dose any won no the best way to shorten prop how has everyone else done this ?how to keep it straight ect ect

tack and then roll along the floor? you would be able to see if its majorly off.
Mabye lie a spirit level or something along it? or anything you know is flat, then run it around the prob to make sure theres no angles that are off.
im sure someone will come up with a better solution but hey thts my thoughts on the matter

I think this job is best left to the pro's who can not only weld it but more importantly balance it.

Just my humble opinion of course.

Rich

Absolutely no question - Get a pro to do it.

Our local propshaft guys weld them on a lathe. You can imagine the accuracy that give compared to frazzling it together on the garage floor.

They also cut the sections of shaft on a lathe.

You aren't going to get within a few miles of that accuracy at home.
Now think of how close to your gentleman vegetables a spinning propshaft is.

Probably the only thing we had done professionally on our car, another vote for getting it done by pros here

if you're determined to do it - this is how i did mine. I've only done it temporarily to get the size for when i order one.

Be careful - think about the speed that thing will be doing and how close it will be to your legs (that was a warning by the i don't want the blame when this goes wrong society).

cut the prop square. Either wrap a piece of A4 around it and make sure the paper edges line up perfectly and cut or use an angle grinder in a stand / chop saw.

Clamp the prop into a large bit of angle iron (this holds it square).

Tack weld a number of places (i think i did 6 to eight).

Fully weld.

Dress welds with angry grinder.

In your case, at this point i'd pray. Me, i just fitted the prop and went .... hmmm, must get it made about 1" longer for real.

the original book tells you how to do it. i'd do it myself but only for moving the car around under its own power. i'd get a proper one made for when the cars on the road

quote:

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Originally posted by indyian
dose any won no the best way to shorten prop how has everyone else done this ?how to keep it straight ect ect

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Yep. Tis one of the few things I had professionally done. Mainly down to hearing of breakages on here and seriously because its so close to my plums.

Would have to agree with getting it done by a pro unless you are a competent welder and have access to a lathe I've done quite a few and never had a problem Inc the one on my car.

What i do is join it towards one end to minimize the chances of upsetting the balancing then turn a sleeve up that's a tight fit internally to join the two parts 4 tack welds opposite each other to hold it in position then fully weld it.

Of coarse this is just my way of doing it and doesn't mean its the right way as i always say to the few mates that I've done them for its at there own risk!

Dave....

That thing is spining around an inch away from your body! Get it done by a prop company. In the end it could save your life!

actually, thats a point, if you can't sleeve the inner, sleeve the outer but only weld one side onto the prop.

If your weld on the prop lets go, the sleeve will hold the prop in place so it doesn't flail around.

(of course this doesn't help you if the UJ lets go cause the prop is out of balance)

Its interesting that both books explain how to do without much by way of a caveat but by a far the majority on here suggest buying one. Personally since I don't have a donor it probably won't be a great deal cheaper to mod one than buy one but is it something that your pretty likely to mess up if you DIY? (This is of course ignoring the point that even if the risk of failure is small the consequences could be disasterous). I have read some of the posts where props have failed but I'm not sure any of these were actually DIY jobs.

I welded mine, and have done a few now as I used to race a landrover so had to shorten and extend them when moving the engine around etc.

DO NOT take a chunk out of the middle, this is just asking for problems.

On the yoke end you will see a bead of weld where the tube is fixed to the yoke, carefully with a grinder cut through this weld 1/4" all the way around, now knock of the yoke.

This should now leave you will a yoke end with a plug that fits tightly inside the tube, so just shortern the tube and poke the yoke back in.

As you probally do not have a lathe bolt the yoke to the diff and lay the distant end of the prop in a V block, this will allow you to spin the prop and check its alignment, when happy tack weld, keep spinning and checking it will move!

When you are happy deeply weld the whole joint.

Getting it balanced is a different matter, I have had success using jubille clips in the past.

If you welding is poor do not bother, if you are concerned about it failing then weld a catcher in the TX tunnel, a hoop of steel which will stop the flaying and of the prop from entering the seating area.

Regards Mark

Im quite luck because it looks like i can just use the shorter half of my donors prop. It should be just the right size

i was going to shorten my prop at frist then i decide to let mk do it when i was picking up the kit, it only to him 2mins if that, and it is prefect.

stuart

http://www.propshaft-services.co.uk/ I used these guys to lengthen my prop and rebalance it cost about £55 and took 2 days very happy and nice t o deal with

When I bought my seven I was told by the previous owner that there was a vibration about 50 but you could push through it. On the way home after buying the car I felt the vibration so pushed up to sixty and sure enough it did die down. However after a few hours the rear UJ split, at about 70mph. The shaft went through the ali panels and was only held in by the box section, otherwise is could of been a bit more painful. Oh and it also busrt the brake pipe.

So long story short, for the sake of less than £70 get it done professionally.

many thanks for all the advice i shall have good long think about the way in witch i will go

[Edited on 31/3/08 by indyian]