Upside to a 1 piece is that it is lighter (less rotating mass) and no centre bearing to fail in the future, plus aftermarket ones usually run grea sable/replaceable uni joints. Downside is that they are harder to balance and have a higher chance of issues/vibration at high rpm (not a problem though if you aren't breaking the speed limit often).
But then I use big mutha truck stands! Biggest problem I had was finding a jack with enough lift to clear em lol! So I rarely need to lift the centre post.
I second this..I have had a 1-piece for over 10 years too and it was the BEST thing I ever did...got rid of EVERY vibration and I have done nothing to it since. My opinion, pay the $300 and get it!
Someone(a long time ago)told me "It's very hard to teach Mugs". I have a feeling this is one such event.:zlove::br:
Paying $300 is an important step though, if you pay Billy down at welds-R-us $50 to make one it will give you nothing but trouble.
There are two types of Aftermarket Parts, CHEAP GOOD Pick one!:agree::brMine cost me $250 and was made by Hardie Spicer at Liverpool. No issues whatsoever).
Going against the trend....... A great number of people have fitted a onepiece tailshaft (with varying degrees of success), BUT, don't write of the 2 piece shaft just because the majority have switched from it. I have been successfully using the 2 piece tailshafts for over 10 yrs (coupe and 2+2) and have only needed 2 centre bearings (one on each) and one balance in all that time (not bad for an oem part that is 25yrs old ) Here's something for you to ponder :- If the 2 piece is "totally unecessary", why would Mr Nissan go to the extra trouble and expense of fitting them when a 1 piece could've been fitted at a fraction of the price So, before you follow the lemmings over the cliff , give some thought to retaining the 'good old 2 piece' in your zed...... an $80 centre bearing certainly comes in cheaper than a $350 1 piece replacement shaft and the 2 piece CAN be rebuilt, you just need to know where to go
If the unis are shot then you have no choice but to use a one piece Given *The cost of an oem centre carrier bearing *The age and km on most Z32, leading to the certainty that unis will fail sooner rather than later *The relatively low cost of a one piece shaft *Labour/time costs are the same I can't think of any good argument for retaining the two piece at this point
Be waiting a while because they CANT. This is the main reason one pce shafts are used. In a TT there is one CV and a Yoke uni for a one pce shaft. ( or a UNI and a yoke joint depending on who makes the shaft) generally the CV joints are reused when they make a one pce shaft. You only have to buy a yoke to make the new shaft up. Less cost. Over the years and 30+ drive shafts I have replaced. I have seen ONE 2 pce shaft where the uni joints where still good regardless of the condition of the centre bearing. Generally they are ALL notchy and should be replaced. Why one pce? Cost is why. and Harder to balance properly, an extra uni joint to fit up ( read this as weld in as machining out the stock uni shells for a replacement joint leaves a lot less material and would not be able to take the torque load required) The OEM uni joint shell is very slim and ANY replacement UNI I looked for is bigger in diameter of the uni cup which reduces the frame thickness of the UNI cage if machined out. The interesting part of the OEM unis is the diameter of the bearing needles is very small leaving a lot of room for a bigger diameter uni bearing journal. I checked into this a few years ago and I couldn't find ANY aftermarket uni joints even roughly close to the OEM ones for needle size and bearing journal/shaft diameter. The Bearing journals where all much smaller, with bigger needles ( ie: able to take less torque) So it all comes down to cost. There appears little reason NOT to go one pce. It works, Its cheaper and lighter. If the Universal joints are OK then just replace the centre bearing. This pic is similar to the z32 uni, (except you cant grease the Z32 one) See how small the casting is around the unijoint cup? By the time this is machined to take a new joint and retaining clip its way too thin.
