Equal Length Axle Shafts

[Project ES]

Im jus curios to know who out there is using an equal length axle shaft setup on their FWD and how much of a difference did it make after it was installed. Ive read quite a few profiles and I havent seen too many people using it. Are there any downfalls to having this setup? From what ive researched about the setup it can be a good mod to have for FWD's but no one really states how much of a difference it made b4 and after. Thanx for any information pretaining to this subject.

 

[slowAWDTSi]

Well basically it helps to keep down torqe steer and keeps both wheels spinnig equally better. Say if you lost traction more than likely only one wheel will spin with the factory FWD shafts. The longer one is easier to turn than the shorter one so the longer one will spin and the other will stand still. With the equal length they are both about the same difficulty and if they are gonna spin both will. I have some in my 1g (factory AWD) i got a FWD tranny in it now untill i get my new clutch for my AWD tranny. My brother has a FWD stock and it rarely ever spins both at the same time. and it has a bit of torqe steer. So not really any downfalls to putting them in.

 

[Project ES]

Thanx slowAWD, but i already know how it works. Im mostly interested in how many people are using it and what they have to say about it as opposed to the factory FWD setup. Come on now, wheres everyone at sportin this setup?

 

[habitatguy187]

Thread back from the dead. Does this help traction on a fwd or just cut down the torque steer? I was thinking of snagging a drivers side axle setup off a 1g awd for my car.

 

[cjridert1]

I would think that reducing torque steer = increases traction. FYI 90-92 FWD diffs apparently are the same as 90-94 Front AWD diffs as far as axle size goes (ie 93-94 fwd have a diff size axle).

 

[habitatguy187]

I would think that reducing torque steer = increases traction.

That's what I was thinking, but I don't see how using an awd drivers side axle could help increase traction

 

[cjridert1]

The awd uses an intermediate shaft that goes from the trans diff to the block, that fixes to the block and the axle slides into that. This was the axles are the same length so there isnt a torque bias (or whatever).

 

[dsm-onster]

Yes, with a long single piece shaft (driverside), it twists far more than a short single piece (passenger side). Thus passenger side sees peak torque before the driverside because it takes time for the driverside to finally bind up and stop twisting. Thus the passenger tire starts spinning earlier. Add that to the fact that you have the engine and your oddy on the driverside. The right usually breaks loose earlier.

With the two piece shaft, the intermediate awd section is MUCH stronger and less prone to twist. So it comes down to the short piece to the hub being equal to the passenger side shaft.

Problem with all of this: The elhs is the small spline count (Small diameter) like the 1990-1992 trannies. If you have good traction, you will snap that smaller diameter shaft earlier. The small diameter front axles can't take take but 350ish 400ftlbs of torque from my experience. An evo3 16g and slicks with good suspension will snap the small diameter front axles all day long. So running the elhs which all have the smaller diameter is self defeating: giving you more traction to break weaker front axles. The reason why AWD guys don't break the small diameter front axles is because they split the torque and shock load between 4 axles instead of 2. So instead of breaking them at 400whp they break them at 800whp.

I did better when I swapped to the larer 1993-1999 axle diameter. They are thicker and there's less twisting. Not as good as elhs, but I didn't break axles either.