Has anyone replaced the Flex Joint with aluminum ones?
 

Dan was right..... As normal.:yesnod: When he said that i had torn apart this peice on my drive shaft. Its the rubber ends on either end of the driveshaft. I hear a few people make aluminum ones that take the place of the rubber ones.

Have you ever tried this? What are the ups and downs of such a switch? Are they louder? Do you feel more vibration? Are they more likely to take out transmission parts?

Give LG a call Lou has been through this. although he now uses a carbon fiber drive shaft. I'm sure they have the scoop on it as they also sell the aluminum couplers :thumbs:

LGM sells them but told me only can use them on one end. Someone else said they run them on both ends. Personally I'd stick with LG's advice.

I use them on both ends with absolutely no problems ..........forum sponsor ATI has them available, and so does DK racing (Danny Kellermeyer) ATI (248-848-9200) or DK racing( 248-627-4026). Matt, you really need to upgade to the later driveline support first. I am not too sure whether these two suppliers make them for the earlier design prop shaft............................told you so.

:iagree: :cheers: :yesnod:











:ack:

I tried the Aluminum donuts, and saw awsolutely no increase in torque tube life. Bottom line, the OEM shafts develop a vibration after about 60hrs of high rpm use.

I haven't used Lou's shaft, but I would want a guarantee before taking that plunge.

From talking with Kellermeyer yesterday the 06Z's that are being raced in FIA across the globe are also using these. I know of two cars that have in excess of 60 HARD hours on them that have not spit these out yet, If DK were on here , I am sure that has alot of "destructive" testing information on his pieces, there are alot roadrace Corvettes that he has built that have these. It is alot harder for the prop shaft to "whip" when the aluminum couplers are used. I have even seen people who defineatly do not shift up or down correctly not have any problems...............

from the donuts or the shaft? Thanks!

I have been running solid aluminum couplers (both ends) in a high power Corvette for the past 3 years without any torque tube problems(wish I could say the same for differentials). 1st year was stock driveshaft, last 2 years were carbon fiber driveshaft made by ACPT (sold through LG). The CF driveshaft is a good piece and performs better under transient conditions.

Very important when installing the solid couplers is to properly balance the complete driveshaft assembly and remove any runout. The tolerances of the factory parts are poor (since they attach to rubber). Not doing this can cause premature bearing wear and/or failure (even though it may seem to assemble correctly). Installing just one solid coupler without balancing is WORSE for durability (in my technical opinion) than leaving it stock because of the tolerance issues and the stress on the remaining rubber coupler.

On a street driven car, driveline noise is increased slightly only when sitting in neutral with the clutch up (but I can't really hear it over my exhaust).

ATI does make and sell the aluminum couplers, even though not on our website. Please contact Rick Myers if interested.

Bob,
Matt called late last week, and Rick wasn't there . Someone else had a hard time giving him information.............I told him that you had them and probably had two in stock for immediate shipment. Matt needs to buy the '01 later tube/shaft assy first though, as he has the teeny one..................

Tell Pam thanks for the cookies for Nathan.........................

Matt I feel your pain.:yesnod:

Been there. Twice in fact.

Hi Guys,

There are plenty of threads that we have answered regarding the drive shaft question.

The answer is that the stock shaft does whip like a "jump rope" which is what causes the destruction of the rubber ends as well as the shaft and sometimes the torque tube.

The stock drive shaft has a plastic/composite ring attached to it to "Limit" the amount of deflection that can occure. This ring accomplishes this by rubbing on the inside of the torque tube. Once the stock shaft takes a set, you will notice that the composite "donut" on the shaft will rub in the same spot all the time, wearing it flat on one side, if you leave it in long enough.

As a result the shaft will now be curved/bent in that direction as the engine RPMs go up and the rubber ends have to do the job of a "U Joint" instead of just an absorber. The result is that the rubber ends get destroyed and come apart.

Our Carbon Drive Shaft is built for us exclusively by ACPT just like our Headers are built for us exclusively by Borla. Call us at LGM and we can fix you up permantly.

Now since our Carbon shaft does not flex at high rpms, it will increase the rear wheel hp since that hp is not spent spinning a bent Aluminum drive shaft. Plus there is no need for a "rubbing Donut" on the shaft so it too leaves the hp to turn the wheels not rub on the inside of the torque tube.

When you put Aluminum couplers on each end of an aluminum stock shaft, the deflection of the aluminum shaft must now be sent to either the transmission or to the clutch and it loads the bearings in a bad way. Either way it is not a good thing. You can picture a slightly bent Aluminum shaft causing one end or the other to put radial side loads into the clutch or the transmission. Not a good thing.

We use one rubber coupler on the front end of our Carbon shaft just incase the GM machine work on the torque tube is a few thousandths out of square.

The deflection of the stock shaft increases with engine RPM because it is before the transmission and after the clutch, so it is always spinning at engine RPM. It also never sees the torque multiplication of the transmission so it will only see engine torque. It is not the torque that destroys the stock shafts, it is the deflection and bending and whipping that does. And the heat and destructive forces are put into the rubber couplers which kills them fast.

I have run the same carbon shaft in one of my cars for 2 seasons with no problems. We have a 7400 rev limit now, but in 2004 we were revving up to 8000 with this shaft and no problems.

If you put the aluminum couplers on both ends, any out of "True" condition will have to be taken up by either the splines on the trans or the splines on the clutch, and you might get a vibration.

We keep aluminum couplers in stock, as well as the LG/ACPT Carbon drive shafts.


Hope this answers some of the questions. Give us a call.

thanks

Lou Gigliotti

Link to carbon shaft info below:

http://www.lgmotorsports.com/catalog...oducts_id=1471
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Plunge -vs- two destroyed aluminum shafts and the cost of a new Aluminum shaft on a regular basis?

Not to mention that using one rubber coupler helps to cushion the torque spike to the tires and provides better bite at the tires coming out of a corner. Kind of like a "rubber snubber" on a stock car with a 3 link. There goes another secret!

LG

I will also have a decision to make........my 97' has no center support
I have seen worse, but mine weren't far away from worse :lol: :
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1506995

Here are some photos added.

Thanks
Lou G


http://lgmotorsports.com/gallery/alb...aftcoupler.jpg

http://lgmotorsports.com/gallery/alb...0shaft%201.jpg

good winter project for me:D It did look nice when I saw it at Carlisle in person.

And if it whips around enough in there you get this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...er/Pics071.jpg

Damn thing did hold up for one hot lap and a 700 mile drive home after it split like that.

I'm doing the larger Tube this time.

Bob,
Rick is out of the office till October 2nd. Do you happen to have anything used you want to part ways with?


Lou,

What you are sdaying makes a Lot of sense. Is there any way we can control the cost of this part? Us SCCA autocrossers don't have Road Race pocketbooks.:leaving:


Danny,

Am I lookig for an 01 and up ZO6 part or were all the 01 and up C5s the same?

Bob - how do you balance and check runout on the shaft?? Just curious.TIA. :D

:cheers:
joel

With 396 rwhp do you think the stock 98 model tube will hold if I go with the aluminum ends? I'm thinking of having this one balanced.