Shaftmasters drive shaft
 

Saw a pic of an aluminum 1st gen. driveshaft in a post by slvrghost about LED light conversion. Anyone have any dealings with this co.? How is the quality of their product? slvrghost, have you installed this in your car and can you give any info about it? Need to do something about the rear u-joint in my car,local driveline shops say no to rebuilding my oe shaft. Lots of testimonials online from musclecar guys who seem happy with them.

Custom Driveshaft
 

the Drive shaft was mine, I ordered it from Shaftmasters.com
Costs 383.00 Shipped
3in dia
TII trans slip yoke
GSL-SE rear Flange
Installed in a 1982 GSL with GSL-SE rearend with Moser Axles and a OS Giken LSD

Slight threadjack - how were the Moser axles as compared to OE? Did they neck down right at the bearing or were they max thickness all the way out until the very ends?

...OS Giken is not installed yet, finishing up getting the engine running first.
...All the way out to the end...and they are dual pattern, 4x110 and 4x114

Ugh... so they ARE thinner than stock. The middle isn't where I'm breaking the stock ones but that's still very discouraging.

I came to this thread because I will be needing a driveshaft to go from N/A trans to 9" Ford since I ran out of GSL-SE axles to break...

********they are not thinner than stock, they are thicker all the way to just before the splines, rated for 400hp.************

From looking at the picture of the axles, they neck down right at the bearing, stock axles don't neck down until about the halfway point.

HP ratings are always a crock. I'm breaking OE axles with about half that power, at the splines. By definition if they bolt in then they have the same spline size, so they still have that as a weak point. I doubt they have found a steel with over twice the strength as the OE axles, as steel doesn't really have that much variability in strength (maybe 15-20% at most). Meanwhile there are people who reliably put down 600hp through the smaller Series 2 axles (24 vs 26 spline).

However if the axles are narrower in the middle, that means they are more susceptible to bending from side loads, which is kind of a factor even with our bolt-in end bearing style. The less the axle can resist the side loads, the more the bearing has to, and the bearing will fail more quickly. Especially with crap bearings instead of Koyo.

When I pull them to put in the OS Giken LSD I will mic out the shaft specs and post them for you.
I've had them in for 7 years now.

Shaftmasters drive shaft
 

Slammed GSL, have you driven the car with this shaft installed,feel any difference, no vibration. Did you need to give them measurements/dimensions. Seen prices on other replacement drive shafts that aren't aluminum that are very close. Anyone know of any other alternatives?

You can have the u-joints replaced. I had a local drive shaft place replace my u-joints with serviceable ones. Cost about $110.

I had this one made due to the 2nd Gen cross member/suspension conversion I did on my car with the TII motor/tranny.
Everything from the firewall forward is either custom or 2nd GEN.
I have not driven the car yet so I can't testify to performance of the driveshaft.

To be honest I'd probably get the steel one over the aluminum one, the steel one can be smaller in diameter which is critical in my application. I need all the space I can for muffler clearance :)

But the fact that locally a steel driveshaft is over $500 for an import, makes their deal way awesome.

Slammed_GSL, if you're not having any problems then that is awesome. I tend to be a bit harder on parts than most people so I want to make sure I get the absolute best because that is always cheaper than getting the best after screwing around with less-than-best. Doing it once always saves money. But for forum edification, the stock GSL-SE axles I have here are 32.6mm before the neck down point and 27.5mm after.

Holy crap! I got a steel one for under $200 locally. I know they will ship. Company is called proven force. Really good guys and know their stuff.

Drivelines, Clutches, Transmissions, Rear End Parts & Service | Proven Force Minneapolis MN

Bringing this back, just got back from 100 mile round trip to 3rd place i've taken this d-shaft to to have u-joints replaced. No go again,guy wants me to leave it there while he looks for a yoke. Showed me some 280z shafts he had he was looking for yokes for them. Front yoke/rear flange are perfect on mine,car has vibration at speed because of worn u-joints. Why do the yoke and flange need to be replaced?-They don't. Kansascityrepu,you had just joints replaced in yours,keeping your original flange/yoke,correct. Don't want to replace these parts as i feel they are more than serviceable,just need u-joints! Don't want to buy a complete new shaft if not needed,but will if have to. Located in Northern Maryland if anyone has any recommendations,will gladly follow up any suggestions. Looking for new in meantime. P.S. did not leave my d-shaft with this last company, did with previous two. Haven't driven the car since August,been too long..

Rockford driveline has the joints. Buy them and walk into any driveshaft shop and they can do it. Many don't know you can get u joints for them.

Staked-In U-Joints

Just to add, my local shop could not deal with staked u-joints, so I'd call ahead before purchasing.

When I went to my local shop, I told them which Rockford u joints I needs and he walked right over to his shelf and had them in stock. The stakes u joints are easy to remove. Just requires cutting the small amount of metal on the end that is holding them in.

If a shop can't deal with stakes u joints, I would not call them a drive shaft shop.

Thanks very much for the info! I can do this my self, i was under the impression the originals had to be cut out and yoke/flange had to be machined to accept an existing replacement size. I did not know there was an exact replacement available. I had contemplated disassembling the shaft, but thought a driveline shop wouldn't accept something already taken apart. I've owned this car for a looong time and i have serviced it myself. Never like to entertain the thought of my car or pieces of it in someone else's hands to get repair work done when i know i can do just as good a job or better. I enjoy working on it as much as i do driving it. Even though the car is in very good condition,i could never afford(or trust) a shop to work on it.

Dealt with this shop many times before, They have my driveshafts from a Dodge Ramcharger i'm restoring to cut out and replace the worn splined slip joints, had them do this to another Dodge truck i have and they came back perfect. For domestic parts/driveline work they are the best. Have a Tacoma pickup i needed u-joints for,same story-no parts available. Bought an after market shaft because Toyota wanted 1000.00 for a new one. The aftermarket one was a pos and i sent it back and bit the bullet for the oe one. Have almost 100,000 miles on it and still smooth as the day put in,grease the joints every time i rotate the tires.