Drive Shaft

[BlueRidge1]

Just putting my drive shaft together and was told to match the arrows on the shaft and on the sliding yoke . When I do this the u joints are not in line with each other. Do I match the arrows or the caps. If it is the caps do I match the fixed cap to the fixed cap or the fixed cap to the sxiveled end? ( arrows are faint but visable) The way it is with the arrows matched the caps are about 50 % out of line..

 

[BlueRidge1]

one more driveshaft question. I am missing or they are mixed up I have 3/8 by 1 3/16 fine thread and I have some 3/8 by 1 5/16 fine thread. If I replace with new what grade bolts should I use. grade 5 or 8 .And shoud it have the nut retaining clips on front and back because I only see two in my parts box? Thanks Bob

 

[GregW]

Hi Bob,
Use grade 8 or better. Preferably a bolt with an unthreaded shank where the flanges meet. less chance of shearing the bolt when at 5000 RMP and dropping the clutch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Keoke]

Hi BR1-Do you have a complete set of the special bolts that attach the driveshaft flange to the rear transmission flange. I would align the arrows as specified and then drive the car to see if any vibration is present. I doubt that any will be felt..---Fwiw---Keoke

 

[Dave Russell]

[ QUOTE ]
Just putting my drive shaft together and was told to match the arrows on the shaft and on the sliding yoke . When I do this the u joints are not in line with each other. Do I match the arrows or the caps. If it is the caps do I match the fixed cap to the fixed cap or the fixed cap to the sxiveled end? ( arrows are faint but visable) The way it is with the arrows matched the caps are about 50 % out of line..

[/ QUOTE ]
Normally they should be aligned fixed cap to fixed cap. The portions nearest the drive shaft aligned with each other. I have no idea why the arrows don't line up. It could possibly be this way to compensate for unequal front & rear U joint angles. Not a good design. Anyone have a theory?
D
Edit:
Blue,
I pulled my driveshaft just for you. See attached pic. With the two arrows aligned (under blue tape) the two flanges align within a couple of degrees. I have used self locking nuts in lieu of tabs.
D

 

[Keoke]

Nope Dave, have not run into one in that configuration. But at the relative low rpm range I doubt there wil be any problem. Most of the critical problems with driveshafts I have seen have to do with the crosses being out of axial alignment.---Keoke

 

[anthony7777]

gregw,5000-r.p.m and dropping the clutch?well i never!were are your manners young man? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

 

[anthony7777]

blue ridge1,from the book-"it will be observed that there is an arrow stamped on both the sliding yoke and the end of the propeller shaft.these must line up on reassembly as to ensure that the jointed yokes are in thier correct relative position" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[BlueRidge1]

I have some bolts I think may be the correct ones but 4 are longer than i feel they should be 1 5/16 seems a little long . The others are 1 3/16 seems a better length but only have 2 of these . May have mistakenly put others in bell housing,probably in the most difficult postion in the area of the throttle linkage or something like that based on my luck. Kinda thinking someone may have changed the yoke.
Im thinking like Dave said that the fixed cups are to line up so I am going to give that a try unless some one can say it needs to be otherwise. Do the clips for locking the nuts in place go both places trans and rearend ? My car is non overdrive side shift 4 speed. If I use nylock nuts are the lock clips necessary? Do british bolts have grade rating ID?
This car has been disassembled and in boxes since 1973.I do have the parts and bolts and they were well organized but being the first Healey ive restored makes it a chalange!Thanks Bob

 

[BlueRidge1]

Dave ,When I line up the arrows the caps are out of line by 3/4 " Could it be a differt yoke? Car seems like it has original parts .Pretty unmolested car. Thanks Bob

 

[Keoke]

BOB;
1 St, Forget the clips-use split lock washers and nuts


2 nd, The special nuts I referred to can not be installed elsewhere they do not have conventional heads on them they have round "D" shaped heads with that part facing the tranny when installed in the flange.

3 rd There is an outside chance that the PO-ers installed nonmatching halves for the drive shaft.

If you do not have the correct hardware I would order a complete set and put them in. They are not expensive items.
Aligning the shaft either way should not cause you any problems.---Fwiw--Keoke

 

[BlueRidge1]

Thanks Dave, How do I go about adding a picture to my post ? I tried to add one picture and it said it was to large a file???? Whats the process?

 

[Dave Russell]

Hi Blue,
On the U joint alignment, align the flanges as per my pic. Just ignore the arrows, I don't know why the arrows don't line up. All simple U joints have instantaneous velocity changes as they rotate. With the front & rear aligned, the velocity changes pretty much cancel out. There is a little more to it in that the front & rear angles should be the same, the pinion angle should match the transmission tail shaft angle, but just aligning the front & rear joints should be acceptable. I just got done replacing the U joints on my BN2 today.

To attach a pic, select add pic when you are in the preview mode. Select the desired pic on your hard disc. Your problem is likely that the selected pic is too large, or the dots per inch too many. The board has a limit of about 150 K for the photo size allowed. You can use a photo editing program such as Adobe Photo Deluxe or some such to set the pic resolution to 72 dots per inch. Then save it as a jpg document which will further compress the file. If the jpg is still over 150 K, you will have to trim the pic a bit, & try again.
D