whaty about in 15 years when the rust starts to pit deep

 

good excuse for a new truck

 

I just wonder if the parts are going to be rusting out in 15 years, expecially in the rust belt!!!

 

I've always had good luck using por15 on all my underbody. Stuff is indestructable if it's applied right.

As for the DS balance issue, I doubt that paint would affect it at all. When my buddy and I would make custom drive shafts for his chevy we would use a hose clamp to balance them for testing purposes and that was very minor. I suspect the not painting has to do with money savings.

Those driveshafts are designed extra heavy duty to absorb way more force than a factory powertrain will ever put on them. Keeping this in mind, there is ALMOST no way for them to corrode badly enough in the vehicle's designed lifetime with or without paint. If its ALMOST impossible to corrode to a point of failure without paint, why paint it?

This is based on my experience around the auto industry, and I have several friends that work for Dana and Fleetwood RV. According to them, the biggest P.I.T.A. is driveshafts for RV's... due to the large force placed over a long distance. But much to our chagrin, guess what isn;t painted there either?

 

I REALLY DOUBT IT! My 86 and 89 F350's were strong winter runners experienceing the worst MI has had to offer. The corners and floorboards dissappeared along with much of the sheet metal, but those DS are lookin good :-) I can;t imagine ford's quality would decrease over time.

 

i thought they jsut recently stopped painting them around when the superduties came out? 98?

 

If any of my fords had a painted DS, the paint dissappeared LONG before I got them. None of my chevy's had painted ds, but my S10 was aluminum...

 

Hmmm, oh well

 

Here is a portion of the underside of my truck. Finally able to get pictures up. Check out my gallery for the full story.

 

Just bought a2000 model kenworth t800 today....its driveshaft is painted??

 

The frame on the new '08 Super Duty is painted.

 

it must be cost. no technical reason for not painting the ds. they are just being cheap. you won't find a european car that has un-painted steel anywhere. i dare say porsche and bmw driveshafts spin a bit faster than a ford one. i have never seen any paint flake or come off any of my bmw's. not even on the race car with a stock 175k mile driveshaft.

 

It's actually not paint. It is a revised coating process they are using because of the limitations on wax. It's similar to the primer process they use on the bodies.

 

It was primarily a cost issue. One of the big 3s (I believe Ford) requested and bid jobs for painted driveshafts. I haven't inquired much about it. Just know it is an accommodation my employer has made for 1 or more of it's customers.

 

a 10 year old thread...returned to life.

Welcome Cece1125
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