How thick is to thick?

crapmanche4l

...no more! Call me Murphey
Location
St. George
For a daily driver, how thick of wall on a driveline is too thick? I dont want to cause issue for around town or freeway, but want it heavy duty enough to not worry if I tag it offroad. Also where is the best place to be able to drop my jeep off and have it made with quick turn aroundand good quality? I just dont want any measurement miscomunication and not have it be right.
Thanks
 

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
I have ran sch. 40 and am currently using .120 DOM. Both have held up great but i have always noticed a slight vibe at anything over 60. That being said if your angles look good and you have one properly ballanced I don't think you'll notice it...
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
FYI, driveline tube has give, pipe and dom do NOT

give = less stress on ujoints, gears, shafts and hubs

I don't think that's the case. I'm pretty sure most "driveline tube" is just thin-wall HREW or DOM, and if you get a heavier-duty shaft, it's just slightly thicker wall tube.
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
I don't think that's the case. I'm pretty sure most "driveline tube" is just thin-wall HREW or DOM, and if you get a heavier-duty shaft, it's just slightly thicker wall tube.
Yep, infact when I ordered mine from HighAngle, Jess even said it was DOM.
 

Meat_

Banned
Location
Lehi
I don't think that's the case. I'm pretty sure most "driveline tube" is just thin-wall HREW or DOM, and if you get a heavier-duty shaft, it's just slightly thicker wall tube.

Just going on what the dude who has been doing drivelines for 25 years told me ;)

Which is also why it costs ruffly 3x as much as dom
 

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
It's true some drivelines are engineered to "twist" a little to asorb the shock load of stop and go. That being said look at the HUGE aluminum drivelines that GM and others use on their trucks--aluminum is very rigid and would offer little or no "twist".

I would rather risk a blown U-joint than to pretzel a thin one on every trail anyday ;)
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
Just going on what the dude who has been doing drivelines for 25 years told me ;)

Which is also why it costs ruffly 3x as much as dom
I think you got fed a line. I know you're friends with him but I think Tom Woods and Jess have both been doing drivelines for a few years as well. ;)
 

Meat_

Banned
Location
Lehi
Think what you will, as you always do.

I've seen the order sheet, Marmon had to special order the tube that Kiel has in his drivelines, which is heavy wall driveline tube. (and no that's not its name)
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Think what you will, as you always do.

I've seen the order sheet, Marmon had to special order the tube that Kiel has in his drivelines, which is heavy wall driveline tube. (and no that's not its name)

What is it's name? I'm interested to find out how you make a flexible, heavy wall piece of tube.
 

Meat_

Banned
Location
Lehi
Tom's a good dude and I'm sure he is just giving people what they are demanding. I've never said that DOM and pipe can't work, just that they aren't the best.

I know a lot of you have ordered a lot of stuff from Tom and you probably consider him your friend.

John has been my friend for 20+ years, and I'm not saying I've bought stuff from him for that long, we've hung out together for that long. People who feed me lines are not called friends by me ;)
 

jsudar

Well-Known Member
Location
Cedar Hills
I don't think it's unreasonable to have thick walled twisty tube. It's nothing more than a hollow torsion bar.

I know it's not exactly the same thing, but the shafts that drive the props on big boats are pretty stinking heavy shafts. They usually paint a stripe down the side of the shaft and when they start up the motors, it twists the stripe till it looks like a candy cane and then snaps back after the torque load drops off. I had a friend in the Navy who thought it looked pretty cool.
 

Corban_White

Well-Known Member
Location
Payson, AZ
What is it's name? I'm interested to find out how you make a flexible, heavy wall piece of tube.

It's all about the material, not the wall thickness.

--aluminum is very rigid and would offer little or no "twist".

Aluminum is very LESS rigid than steel in it's normalized form. Once it is heat treated it becomes more rigid, but so does steel when IT is heat treated.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I don't think it's unreasonable to have thick walled twisty tube. It's nothing more than a hollow torsion bar.

I know it's not exactly the same thing, but the shafts that drive the props on big boats are pretty stinking heavy shafts. They usually paint a stripe down the side of the shaft and when they start up the motors, it twists the stripe till it looks like a candy cane and then snaps back after the torque load drops off. I had a friend in the Navy who thought it looked pretty cool.

It's all about the material, not the wall thickness.



Aluminum is very LESS rigid than steel in it's normalized form. Once it is heat treated it becomes more rigid, but so does steel when IT is heat treated.

I understand that, and I probably shouldn't have said anything about wall thickness--but with the diameter of a typical driveshaft, if it's a spring steel trying to be a torsion bar, we're still going to see incredibly minimal twist, I'm thinking. Just too much spring rate at the large diameter to really matter.

Plus, if there were much deflection at all, they'd fail at/near the weld consistently, since the heat-treatment would be ruined right there.
 

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
I don't need a drive shaft that can twist. My blown t-case mount and shot engine mounts asorb all the shock load quite well... It's pretty custom :D
 
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