Hey guys just looking for a quick piece if advice, my setup is as follows :
2001 c5z
LQ9 408 stroker
YSI
monster lt1-s triple disk
c6z tr6060/diff swap
Expected power level (1000-1100)

Now I have the car completely apart waiting for my motor to be finished, so i decided to go ahead and dig into the torque tube and inspect couplers/bearings. I went ahead and picked up these aluminum couplers and installed them along with the new bearings the kit came with( pretty straight forward except i did not mark the shaft before disassembling it. I also attempted to have a local drive shaft shop balance it after it was re-assembled with not so good results ( can clearly see the shaft out of round or balance ). The shop told me that the shaft was out 20 thousands on each end and 5 thousands in the center. Im trying to avoid annoying vibrations as this will mostly be a fun street car and most importantly I'm trying to avoid having premature wear to the pilot bearing and crank or transmission. What would be my best option ? Shim the aluminum couplers to clean up the runout on the shaft( recommended by seller of these aluminum couplers) or buy a solid shaft from the DSS (driveshaft shop) that would also have couplers or coupler-less ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! mfeel free to text or call me if you prefer that over messages! Thanks guys.

 

Bump..

 

Per a discussion I've had with RichieRich at Abel, these aluminum couplers always require machine work to make perfect to your prop shaft. You should budget in a couple hours of machine work.

 

Good luck getting a DS from DSS I ordered one it wasn't right sent it back waited a couple more weeks finally gave up with them and got my money back,I went with the ZR1 rubber couplers they are alittle thicker but stronger.I do have a 3" DSS DS that I bought used off the forum awhile back.I only run 10.00 index,Been holding up fine.You could also run a solid coupler in the back and a rubber coupler up front for less vibration.

 

The guy who is selling these claims they don't require any work just bolt up and Go... I definitely do not trust these.

 

Where can I get these zr1 rubber couplers from and will they work on the stock c5z shaft? I guess Dss is out of the equation then. Also When I pulled this shaft apart they had an LG solid coupler on the back and a poly one up front that cracked, caused all types of damage

 

I can't find the part # But i got them from a GM dealer on internet,You have a stock DS? If so that won't hold up to 1000hp Try DSS and see what they say.I'll try and find the part #'s for the ZR1 rubber couplers.Also do you have 12mm bolts holding the couplers on or 10mm? You can get a hold of Gene Culley he's a forum GM vendor for the couplers.

 

Not 100% sure but I find this part# 19207077

 

/shrug

Look, here's what I can reason out.

One - GM engineers went for rubber couplers specifically because they wanted the rubber to absorb some of the vibration of not having a bang-on-perfect zero-balanced assembly, and because using rubber specifically allows them to avoid having a perfectly balanced assembly.

(I see this as the classic american engineering way - figure out a way to make a non-perfect solution work almost just as well, for a lot less money.)

If GM had perfectly zero-balanced assemblies they would have just stuck solid couplers in and saved us all the maintenance cost.

Since these assemblies aren't perfect, then how can you hope to have an aftermarket solid coupler be matched perfectly to the meh-level tolerances and imperfection inherent in the system? They can sell you a perfectly zero-balanced coupler but it won't match the prop shaft.

So you buy a pair of perfect couplers, slap them onto the prop shaft, then get a machine shop to spend a couple hours balancing it as a system.

The person whose experience I am quoting runs a shop that has like ten corvettes in at all times, a large portion of which are track cars. All manner of aftermarket upgrades and swaps. Going to solid couplers is not uncommon for track cars and high power cars. He's seen it done. He says they need machine work to match perfectly. I'd take his word on it over the word of the guy selling a part that you can clearly see is causing you new vibration.

 

Stock shaft with 12mm bolts

 

Couldn't have said it better....

 

For 1000hp+ I'd probably be shimming/machining the solid couplers and shaft so it runs true and then get the assembly balanced and the install it.

 

I wouldn't put the stock DS back in go aftermarket.The only problem with the ZR1 couplers is they are thicker and the bearing on the spline shaft will stick out some,So you would probably need a custom DS made,You would have to put them on your stock DS install it and take measurements,or you can go with the DSS couplers same thickness as stock,Those will eventually wear out with that much HP,Mine did after a few years.Pics of DSS couplers and bearing on spline shaft.

 

I think a torque tube and DS out of an auto is alittle longer or vice a versa,maybe somebody knows.