different drive shaft

does anyone know off hand the length of the stock drive shaft? im gonna do a little chop and would like to stretch er out a bit. im about 6'4" tall and would like a little more room plus i just wanna try it. i saw a guy who had a shaft outta a vmax that was a couple inches longer, anyone know how that turned out? i cant decide if i wanna stretch the stock one(i have access to a machine shop at work) or try o use one from a different model. any input gents? :wink:

 

There is a post were one was stretched and he used a honda civic drive shaft. Search the bobber mods.

 

Hey Jason, Let me know if you find anything with higher gearing. My turbo is geared too low for me. I'd like to get it a bit taller to lower to rpm on the highways.

Thanks,
jeff

 

a driveshaft shop is always an option, they usually dont charge much to do a tiny shaft like that, especially when they are just welding in a longer tube. thats just an option of course, i would be interested to see if you found something that bolted up because i too am thinking about stretching it.

 

I stretched the rear of my 79XS11, added 6" to the length. The driveshaft was made from 2 shafts spliced together with a collar. A machine shop made the collar for me. Press fit and plug welded together, so far it has held up. The V-max shaft is much longer than the XJ's, V-Max is 13.5 "( I have mine apart right now) I don't know the what the XJ is but I think its around 8 or 9". The splines may be different between them also.

 

thanks mlew, thats what i was lookin for. is that 13.5 to the end of the drive shaft and ujoint together or just the shaft itself? my xj shaft is just over 11" and just over 13 with the ujoint.

 

the vmax shaft that i bought fits the final drive perfectly, but has a totally different middle gear assembly. i tried to go the route of not cutting and collaring, but in all of my searching i couldn't find any longer shaft that was a direct fit. If anyone knows of one out there i'd love to hear it, but in my opinion, save your time. buy another xj shaft on ebay and have someone at a driveshaft shop cut and collar weld it together at the length you need... just make sure your measurements are correct!

good luck!

 

Jason
The length of the V-max shaft is 13.5"(thats shaft alone, spline to spline) with out the u-joint attached. I don't have the u-joint out to put it on the shaft to measure.

 

Just thinkin but what about addin a spacer between the motor and ujoint flange? That would eliminate the need to cut the shaft at all. It will be a hardtail so movement won't be needed
Thoughts?

 

You'd want it balanced and it would only work on a hard tail.

You'd need the pivot over the swingarm pivot if you wanted to keep the suspension.

 

i have seen spacers used in low rpm applications, never in high rpm applications though. i will not tell you NOT to do it, but i would try to find a better solution first. the cost of having a perfectly machined spacer made would be much more than just lengthening your driveshaft.

 

i have access to a machine shop at work so the only cost would be the chunk of aluminum. i think it would be stronger and more straight/balanced than cutting and welding the shaft. keep the input coming though im sure im overlookin something

 

cutting and welding the shaft is a very common practice in the truck/heavy equipment world. if you bring it to a driveshaft shop, it will be perfect. they have the fun machinery to make a perfect shaft, and balance it as well. they could also change your shaft diameter or go solid/hollow or whatever you want. these bike shafts are the same size as a PTO shaft on a truck, so most places would have any parts in stock.

even a perfectly built and balanced spacer is going to put more leverage on the output bushing/bearing of the tranny.

a well built spacer will work though, i just dont think its the ideal remedy.

 

the spacer is built and the hardtail kit is on the way. the only problem i see so far is the weight of the spacer. its heavier than i thought. ill get pics and keep ya posted.

 

very interesting... can't wait to see this come together.

 

This looks like it's going to be a nice build. Cant wait to see how it turns out, I want to do something similar with my xj.