HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

I'm sure this was a long time in the making after beating on it with my higher horsepower numbers (540rwhp). I thought my rear end blew up! I was going about 20 mph and I laid on the throttle somewhat heavy when I heard a loud pop and grinding noises in the rear. The grinding was my torque arm rubbing on the drive shaft under any load. I limped a few miles to my garaged apartment. I had to fix it to drive it back to where I store it during the week to pick up my daily driver.

Here's the pics of the carnage and me beating/welding it back in place.




I only have a Lincoln Mig welder with the flux core wire. I hate the welds it makes. Gas is so much better! My welder is able to use gas, but I don't have the equipment. I really wish I did. How expensive is it?




I grinded it down just a bit to look and fit right. I painted it black after these shots.




So here's my drive shaft...





How bad is that? Does anyone know how thick the stock aluminum drive shaft is?

Realistically I need a new torque arm and drive shaft. I want to get a cross brace mounted TA so it's not connected to the tail of the transmission. The only thing that sucks about that is I know my custom dual exhaust setup will not clear a brace so I'll need to redo most of my exhaust. I'm looking at getting a 3" chromoly drive shaft as well. All in all, I'm looking at probably a grand to do this right and make it safe. For now, the car is drivable but I can't go beating on it.

I'm considering this UMI one


What would be the main difference between the above and this one with a relocation brace?




They both take the mount off the trans, but this second one replaces the stock trans crossmember and I'm pretty sure it would fit my current exhaust.



I know crap about drive shafts, but I want a full replacement. Lots of ones I see come without a yoke or rear joints. Can I just reuse my stock ones? How hard is it to swap them to the new drive shaft? Any recommendations?

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99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

You can probably reuse the slip yoke, but I'd get new U-joints along with a drive shaft.
IMO, if your car is mostly street driven the I'd go with a full length TA and relocation trans X-member, the shorter TA is for drag racing.

HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

It is a street car. I'll eventually take it to the track more when I can afford a narrowed 9" rear among a few things. The car does have a custom 6 point chromoly roll cage, racing seats, 4 point harnesses, and is mini tubed though!

How easy it it to change the slip yoke?

Burken01

iTrader: (88)

Might be cheaper to buy a new yoke, they aren't expensive.. When you buy a new driveshaft they will want your yoke shipped to them for balancing..

If your making 540hp I would be getting a heavy duty yoke for it anyway.. Ditch the stock

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

You have to melt the plastic out(I used a small propane torch) the holds the U-joints in then you can knock the bearing caps out and remove the front U-joint from the slip yoke.

studderin

iTrader: (28)

that weld repair in really nice! I was expecting to see zip ties holding the rear end in or something. haha.

I would change the DS, it might be fine, but when it breaks it messes up the floor of the car. you can get them used for $100

I have the BMR setup in the lower pics. I like it alot, got it when I was stock and its been fine for many year and alot of track use.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

With the true dual exhaust setup you have you are going to be limited with what style of torque arm you can run. More than likely that tunnel mounted torque am setup will not work with your current exhaust setup because there will be clearance issues so you will end up needing to modify it. Now our BMR full length adjustable torque arm and torque arm relocation crossmember should work for you perfectly and not have any clearance issues with your exhaust. One of the nice things about our setup is that it is very street oriented and one of the quieter aftermarket torque arm setups available but it also performs at the track very well. We have a bunch of guys running good times at the track with this same setup. Here is one of our faster guys we have with full length torque arm and relocation crossmember.