, the shaft was cleaned up, as there was some under coat overspray on one side, and a few scratches. Wet sanded the shaft with 400 grit, then polished with a power buffer and some polishing compound until it had a nice satin finish. Left the aluminum end castings alone, just cleaned off dirt/oil/undercoat.

Made sure I didn't polish off any paint marks or the original UAW sticker w/part number (12564003). Also used 400 grit and machine oil to remove rust on the trans yoke spline shaft where it was exposed outside the tail shaft seal. Just wanted to be sure any residual rust would not damage the tail shaft seal. Also put the yoke on the wire wheel to remove rust, then gave it a a couple coats of black rustolium.

So here it is, ready to install. Not bad for $75 and an evenings work, huh?

[Fondle]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

damn that looks nice, to bad it will be filthy again shortly lol

[Mark42]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

damn that looks nice, to bad it will be filthy again shortly lol

Yeah, it will. I really had no intention of polishing it. Just wanted to install the new U joints. Then a little steel wool with carb cleaner to remove undercoat on one side. Then I realize one side is shiny and the other dull. So I give it the once over with wet 400 grit. Looks nice, what will the buffer do? Next thing ya know.... it looks like that.

And that's what happens when I'm board and in the work shop. :eek:

[Leonard 3.8L]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Whoa; nice :D. I want one for my car!

[truekoa]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

man that thing looks brand new!

at least it'll look nice when u first install it, enjoy while it lasts lol

[techsan23]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Looks good; I ended up polishing mine too. If you shoot a little clear on it, it will slow down the oxidation.

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Word of advice, get it balance before you put it in. It's only like $40 bucks most places.

[Mark42]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Word of advice, get it balance before you put it in. It's only like $40 bucks most places.

Thanks. I'm going to look around and see who I can find local.

[whitdog54]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Thanks. I'm going to look around and see who I can find local.

Dont balance it yet. I didnt get mine balanced and I have no problems. Install it first. If you have vibrating issues, then get balanced. But it should already be balanced anyways. Might save yourself 40 bucks

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Dont balance it yet. I didnt get mine balanced and I have no problems. Install it first. If you have vibrating issues, then get balanced. But it should already be balanced anyways. Might save yourself 40 bucks

Differing opinions here. I'd rather just balance it and not have to worry about yanking it out again. It's not extremely difficult, but I can think of much better ways to spend my time.

[Mark42]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Something to note with the aluminum D/S and balancing: The factory put an aluminum D/S in their high speed rated Fbodies. Cars with high speed tires and v8's and low ratio rear gears. At 120mph, the shaft is spinning fast, and aluminum is less mass and therefore, less chance of oob issues being noticed.

Also, note that the aluminum D/S are balanced for high speed driving, where steel shafts are balanced for lower highway speeds.

So.... assuming that I marked the yoke and shaft properly for re-assembly in the same orientation, (I did), then the tiny bit the new U joints might be oob is fairly insignificant.

Conversely, if the shaft was dropped, bent in collision, etc, then it pays to balance.

A 30" hardened steel straight edge I have shows zero bend/bow to the shaft at this time.

Seeing as the D/S is easy to R&R, I will probably put off balancing unless there is a vibration.

Besides, I can't find a shop that can balance D/S in my area. LOL!

One question:

The spline on the D/S has one spline missing. Does that align with a "double" spline on the trans, or is it there to allow trans fluid/air to escape the bottom of the yoke as the shaft moves in/out?

[cam98aro]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

wow, that looks nice, good job

anyways, i wouldnt get it balanced, the shaft is balanced at the factory and not on the car, so the shaft itself is balanced, i would only get it balanced if you feel vibrations.

about your connect on the missing spline, that is very interesting, from what i know, you dont have to match it up to anything, when i did mine, i just slipped it in and i was done with it, in all of my readings i have never seen that come up before

im not really sure what it is for, maybe someone has a trans sitting around and can see if the tail shaft has a double spline on it, i dont remember having to turn the driveshaft until it fit in.

[Watazz]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

Yea i just did mine like that too. I might shoot it with some clear before i do the install though. Also my D/s also has the missing spline. But like i said it isnt installed yet. It came out of a 2002 ws6 with like 15000 miles on it. The guy i got it from swaped the ls1 and 6 speed trans into a RX7.

[BallerMaro13]

Re: Aluminum Drive Shaft ready to go in....

looks gorgeous :tup: much better than my alum. shaft sitting in the garage waiting on me haha.