Cutting new splines onto a driveshaft

[Matthew Dresser]

Hi,

I'm (still) doing a conversion of an old Fiat 126, now using an Outlander rear motor. I need to connect the outlander rear driveshafts to the Fiat hubs. I could do the old cut and shut job on the driveshafts, but was wondering if anyone has found an engineering place that would take an existing driveshaft and turn one end down to a specified diameter and cut splines onto it? Thus avoiding dodgy welded driveshafts? I presume the DVLA or MOT places are not very fond of welded driveshafts either, right?

[crasbe]

A couple of people (Johannes for his Audi A2 for example) ordered their custom driveshafts from Motomax in Poland: http://www.motomax.pl/en/home-page/

But it might be a good idea to do the welded driveshafts first to get the length right.

[Zieg]

Ooh, definitely liking this. My plan was to get my measurements by installing the drive cups into the transmission and hubs, take a length measurement, and mark the new location on the shaft. Then, I hope to be able to bring it to a local driveshaft shop and say 're-cut these splines here, please'.

[SuperV8]

Hi,

I'm (still) doing a conversion of an old Fiat 126, now using an Outlander rear motor. I need to connect the outlander rear driveshafts to the Fiat hubs. I could do the old cut and shut job on the driveshafts, but was wondering if anyone has found an engineering place that would take an existing driveshaft and turn one end down to a specified diameter and cut splines onto it? Thus avoiding dodgy welded driveshafts? I presume the DVLA or MOT places are not very fond of welded driveshafts either, right?

Dave mac props (Coventry) made me a custom prop shaft, nice service.
I believe they can also make custom driveshafts.
https://davemacprops.co.uk/services/

[Bratitude]

i have drive shaft adapter stubs for the outlander gearbox coming in june, being fiat it should be a 90mm or 100mm drive shaft. so the stock axles will bolt right up

[latitudeone]

I'm currently Leaf swapping a '74 X1/9, I'm cutting both leaf and fiat axles in half and I've made some adapter sleeves that I'll weld in and then balance as best I can manage on my lathe. Not sure I'd trust this technique on a more powerful drivetrain given that the welding will damage the temper in the axles, but its a 2000 lb car I'm not too concerned.

[EV_Builder]

Their custom driveshafts from Motomax in Poland: http://www.motomax.pl/en/home-page/

They cut the splines to original fitment.
You just send a tack welded correct axle and they make a new one.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Machine shop? Pfft. Hacksaw and some spare time.

[EV_Builder]

Machine shop? Pfft. Hacksaw and some spare time.

If the spline isn't very over dimensioned sooner or later it will start to develop play. Atleast thats my experience with DIY splines.
So great job but be careful where applied

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

If the spline isn't very over dimensioned sooner or later it will start to develop play. Atleast thats my experience with DIY splines. So great job but be careful where applied

I made that 7 years ago, but, it's seen all of 30 minutes use ever. It was for my motorbike, and then my source of free batteries dried up and I didn't have enough to do both the bike and a future car project, so I never put batteries into it or rode it. It's been on the back burner while I work on my car.

And, knowing more now about how important alignment is on those things, I bet it wasn't good enough, not centered, etc. My backup plan is to re-use the bike's original transmission output, and just weld the stub coming off the motor shaft right to the transmission output shaft. So, if it ever fails, it's a quick weld job to have proper splines. I was just bored one weekend visiting family and took that along to play with between meals.

I'll revisit sometime in the future and see how it goes.