Half shafts with U-Joints vs. CV Joints

[Ian Anderson]

Ron

To answer your question there are circlips on both ends of the driveshaft.

For that reason you have to make sure your lengths are accurate as the length will change from bump to droop.

I ended up breaking a roll pin on the adaptor on the gearbox when the drive shaft length was too short

A reasonable place to start would be the driveshadts of a Mk2 VW Transporter - correct lengths for Renault Box to GT40 / Ford Granada hubs.
(OK I do not know how much torque they will take but in a transporter van take serious driver abuse!)

Ian

[Eric A.]

Originally Posted by Cliffbeer2

One recommendation with regard to CV joints: stay away from "rebuilt" CV joints. There's nothing "rebuilt" about a rebuilt CV joint. Without exception the "rebuilding" consists of simply disassembling the the race and the balls and replacing obviously worn balls with slightly less worn used balls. And, perhaps, where the race is obviously and significantly scored/worn then a less scored/worn used race will utilized. New CVs aren't that much more expensive than "rebuilt" so go with new!

I have been told that rebuilding the CV joints consists of grinding the grooves in the outer races to remove the worn spots and installing larger balls to fit. I can see that this would work if the outer races are hardened through or at least deep enough that the grinding doesn't go through the hardened area. Otherwise they would need to be rehardened.

[Kalun D]

One of the main reasons for development of CV's was front wheel drive cars which need more degrees of articulation for turning radius.

Another thing to consider when setting up CV's you don't want them running dead straight at ride height, you want at least some angle in one plane. This is so the balls don't run in one spot which will cause premature wear.

Dozier

Agreed U-joints work fine if set up correctly, and they are less than 1/2 the price if you're needing custom built.


Cliffbeer2

you are absolutely correct when talking about aftermarket reman CV's. But the major manufactures do a pretty good job. For instance Honda does reman CV axles, much less than brand new but considerably more than aftermarket.

Wharran

SWEEEETTTT!!!!

[Ron Earp]

Originally Posted by Kalun_D

you are absolutely correct when talking about aftermarket reman CV's. But the major manufactures do a pretty good job. For instance Honda does reman CV axles, much less than brand new but considerably more than aftermarket.

I get the impression the remans are actually quite fine to use. When researching replacements for that 944 S2 I owned for a bit I found the SCCA and PCA Porsche guys were using remans and they were lasting many years of race use. Lots and lots of Spec Miata guys do the same.

All this talk about shafts and so forth reminds me that I've been lucky to not hav a U Joint or half shaft failure on my racing Z, but so far it hasn't happened. And they are definitely old. Maybe I should take those off and service them before I have a failure.

[Kalun D]

Ron,

AFAIK, the factory remans are okay, the aftermarket remans are pretty questionable. NAPA is the only aftermarket one I've seen that's halfway decent but still not up to the factory caliber.


As regards to Ujoints CV's I agree that U-joints are fine for rear axle applications as long as they are set up correctly. You might sacrifice a little rotating weight, that's the only real difference. I drove Z's and 510's for years and never had a problem with the rear Ujoint axles.