To balance or not to balance a manual prop shaft

[sujitroy]

What is the consensus of having the prop shaft rebalanced?

I'm rebuilding a manual Stag and am wondering whether to have the prop shaft re-balanced. ( I know nothing about the shafts history, )

I had a BW35 prop shaft re-balanced and it took care of a vibration issue I had. I'm aware the auto prop shafts have some rubber between the tube and can cause problems with age,

Sujit

[Danny]

Before getting it rebalanced I would see what it is like after the car is back on the road. I had a TR7 that had a prop shaft vibration an I balanced it by using jubilee clips as weights. It worked just fine but took quite some time with small adjustments to the clip.

Danny

[Mark Serj]

Hi Danny,

I'm not very familiar with propshafts (will be soon when I strip the back end out) - did you put it between centres somehow in order to balance it?

Regards

[Phil S]

They have to go on a balencer designed for a propshaft
a local firm used to charge about £25 to shorten a shaft and balance when we were all putting silly engines in mk2 escorts
Phil

[LAMBRETTLAD]

I would get it balanced ,saves a lot of faffing about .Good luck

[bullstarz]

Well consider that you have something spinning four feet long under your car at 6500 times a minute, if you have over drive then even more, it's a easy question to answer. I have had 2 custom made props for my Stag and they wouldn't leave the factory with out it.

[72BLUE]

......if you have over drive then even more,....

Would it not be less with overdrive?

[mike@thenook]

Before getting it rebalanced I would see what it is like after the car is back on the road. I had a TR7 that had a prop shaft vibration an I balanced it by using jubilee clips as weights. It worked just fine but took quite some time with small adjustments to the clip.

Danny

I’ve had loads of issues with propshaft balance and the last one i had made was balanced but I’ve still had to use the jubile clip method to get it right - which it still isn’t totally but a lot better.
I’d say try it first fitted then see how it is and if it does vibrate (which I can almost guarantee it will) take it off and get it balanced but make sure all the joints are 100% before you do.

Cheers

[bullstarz]

Would it not be less with overdrive?

Overdrive or an over drive gearbox simply meas that your output is over driving the input. Most gears reduce, under driving. If for example your top gear was 0.8:1 ratio and the engine was at 5000rpm, the prop would be spinning at 6250 rpm.


My new box for the Stag has a 6th gear of 0.65:1 (double overdrive as 5th is 0.8:1), final drive is 3.8:1 ( reduction). With a tire height of 26" means that each 1000rpm will be 32mph. Should it reach max rpm in top it would be doing 251mph.

[sujitroy]

I took both my prop shafts to a local shop and they said the splines are worn on both and cant be fixed. He shop says to build a new one will cost 500$ here in USA. Rimmer has a CV one. Are they any good? With shipping its still cheaper than having one custom made here. LDparts has ones with UJ. Any recommendations?

Sujit

[DJT]

I bought a BW65 propshaft from LD Parts a couple of years ago and its been fine.

[flying farmer]

I have CV joint shafts on both my Stags.
My shafts are actually Rovers SD1 V8 items that used to be available from Rimmers very cheaply, but the gearbox flange had to be re-drilled to suit.
Don't know if the old SD1 variety are still available as it was years since I fitted them.

Neil

[stag8manod]

Recently replaced both universals on my OD Stag drive shaft, front one was stuffed, refitted and runs fine, no rebalance.
Cheers Ian A