Shaft Lengths

I have been hunting for ways to stretch the rear of my xj650 project. Seems no one around me will take on the job of lengthening a shaft. In my searches I have uncovered the following.

DRIVE SHAFT........YEAR/MODEL........................OVERALL LENGTH..NOTES
2H7-46172-00-00....82 XJ1100.........................10-1/8".........1
5G2-46172-00-00....81-83 XJ750.......................11-3/16"........2
2H7-46172-00-00....78-81 XS1100......................10-1/8".........1
1J7-46172-01-00....77-79 XS750.......................10-13/16".......4
3J2-46172-00-00....80-81 XS850.......................9-3/8"..........1

5EL-46171-00-00....99-up XVS1100 V Star 1100.........16-1/16"........3

4NK-46172-00-00....96-01 XVZ1300 Royal Star..........14-13/16".......3


Notes:
1. uses the 21-spline 2H7-46180-00-00 Cross Joint (U-Joint or Yoke)
2. uses the 17-spline 4H7-46180-00-00 Cross Joint (U-Joint or Yoke)
3. uses the 21-spline 4X7-46180-00-00 Cross Joint (U-Joint or Yoke)
4. uses the 1J7-46170-02-00 Ball Joint
5. uses the 31A-46180-00-00 Cross Joint (U-Joint or Yoke)
6. uses the 5JW-46180-00-00 Cross Joint (U-Joint or Yoke)

(Data "lifted from XS11.com)

Also note that the 85 Maxim 700 uses a 21 spline U-Joint that will bolt up to the final drive and the shaft is about 1" longer than my 650. Right now I am on a quest for either a XVZ1300 Royal Star or a XVS1100 V Star since I already located the 21 spline u-joint fom the xj700.

Just thought I would share for those looking for longer, errr, shafts. 8O

 

just a thought before you spend any money, check the major and minor diameter of the shaft, 21 splines is only one dimension

 

catco
they balance and make drive shafts for vehicles

 

"it's big enough to satisfy me, baby"

good info dug up for the customizers here. HAS much of anyone in the mod department gone for a stretch?

 

junkmn what are the specs for the 650 maxim

 

waldo, pretty sure the rear ends are interchangeable all the way up to the pivot. I'll consult my Haynes manual and see if it has anything different to say about it. It's a shared manual for the 750R 750M and 650.

*edit* book doesn't make any mention of differences in shaft drive, only suspension

 

Are you looking to lengthen just the driveshaft of the whole driveshaft/swingarm assembly? Just the driveshaft would be easy, any automotive machine shop can lengthen it for you. Lengthening the swingarm is way more complicated, lots of fabricating and welding there. But it can be done. I did it on a XS1100 project, lengthened the whole rear by 6". The project required a extra swingarm and drive shaft for parts. Basicly spliced two together to make one 6" longer. You will have to replace shocks and brake lines with longer ones.

 

The specs for the 650 Maxim are the same as the XJ750 listed in the chart.


There is no shop in Denver that is willing to lengthen the driveshaft due to liability reasons, so that path is out. I will be using one of the shafts from a VStar or Royal Star for the longer shaft. These have the 21 spline which I aleady have the u-joint that will mate to the middle drive of the 650 and has the 21 splines. The larger (major dimension) end of the shaft that mates to the wheel final drive on the 650 is 25 splines, as are the shafts for the Royal Star.

Yes I will have to mod the swingarm which I can do as I have the appropriate tools and welder. For me this is the easier part of the job. I don't have the ability to turn and balance a shaft, and as I said no one here will touch lengthening one, thus I have been looking for an existing shaft. I would prefer the Vstar shaft as it is longer, but haven't found one that is reasonably priced (over $100 here). I have found a Royal Star shaft that I will look into this weekend, I can get it for less than $40 so it is not that expensive vs. paying to have one lengthened.

 

If you have a welder a machine shop can make a splicing sleve so you can put two driveshafts together to make the length you need. Basicly its a sleve with a hole in through the middle to plug weld the shafts together. Thats the way I did it on my 1100, I took a few test rided to see if it would hold up and it did nicely. I got the idea talking to some of the local Saturday night racing guys, they make axles the same way.

 

So I picked up a shaft from a 1300 Royal Star. It's gonna work fine with the XJ 700 u joint and my 650 drive and wheel. I need to get to work on the swingarm and get it lengthened, might have time in a week or 2.

Just for kicks I found a VStar 1100 shaft on ebay and it should be here next week so I should know if that one will work soon.

 

So what wound up happening? I've been tossing the idea of stretching mine over the winter.

 

What about making some sort of an adapter or spacer that would go inbetween the tranny and the yoke of the shaft? I've been giving this some thought myself since im planning on doing a ridgid with mine.

