Hurkin' big driveshaft
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Elder User
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From: Seattle
Hurkin' big driveshaft
Why is the driveshaft on my 2000 Ranger so huge? It's a massive piece of obviously welded aluminum.
I vaguely remember hearing something about this in the forum a long while back but this is a new truck - welding on metal hardly seems like a solution you'd find on a production line truck.
I vaguely remember hearing something about this in the forum a long while back but this is a new truck - welding on metal hardly seems like a solution you'd find on a production line truck.
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Elder User
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From: Seattle
No I got it brand spanking new, but I can snap a few shots. Maybe I'm mistaken about the welds, hard to tell sometimes lying on your back in the shadows looking at a greasy hunk of metal.
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From: South Carolina
Umm, the entire body is welded together from stamped panels of steel, the frame is welded together, and yes, the driveshaft tube has to be welded to the yokes at each end. 
Hee Hee! - all kidding aside, you might be looking at the weights that were welded on to balance the driveshaft. They would look like a curved washer with a blob of weld on each end.
Hee Hee! - all kidding aside, you might be looking at the weights that were welded on to balance the driveshaft. They would look like a curved washer with a blob of weld on each end.
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Elder User
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From: Seattle
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Freshman User
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From what I've been told, the torque is spread out better over a larger diameter shaft. That way they can use alum. which is lighter. If they made a smaller shaft out of alum, it would twist and then snap.
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Post Fiend
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From: Durant, OK (SOSU)
Right. Since it's aluminum it doesn't have the torsional stress of other materials (cast iron), and thus it would tend to wrap under heavy torque. Those welds are normal factory welds, I was thinking you meant like in the middle of the shaft or something.
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Elder User
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From: Seattle
You know I didn't actually think that was the driveshaft. Looking at it I thought it was some sort of shroud or covering for the real one.
That doesn't explain the horrible weld job they did on the yolk side, but it makes sense to me what I'm seeing now.
That doesn't explain the horrible weld job they did on the yolk side, but it makes sense to me what I'm seeing now.
Posting Guru
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From: Slatington PA
Originally Posted by eigenvector
But if that ain't a weld I'm blind or something. It is aluminum, it even says Alcoa on the side.
Post Fiend
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From: Eastern WA
Originally Posted by eigenvector
But back to my question, why is it so frickin' huge?
*That weld you are looking at was not done by hand, it was done on a jig that rotates the driveshaft at a controlled rate of speed while the weld bead is being layed. BTW, I don't see anything *horrible* on the weld in your pic.
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Elder User
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From: Seattle
Well I won't grind and polish the welds, which to me do look sloppy, but I guess the transmission don't care. I am getting a hankering for polishing those terribly rusted driveshafts and u-joints it's mated to. My god those things are rusty.