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