Theres really very little to measure. The front has a small bit and the rear is not really noticeable.

U-Joints are always rated at less torque with greater angles, and this is almost pointless to try and figure out with this driveshaft. The reason is that a 1310 joint doesn't really begin to loose much strength until up wards of 10deg's. These are no where close to that. BTW: a 1310 joint is what is used in the yoke from Drive Shaft Shop.

Even if I ever did become worried about the strength of this joint, there are countless upgraded joints available. Any thing from hardened joints to 300M bronze (needless bearing) joint available. You will find yourself on off road and truck websites and magazines if you go looking for them, but they are definitely out there.

I will say that if your are running some bogus engine mounts and the t-case has a change to really make some movement, this might start to get questionable. But even a good set of prothanes will get the job done. I run a heim joint front and prothane every thing else.

Hope that answers the question!

Jake

This is from the driveshaft shop, on their aluminum driveshaft.

The shaft will replace the first two shaft in the 3 shaft system. Made from 6061-T6 aluminum and a conversion flange made from 7075 aluminum this shaft will handle what ever you need to put into it. The factory shaft (first 2 shaft's) weigh 22lbs our new aluminum units is 12lb that's a full 10lb. less rotating weight, this along with its torsional properties (steel shaft twists about 5 degrees, this twists 19-20 degrees) will save the output shaft from the harmful shock factor that breaks the shaft. comes compete from trans. yoke to flange ready to install. a word about a single shaft, the design lay out under the car makes it very hard to achieve proper operating angles if you were to make a one piece single shaft. I know there are carbon fiber companies making this shaft one piece but the fact remains the operating angle's are not correct for this to work properly and would take some extensive moving of the pinion angle to do this (reason for the 3 shaft's)The carbon fiber is so good at soaking up vibration the fact that there are unequal joint angles are very rough on the fiber.

So basically the pinion angles with the 1 piece shafts are off but the fiber is flexible enough to soak up the stress it causes. So I wouldn't go for a 1 piece unless it was an all out drag car (the price also makes me think this). The aluminum 1 piece saves you 10lbs in rotational weight as well as provides more flex. Win win really.

Is having that last section and a few more pounds saved worth the extra $1300?

IslandTSI said:

This is from the driveshaft shop

a word about a single shaft, the design lay out under the car makes it very hard to achieve proper operating angles if you were to make a one piece single shaft. I know there are carbon fiber companies making this shaft one piece but the fact remains the operating angle's are not correct for this to work properly and would take some extensive moving of the pinion angle to do this (reason for the 3 shaft's)

Click to expand...

I am sorry for my blunt response, but this is ridiculous.... Plan and simple. If there is 3º to the entire system I would be amazed. 3º is not going to affect much of anything.

This is a legit question that I would like a truthful answer to. If you had the time and money into the equipment to do product A.... Wouldn't you want to sell product A? I'm sorry, but the amount of pinion angle change that a 4-linked V8 will have just from axle travel is more than a DSM has.

The duration of length is also needed to be known before the twist specs can be taken as fact. I do not remember the exact numbers so I am not going to comment about them like I do. When I find the info again I will post it. But the figure DSS is quoting could easily be for the entire shaft and not per foot, or whatever.

I am not saying that Drive shaft shop does not know what they are talking about, or that I dislike them in any way. I am personally using one of their t-cases and I have been very happy about it. But the small angle that the DSM's have is just plan not going to hurt anything.

IslandTSI said:

Is having that last section and a few more pounds saved worth the extra $1300?

Click to expand...

The other thing that I wanted to add is the extreme difference in how the car drives. All out drag cars get away with steel or aluminum shafts not problem. On the street though, its a different story.

Anyone who has put a grippy clutch in a awd dsm knows the kind of drive train noise that comes alive at that point. This is completely gone with carbon. Carbon is lighter, and will tolerate massive shock load.

When it comes to OVERALL gain, Yes it is worth the extra money. This is my opinion of coarse, but anytime you can add drive ability and remove rotating mass, I it is worth while. My thought with it was, if I am going to do it, I may as well do it right. I didn't want to spend 1 cent on less than perfect is another way to put it.

If anyone disagrees with me, fine. But its has / and is working very well for me.

Ok treebonker, I see what you are getting at. This is very simple to figure out as well. If you have an offset transfer case or rear pinion... This will increase the drive train angle, but still would not have much effect on the dsm.

Say for example, you had 3º of pinion angle, and the driveshaft being off of center line caused an additional 3º of angle. This would only make it 6º or less. BUT it would be 3 dimensional now.

Think of your front CV joint for example. (not comparing the joints, just for reference.) When your suspension travels up and down, it will cause the angle to change. When you turn the wheel left or right, it will cause the angle to change. Now if the suspension was at full extension, and the wheel was cranked all the way... This would provide more angle.

This is why I said that a car with poor motor mounts (or diff mounts) could have excessive movement and cause less-then desirable angles. Still... It is not very much.

For example, look at the amount of torque a Dodge 2500 turbo diesel puts through its joints and shaft. Now think that those will come STOCK with ~10º of U-Joint angle. This is the same size joint you get with the Drive shaft shop kit.

http://www.3sx.com/store/comersus_viewItemBundle.asp?idProduct=644
Was just about to say, they've been making 1 piece cfds's for 3kgt's for a while now so why not a talon yet.

