[DeTomaso] Half Shaft Safety Hoop

[Thomas Borcich]

Mike....how the heck would the two halves of the half shaft separate unless the suspension itself was sheared off due to some catastrophic event?

My half shafts have obviously been replaced(when??) and the u-joints are very smooth...but I don't trust them at this point. Since they are off the car I might as well replace the u-joints. Is there a heavy heavy duty u-joint available to fit the stock half shafts?  A few months ago I spoke to Wilkenson about possibly replacing my half shafts with spicers...but he told me stock units are stronger than the spicers which surprised me.


Tom 




In a message dated 12/8/09 8 47 9, tborcich at msn.com writes:





Jack brought up a scenario that I had not realized...the shaft breaking in the middle, not on the ends. I assumed that they broke at the universals.  That makes me think that a reinforcement band around the half shaft at the base of the threads with a few tack welds to hold it in place might give some added insurance and lessen the need for a hoop.  Thoughts?





I've never heard of a driveshaft itself breaking.   When a U-joint breaks, it's possible that the two halves of the driveshaft might slip apart, but I've never heard of that actually happenening either.   What normally happens is that a stock, crappy, rusty U-joint snaps, and then the driveshaft flails around and beats the inner wheelhouse to death.



Mike