 

To lengthen a swingarm and inner drive shaft I would buy a matching second unit at a motorcycle scrapyard, XJ are plentiful. I would cut them both but not in half. Cut both the forward part beyond the mid point and the same for the rearward part. Then combine the two long segments to lengthen the swingarm. That way you only have one weld joint per side. Do the same with the drive shaft. In a lathe I would center drill both ends of the two cut pieces and either dowel them or cut a centering pilot. T.I.G. weld it, but first tack 12/6, 3/9 then indicate the shaft before finish welding to assure it's true, then weld using a simple fixture.
Cheers, 50gary

 

Good, and sound, advice.
I'm not sure the OP ever got back to us about the finished project.

 

Probably not, but I just thought I'd put out a methodology for anyone that might be interested. Getting things aligned is not so difficult if you have some basic tools, not so easy when you don't.
Cheers, 50gary

 

Shaft lengthening. Awesome thread

 

So, I wonder what ever happened with it?? I notice the threads here go on for a while, then drop off. The suspense is killing me.

 

It just seemed to peter out.

 

people have high ambitions but not enough skill or dedication.

 

or not enough money the big project killer.
second one is an attempt was made resulting in catastrofic failure in an attempt to better the engineers at yamaha.
there is athread where someone redesigned the final drive gear when he went to have it made $$$ and no one here was to intrested in buying one to off set cost.
great idea on paper but not worth the cost to go a little faster.

then the thread on rear rim to front rim conversion 1 production run and done.

if you do not own aa machine shop stuff gets expensive to make

 

Even if you own a machine shop stuff is expensive to make, especially when making low-demand items.

 

hill climbers and drag racers want a longer shaft other than that doing it to just do it is not worth the expense, as it affects the geometry of the bike to much to keep it safe.

 

This is true, however it will likely make it more stable, not less. Modern "hot shot" bikes are as short as you'd think possible.
my own experiments have come up with the xj900s diversion - around 5 inches longer. If anyone wants one I can post to US....

 

Sounded like he was well on his way. I expected some pics, or something. Oh well.

 

I saw the front/rear conversion. Looked pretty good.

 

I ran across an xj650 pic online with an extended swingarm. No details. Just a pic on a trailer. Big knobby tire on back. You've done this??

 

No, just accidentally came across one.

 

yes thats why hillclimbers and drag racers do it but the longer the bike the harder it is to turn.
then the problem of welder shaft coming apart when you need it the most

 

how far do we want to go?

 

Once you learn how to weld shafts to transmit 100 bhp direct to wheels, joining shafts running at 1/3rd of the torque is maybe not easy, but at least not an issue to do reliably.

 

Thread jack, minor crime level.
I have a winter project to remove the final drive gears and polish them. I have a good friend that
does coatings in his shop. just his year he started doing Isotropic Super Finishing (which is not a coating BTW) but vibratory polishing with a special
fluid and special particles. It does a great job on all type of gears, transmissions, rear ends, does automotive crankshafts etc. Cranks and rods, gears come out looking like chrome.
Lots of friction reduction, friction is heat, power loss. Should be fun.
Cheers, 50gary

 

This is why a lot of shops won’t extend a shaft… granted my xs11 has some good power… maybe even just a smidge over stock… but this was my third attempt with my custom shaft (I’m a tool and die machinist by trade) and this was to put a much later, much higher geared, XV11 final drive, 2.56:1 iirc… this (third attempt) shaft survived a few GREAT burnouts, and a handful of very hard pulls, before it gave up. The sleeve cracked at the pin, previous attempts with weld first the original shaft cracked just adjacent to the weld, and second, the original shaft broke where the, previously larger, pin, was located. For those curious, an XS11 with 2.56:1 final drive will hit 35mph in first gear, and gets there VERY FAST maxed out. Next I’m going to try a 77-79 XS750 stock size shaft (should be just about .050” too long if anything)

 

Quite simply, why are you pinning them? Just make a spigot and hole from the shafts, vee them where the come together. Slide a sleeve up one side, push the shafts together, weld around the vee, then slide the sleeve over it and weld around the sleeves ends to the shafts. No pin!
It won't break. Mig Will do it, so would tig.

 

That is exactly how I did it the first time. Sheared clean off at the edge of the HAZ on the original shaft next to the sleeve. Made it to the nearest gas station. The second version was sleeved and pinned, but the pin was 3/8” and it snapped the shaft right where the pin was, just at the end of the driveway. This one pictured was the third version, with just 3/16” pins, and the sleeve cracked. Next I’m going to try a xs750 shaft with just a ring/sleeve on the front end to keep it from bottoming out in the universal joint.

 

howdy guys,i add 300mm to this quite a few years ago now.heat shrink interference fit with plug welds then re machined.to my surprise is hasn't failed