94Jettameowpsst said:

http://www.3sx.com/store/comersus_viewItemBundle.asp?idProduct=644
Was just about to say, they've been making 1 piece cfds's for 3kgt's for a while now so why not a talon yet.

Click to expand...

That looks quite a bit shorter than a DSM driveshaft.

Dream On said:

If I had nothing else left to do to the car, I'd probably do it.

Click to expand...

I think this post summed it up best.

topstreet said:

I believe that you are reffering to carbon. I could be wrong, but the aluminum flexs much less than this. 8-12º range. That is one of the major reasons that I went with carbon.

I know you guys are talking about Aluminum but, for the record.. The one piece driveshafts can be done. Personally, I am running the 72 1/2" carbon which I believe is 3 1/2" OD. The anlges out of the rear end and t-case are very minor.

Jake

Click to expand...

No I think the aluminum is right on with those flex properties, Carbon maybe like a 20-25 degree range, I check metal tolerances all day for Boeing and Spirit as well. I think it mentions something like that too on their website..

I have the Driveshaft shop driveshaft in my 2g and I love it! It is well worth the money, and I noticed that my car is much smoother than the stock one. This is well worth the money. Read about the carbon fiber design and you'll want the aluminum for many reasons.

So, after searching and finding nothing. I'm uploading some pictures and my experiences with this company and the drive shaft.

First off, I called to ask a few questions and they were very prompt to answer the phone and answer any question that I had. A+

Second, when I purchased on Friday after hours they had it shipped out on monday and at my doorstep with signature delivery via UPS on Wednesday.

Third, this thing is beautiful and complete. It comes with all the necessary bolts and adapter to make this install as easy and painless as possible. It weighs in at 12lbs and removes one carrier bearing, the lobro joint, and two sections of the OEM driveshaft. More info with pricing here

On to pics!














I'll be posting more pictures of it installed with my impressions tomorrow. I plan to get up early and get her done so I'll let you guys know. Hope this helps some of those in the future!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Can't wait to see it installed and what you think of it then. Why did you get a new one though?

I'm gonna put them both on a scale and see the true weight differences. I got a new one cause I'm pretty much done with my performance modding and my lobro joint is toast. A new joint was like ~$500 so it made sense to step up.

Good upgrade.

Write a review and post it in the Tech Articles. I'm interested to see how much will it affect performance.

Also interested in your impressions once it is installed.


The main reason I would get an aluminum drive shaft is to help save the drivetrain. The less weight would be a bonus to me.

Very Nice. Are they getting a little cheaper? I sure would like to have one.

That thing is beautiful!

I got a chance to install her last weekend and I've been driving around for the past couple days really testing it out. Here are pictures from the install with the review at the end:









Overall the install went VERY smooth. The lobro joint bolts are a 12mm and a 8mm allen head, remember to reuse the gasket. Otherwise the install is very straight forward:

1.Remove 4bolts on rear diff (12mm)
2. Remove 4 bolts that mount the carrier bearings (17mm I believe)
3. Take shaft out of the transfer case and tear down the lobor joint with the allen head and wrench stated above.
4. Reinstall

Pros: The car seems dramatically lighter when it comes to daily driving and boost. In my situation it actually let me reach boost faster and It's very rigid and structurally sound. I've put some stress through her and I can feel it take the torque and distribute the power to the rear wheels without any flack. There was obvious time spent into the machining of this product as the shaft mated beautifully with the oem shaft and it uses high quality bolts for easy installation. It's also a lot easier to daily drive, when downshifting it doesn't take as much effort for the car to get situated (best word i could think of) which is very nice for drag or mountain runs.

Cons:
No dust/shit shield like the oem unit has.
Price.
Slight vibration from 40-50mph but that could be because my carrier bearing grommets are toast and I had to reuse them. I'll be getting new grommets and updating on this. I filled the carrier bearing with polyurethane so it may also be contributing to vibrations as well since the oem unit might have absorbed it a little better.

55mph-90mph so far was smooth

My overall experience with the company, product, and end result leads me to say that I would spend the money again in a heartbeat :tree:.

Hope this helps some of you.

Alex

You're.... using a carrier bearing with a one-piece?

Defiant said:

You're.... using a carrier bearing with a one-piece?

Click to expand...

The DSS driveshaft only replaces the first two sections of the stock driveshaft. DSS refuses to make a one-piece due to the angles that are forced to be used.

Bummer I thought you were replacing a 3 piece shaft with a two piece, you get one shaft for $700. Why don't they make the second shaft?

gixrman said:

Bummer I thought you were replacing a 3 piece shaft with a two piece, you get one shaft for $700. Why don't they make the second shaft?

Click to expand...

Very good question

Alex the reason your getting the vibration is from filing the carrier bearing with silicone. I would not worry about it just get used to it as its just something we all have to deal with on our cars when we start making more power with them and modding. If you didnt fill it the shaft would flop around on a launch making all kinds of bad noises. I think it best to fill it to keep everything straight and supported.

SBstar said:

The DSS driveshaft only replaces the first two sections of the stock driveshaft. DSS refuses to make a one-piece due to the angles that are forced to be used.

Click to expand...

[Oh, crap, I forgot the 3-piece thing. Again. ]