Drive shaft lengths (again)

[Arthur 20]

Are you sure it’s 4130? 

[petert 630]

Probably not, but you said you were going to use chrome moly rods, which is, and takes considerable skill to use.

 

I’d imagine they’re made of some type of special steel however and thus you’d need to be careful with heat.

Edited July 26, 2024 by petert

[Arthur 20]

Yeah. I just done the my trailing arm out of 25cromo4 and welded that with cromo rods. Didn’t seem too hard. But shaft seems even harder. I will try with good pre heating and see what I get. Is there a database of how long these shafts are this inners section alone.

Edited July 27, 2024 by Arthur

[SRDT 226]

Not knowing what steel PSA used it's better to assume you need to preheat and also let it cool in sand or inside an oven if you have a big one at hand.

A pressed sleeve and plug welds will add a lot of mechanical strength even if it turns out welds on the mystery steel are prone to crack over time.

[Arthur 20]

A sleeve was the plan indeed as soon as I found it to be hollow. Plug welds, I had to google. Underneath sleeve is just s*it metal but helps enormously to get it concentric. But I guess for good plug welds I need better steel sleeve as well. It would be a pain to drill as well this. 
I have dye check at work if that would help.  
 

Edited July 27, 2024 by Arthur

[Arthur 20]

Could try it like this. 
 

 

[petert 630]

Maybe make sure there is a 1mm gap between the shafts so the root pass penetrates into the sleeve?

Edited July 27, 2024 by petert

[Arthur 20]

Yeah, figured that myself and did exactly that. 

[Arthur 20]

Not realy time to take pictures but I got 2 passed like this. 

[Arthur 20]

 The welding did not feel much more difficult then even before but it warped more than expected. Now it’s 1/2mm bend. 

Edited July 28, 2024 by Arthur

[Tom Fenton 1,620]

I have done this before, now put it in a press and press it straight.

[Arthur 20]

Cleaned the weld up to check all low parts and all seem to be welded through. The clamp of the boot is on the weld so extra safety there. 

[Arthur 20]

 

Now on the car, the left shaft deemed perfect is too long. 

[Arthur 20]

Hi All.

 

Found this old post of mine and thought Id make an update. 

 

The welds of the driveshaft hold up. Running quaiffe now and can easily create 2 equal length black stripes. No issues at all with the shaft welds. No vibration as well with them being slightly warped from welding. 

 

Cheers

[petert 630]

Excellent news. How did you post the Satchshift post in the Archived section? I can't reply to it.

[Arthur 20]

Is that why I had no reply at all? 

[petert 630]

Correct. It’s read only for most users.

[Arthur 20]

Oops. Maybe admin can put it in the correct place 

[ArthurH 12]

Thinking that a 4 or so mm would suffice, I shortened a 1.6gti shaft by turning 2mm material from the mating faces at diff and hub ends - and a matching shortening of the spline into the diff to clear the centre pin.  I took that route to avoid the complications of weld quality, balance etc.  My MiG welding is 'average' at best.  I have no experience of stick or TIG.

 

I now need to shorten another 1.6 205 shaft by significantly more, nominally 12mm shorter

 

The painful story that has brought me to this point is documented here:

 

There is a lot of very useful information in this thread (thank you Arthur!) - I don't yet know if the 1.6 drive shaft will also be hollow.

 

As well as this thread, I also found this fairly recent post on the interweb https://dannix.net/lib/e-v-oh-speedwagon/chapter5

 

 

Given my lack of knowledge, is there anything in that post that could also be of use to me?  Or should I stick firmly to Arthur's method here?

 

[Arthur 20]

I think 205 shafts will not be hollow. 

[ArthurH 12]

Thanks Arthur.

 

Do you think lapping the joint as per the article will be worth the effort for me?

[Arthur 20]

The ones I got my inspiration of where indeed lapped yet on the outside