Since I'm plannin on doing the swap this spring, been thinking about it more recently and I have a quick question. Since we have a 2 piece driveshaft and the front section needs to be shortened, why can't we go with a single piece? Since my car never came with 4wd, I had to "fab" up a carrier bearing mount that is good for the SPFI motor but won't hold up to the EJ power in any way.

 

So single piece driveshaft or shortened 2 piece with a new carrier bearing mount? I can get a custom one piece made since I got a decent hook up through work now.

Go for it. The two-piece can be tucked up higher because you can "hinge" the center of it.

I dont' know why your carrier bearing mount wouldn't work, though. All it does is take the weight off of the center of the driveshaft.

if my carrier bearing mount worked through all of the ************ i put the brat through.yours will work for street use.

well I made it from some metal from a bed frame and did it kinda half assed. I'll see if I can get a pic of it when its in the air when I do the struts on Tuesday. One side is welded to the car, the other is bolted in since while I was welding the one side in, I kinda caught the carpet on fire:Flame:

mine were bolted in.old bolts,bed rails(yep me too),i have even stopped on road trips to tighten the bolts. wheeling in between.i have put them through hell.and they never let me down.

 

i guess if you trust your work, you trust your work.if you don't,make anotherr shaft.

great question caboob. i always wondered if this could be done as well. my main worry was that the rear output of the transmission would be taking much more weight and i wondered if the additional vibrations as well would "round out" or affect the rear input area of the transmission that the driveshaft runs through.

 

i wanted to get an aluminum shaft made next time i pull the rear diff, which is going to be really soon. for me it would be less rotational mass and fewer ujoints. i wonder if driveline shops would have a lot to say about this.

 

post back if you find anything out!

EA81's are single peice. They are ~5" shorter, and run at a steeper angle.

 

Should be perfectly fine.

 

GD

no kidding. EA81 is a single piece set up? are they fitted like the EA82 - slide into the trans and bolted to the diff and that's it? so is the two piece design "better" and that's why they went to it? it doesn't seem like there's a reliability issue with it, i don't see anyone having issues with EA81 driveshafts and 5" shouldn't make much difference? i wouldn't be worried at all if it's was all bolts, i'm worried about that end that slides into the rear diff having "play" in it. seems like the answer is no then.

I'm running a single piece driveshaft....ej18 & Rx 'box....i never even considered going to a two piece driveshaft....its another bearing to (possibly) fail and you still got to mount the carrier...

that "play" you speak of gary is in the 2 piece as well.there is very little motion front and back from suspension movement.the 2 piece will add more clearance.but the one piece is more than suitable as well.

 

 

the issue people have is not getting the 2 piece driveshaft centered when they mount it to the tunnel.they say that this leads to an amzing amount of vibration.i have driven at more than 80 mph in monstaru and found very little vibration.if a guy takes his time ....mounting the 2 piece can be relatively simple.and if you put a new carrier bearing in before you mount it,you are less likely to feel vibration if you mess up.cheers, brian

yea, my lazy carrier bracket mounting combined with the questionable condition of the bearing itself when I installed it has lead to a little noise and vibration. But that's been about 20k miles, mostly city, all with an EJ22e.

 

I actually considered going to a one piece when I originally did the swap. but when I brought the driveshaft into a reputable driveline shop in the Twin Cities, they said they couldn't just cut out the center bearing/u-joint and weld in some new tube. they'd have to build a completely new shaft from scratch. They didn't look up specific parts, but he said it'd probably be in the $800-1k range. I laughed and left.....

I had a custom 1 piece driveshaft made when I put my 5 speed in. Drivelines NW, they used my old joints and new metric tubing for the shaft. No problems at all even with RWD and rainy/snowy drifting with a LSD.

With me, I don't really need a carrier bearing since I'm lowered so the angle won't be as bad as if it was a lifted rig. I think I'm going to go with a single aluminum driveshaft with the correct slip yoke and U-joint on the ends of it and I'll make sure that it'll have replaceable U-joints in it too.

 

As far as balance goes, if I have any issues, I can send it to Morgan Hill, CA to my dad's best friend who is the only guy on the west coast the Navy will have balance driveshafts for their submarines;)

Go for 1 piece, swapped in rx 5 spd in brat had to consider all options but since it didndt have a good place to mount center bearing I went with a single piece. 50 1/2 inches of new tube, old universals 185.00 and I was rolling again.

My personal preference is to shorten the single piece shaft.

My Rx is a two piece... and IIRC I had it shortened about 2"... either way should be fine on your car... but a whole new driveshaft will cost you big $$. My advice is to get an ea81 shaft and see how much it needs to be lengthened(if at all)... then check out the u joints... I paid about $80 for mine to be shortened... no worries yet.

IIRC an ea81 shaft will need to be lengthened about 4 inches. I'll have to check back on in my notebook to see exactly what it was.

My Rx is a two piece... and IIRC I had it shortened about 2"... either way should be fine on your car... but a whole new driveshaft will cost you big $$. My advice is to get an ea81 shaft and see how much it needs to be lengthened(if at all)... then check out the u joints... I paid about $80 for mine to be shortened... no worries yet.

Thats actually a good idea Phil, I'll see about doing that. Since I'm going to be putting some pretty good ponies through it, anything else I should worry about while I'm getting it lengthened or should it be fine?

here's an idea I had today. he center bearing can be removed. so I wonder if you could put the carrier bracket from an EA82 shaft, onto an EJ shaft.....

Go for 1 piece, swapped in rx 5 spd in brat had to consider all options but since it didndt have a good place to mount center bearing I went with a single piece. 50 1/2 inches of new tube, old universals 185.00 and I was rolling again.

 

likewise. there's a place in Des Moines, that will just take the old shaft stuff, cut off the ends and reuse if they can, and put a new tube on it. my last one piece was $135 for the 5 speed in my brat...

 

they just need the cap to cap measurement...

 

http://www.certifiedpower.com/cpi_desm_svrep.aspx