BTW in my opinion, Using the CV joint in a new one pce shaft is NO good. It should be replaced with a Uni. The CV joint does slide forward and back as part of its construction usually about 15 mm. To fit it into the cup of a TT diff you have to slide the shaft forward to engage the gearbox then pull it back to fit the diff drive cup. This disengages the yoke by about 20mm and has less GB output shaft contact area. Also the CV can slide forward and back under load which isn't good. Replacing the CV with a uni joint and spacer fixes this issue. No like Like
this topic seems to have the same tones as the non interchangeable fuel pumps between 2+0 & 2+2..... a lot of myth mixed with a dash of B/S and a handful of keyboard warrior thrown in :rofl: When Stephen's N/A auto did the poopy thing we replaced it with a TT auto, sounds straight forward......... but 1/ the TT auto is LONGER 2/ the output shaft is LARGER in diameter 3/the output shaft has a different spline count which equals -> cant use the N/A front universal discovering these issues on a Saturday afternoon and knowing the car has to be back on the road on sunday night meant only one thing..... new shaft time the old drive shaft had the diff end cut off and cleaned up ready for a re-fit.. I then cut the uni end off of a spare TT shaft I had..... hunt through the 20 odd driveshafts that are in the loft and find one that's long enough and the right size in diameter... put the bits in the lathe..... tack up and slow spin for trueing... once trued, fully weld... spin at speed for oscillation/vibration I spun that shaft at the max speed my lathe will go, in reality that would mean Stephens zed would be doing up around 440kph :rofl: that shaft was a temporary "get ya going" build, Stephen was supposed to get one built by a driveline specialist...... 3 years later and the shaft I threw together is still under his zed and has not caused a single issue :br: the one under my zed (2+0) is also 'shed built'..... 5 years + of service I should probably get under the zed and do a check..... nah, its FINE even tho it has a heap more grunt smackin it around The missus' TT 2+2 zed has had the centre bearing replaced and no other issues since then..... for info..... imo, the centre bearing is what wears out first and its designed to be the weak link or wear indicator within the driveline assembly this B/S of wasting money on a onesie tailshaft its a bit like changing the wheel bearings because the tyre is worn out. Sure, if you have a unusual build that requires a 'special' shaft, get one ! Sure, if your killawaspies are bigger than most, get a onesie Sure, if a onesie is available for the price YOU want to pay, go for it Sure, if ya wallet has more dollars than sense, go for it :W: Most driveline shops can do a bearing swap in under half an hour, it takes a lot longer to do the removal and replacement of the shaft from the car and that's where you can save quite a few bucks by doing the R&R yourself and then delivering the shaft only ..... I'm sure most bogans could swapout a shaft on the bumodore or phalcan quicker than you can read this thread..... kinda makes ya wonder at the intellect around here at times hey :rofl:
we call them mousetrap stands..... yep the car's up on them and your underneath and then its not these stands are great, provided you don't get under the car :rofl:
Driveshaft workshop near town (Sydney)..... I can't remember the name at the moment, but I had my tailshaft balanced there. They were going to rebuild it for me but when they tested it they said everything was good. They supplied a new centre bearing and did a balance and I've never had a problem since. I forget the cost, but it was a hell of a lot cheaper than a one piece replacement tailshaft
Old m8 down here runs a small jobbing machine shop. One of the things they do is make custom tailshafts for hi-po road race cars. 3" is a pretty common size for a performance tailshaft and i have watched the boys make a tailshaft. Exactly as BadZX describes, the boys just spun up and aligned/assembled/welded the whole thing in a lathe. They used a dial guage and tapped the whole show this way and that until it ran true. They NEVER balance any of their driveshafts. I asked the question once and was greeted with guffaws and snorts of laughter and the reply that if the tailshaft is actually assembled and run tru to BEGIN with, then balancing isnt ever required given the outside diameter of the whole show its very lunlikely to have a yoke with enough weight imbalance to create any noise. The tube they use is pretty funky stuff anyway and it usually pretty straight to begin with. Balancing is usually employed to cover the tracks of sloppy assembly in the first place resulting in runout andpossibly misaligned cardan yokes. There are few, if any tailshaft specialists around who actually know what happens with Cardan joints. They are, as a rule just dogsbodies who happen to know how to weld and are shown how to make these things in numbers. The alignment issue with a multi-piece tailshaft is just to ensure that the yokes on the cardan joints are in alignment. Just in case anybody doesnt know, uni joints are actually called a CARDAN Joint. Its imperative that the yokes at each end of the shaft are aligned during assembly or the shaft will run out and vibrate like a bitch... ask me!!! My bad. Didnt pay attention one night assembling the 2 piece on the Ute Of Death. So, alignment of an existing shaft this is nothing more that pulling the back flange off the front half and turning it around on the splines till the front yoke on the back half of the shaft assembly is oriented that same as the yokes on the front half. Anybody can "align" an existing tailshaft! Making it sound like some kind of specialist job is outright lying. Its only an issue when fabricating a shaft from scratch. Given the number of splines for the flange to sit on, its bloody hard to get it wrong when only one position will line everything up!!!!!! There are few advantages of one shaft over the other. One piece are lighter and easier to fabricate with replaceable cardans but are more prone to failure in longer lengths on big horsepower applications due to tailshaft twisting and "whipping" on impact loads and do transmit additional driveline noise. 2 piece shafts are very short sections so no chance of tailshaft whip, will run very quietly and vibration free if assembled well but are usually fitted with non replaceable Cardans and in the TT, a funky CV joint as well and are significantly heavier (as if that really matters in a road car). FWIW, I use a ShaftMasters steel one-piece in my Zed. The oem 2 piece had notched and stiff uni's and vibrated quite a bit between 60 and 80 k's and having the whole show modified for replaceable uni's just isnt cost efective against a 350 dollar one piece. E E
Right, so that's not a rebuild is it If the uni's are gone on the two piece tailshaft, the only way to replace them is to cut the entire end off and replace it, then re balance both shafts. Can be done, but it would be cheaper to just buy a new two piece from the states. Of course cheaper again to go one piece.
There's an old saying..... "Don't fix it if it 'aint broke" I was prepared to have them rebuild it BUT they said everything was okay (except the centre bearing) so my problem was solved.
