Mitsubishi 2 piece DRIVESHAFT!!!

[JayRolla]

Ok ive owned my this car for about a year and a half and Ive done a motor swap and everything you can think of. After inspecting my exhuast today at my mechanics up on a lift(which he did the exhaust) we noticed I have a 2 piece drive shaft in my 91 talon. Its a stock mitsubishi shaft and it was customized into the car. Has one joint right in the middle and mounts to the body there. He is a DSMguru and they dont know what its out of. They are guessing its out of an expo? Anyone know anything about this?

 

[1stGenRocks]

do you have any pictures? How are you sure it's a stock mitsu shaft?

 

[JayRolla]

Thats what my mechanic said just by looking at it. He said he could just tell from how it was made. I will see if I can get pics.

 

[Defiant]

Uh... yeah.

Welcome to the Underside of your car.

Now, go buy a manual, and see if you can find a mechanic who has a clue. Because you sure won't be getting all the ones you're going to be needing from that one.

 

[JayRolla]

Uh... yeah.

Welcome to the Underside of your car.

Now, go buy a manual, and see if you can find a mechanic who has a clue. Because you sure won't be getting all the ones you're going to be needing from that one.

So your saying my 91 comes stock with a two piece driveshaft and my brothers 90 has a 3 piece shaft. Im also upset you tell me to find a mechanic with a clue Defiant. He has been working on these since 1990 and does about 3 strokers a week and 3-5 trannys a week. People ship him in trannys all over the US just because they like his work. He has build more 600+whp motors than he can count.

This is straight from driveshaftshop.com. It states that my car has a 3 piece drive shaft stock. So where did you get this pic Defiant?

Mitsubishi/Eagle AWD Aluminum Rear Shaft
This is the all new aluminum drives shaft from you know who, the big news is this is a complete unit and can be just send to you (no more sending in the yoke). 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. Please if you understand u-joint operating angle's check it out for your self look at out angle calibration page and do the math. its a dangerous thing to play with. We will be making a TECHNA-PULSE single shaft with a c.v. in the rear in the near future

 

[steve]

So where did you get this pic?

That one was right out of the FSM and it shows all 3 pieces. Is that what your looks like?

Steve

 

[JayRolla]

Oh I see I though that was the same joint. No mine has only two shafts. The one that usually has two small shafts is a single. I will try to get pics but I couldnt get good ones. I have one single joint in the middle not two like on the pic.

You posted a pic Defiant of three shafts I only have TWO and one joint.

 

[turbo90gsx]

That doesn't seem right. Mitsubishi never made a stock 2 peice drive shaft for the 1g. All 1g AWDs came with 3 peice drive shafts. A previous owner before you may have had a carrier bearing taken out and had a longer peice of steel welded on the yoke by a drive shaft shop. I too would like to see some pictures.

 

[JayRolla]

That doesn't seem right. Mitsubishi never made a stock 2 peice drive shaft for the 1g. All 1g AWDs came with 3 peice drive shafts. A previous owner before you may have had a carrier bearing taken out and had a longer peice of steel welded on the yoke by a drive shaft shop. I too would like to see some pictures.

Yea you would think thats the case, but looking at it, its not been rewelded. I mean it was done so well it looks stock. My mechanic said it was a mitsubishi shaft but we know its not stock. It was taken out of another car and wants to know what car. Im stealing my works camera tonight and im going to lift her up and take some pics so you guys can see what im talking about. I mean we had like 10 DSM guys at the shop all looking at it puzzled.

 

[JayRolla]

Ok here are the pics I took tonight. Sorry they could be better. The first pic is the center where the shafts meet. The second pic shows the shaft going to the rear, the third shows the shaft to the front. When I took the pics the camera was positioned right on the joint in the middle so I could try to show how long each shaft is. See how long they are!! Dont pay attention to the broken hanging exhaust.

 

[turbo90gsx]

...thats quite strange. It appears as though there is a nut on the stud that ussually holds up the carrier bearing in the second photo. However the materials of each shaft look different. One is much more porrific than the other, and the lobro expansion joint is no longer there.

 

[JayRolla]

Yes there is a nut holding it to the body and a second on the other side. My mechanic said it looked good and I feel no vibrations. Jaws where dropped as people inspected.

 

[Defiant]

I'm an idiot. You are supposed to have three pieces. Your car will now have to be scrapped. Sorry, but it's in the site rules. Or, should be.

Have you checked to see if yours is aluminum? I found the site that's selling them.

There's a situation with drivelines. You don't want them to deflect too much, as the angular drive through a universal joint is hard on them. However, if you don't deflect it enough, the U-joints don't get enough movement to move the grease around on the needles, and they die from going locally dry despite having a proper amount of lubricant in the joint.
Manufacturers use multi-part driveshafts to make it easier to fight vibration. In an IRS chassis, with the differential housing bolted to the frame, the only "exercise" the driveline joints get is from engine mount flex.

Again, I apologize for heading up the wrong tree. I momentarily fell from mine.

 

[92awddsm]

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

From the looks of it, I would say the rear half is not stock. I have yet to see a stock driveshaft that has a washer welded to it for the balance. Most stock manufacturers used square or rectangle balance tabs welded to the driveshaft like what is seen on the front half of the shaft.

Upon closer inspection, I see that the rear half is also of a different diameter.

 

[jtmcinder]

I'll probably lose my title for this, but is there any chance that the car was originally FWD and was converted to AWD and the mounting points for the second joint weren't on the chassis, so they just fabbed a single shaft for the second and third?

- Jtoby

 

[ITSME4G63]

I'll probably lose my title for this, but is there any chance that the car was originally FWD and was converted to AWD and the mounting points for the second joint weren't on the chassis, so they just fabbed a single shaft for the second and third?

- Jtoby

Thats what it looks like, half stock half fabbed up.

Damian.

 

[project_tsi]

I highly doubt it Jtoby, I know RRE has done a 1g FWD to AWD conversion once and they voughed never to do it again. I've owned both 1g FWD's and AWD's and they are very very different. The whole front end under carriage is different, I mean everything.

 

[JayRolla]

I'll probably lose my title for this, but is there any chance that the car was originally FWD and was converted to AWD and the mounting points for the second joint weren't on the chassis, so they just fabbed a single shaft for the second and third?

Its a 91 TSI. They didnt make a 91 TSI FWD did they? Im going to do a better inspection and look for part #'s. Also im going to clean the shaft see what material is used.

 

[project_tsi]

Yes they made a 91 TSi. The awd is TSi AWD. What does it come up as if you run the vin number and take some pics of under your engine bay. I want to see the way its built.

 

[JayRolla]

Yea but they never made a FWD 91 TSi did they? Also ive done a motor swap so I know the rest of its stock. Also where can I run the vin# for free?

 

[jtmcinder]

91 TSi FWDs exist. It took ten seconds to find a bunch via Google.

Not that this helps my theory a whole lot.

- Jtoby

ps. a table to decode a DSM's VIN is on the VFAQ site

 

[92awddsm]

The talon tsi was fwd turbo. The talon tsi awd is, of course, awd turbo.

 

[Defiant]

Yes, TSis were all turbos, but not all AWD. Those were the .....wait for it.... TSi AWD.

Give us a VIN check.

 

[JayRolla]

Ok I decoded it and it is an AWD car. It even has the visious coupler sticker. No body knows of a conversion to a two piece without buying a custom shaft. It looks like an OEM shaft of some sort.

 

[Defiant]

Hit it with a magnet and see if it's aluminum.