One piece tailshaft...wtf??

[DANNY8]

I thought all Commodores had a 2 piece tailshaft......but my VB has a 1 piece? Why would this be? Is it standard?

[Tom_1569]

Not sure if they are standard on the VB's, but some people put them on "performance" enginers, personelly I would be changing it, as ive seen the carnage caused by breaking, ripped the floor pan to shreds in a mint monaro. Also its known people to have rolled their car from one braking under huge acceleration.

[Paiste402]

wats wrong with a single piece one? Wont it be very simular to a 2 piece one considering it just spins the diff? (im not savvy with tailshafts and im very curious)

[Fusion]

I would prefer a 1 piece tailshaft . If your worried about it breaking fit a safety loop .
I think it would be less chance of breaking with less moving parts . there's not that much of an angle to really hurt the uni's .

[Tom_1569]

wats wrong with a single piece one? Wont it be very simular to a 2 piece one considering it just spins the diff? (im not savvy with tailshafts and im very curious)

As mentioned below, the safety loop/mounting bracket in the middle. If you look at how it works, ok theirs two parts,

Front part - Closest to the tranny
If the front uni snaps, then nothing it falls out makes a rattle and you entually come to a stop, if the rear snaps (the CV joint holding the two parts together) then the rear parts drops, front half is held safely by the safety loop, and the rear will just hit the road, very little chance of it doing damage.

Rear Part - CV- Diff
Front part as described above. If the rear brakes, its half the lengthto rip through the floor pan, and will most likely just hang down and spin, wont even hit the road.


One piece tail-shaft
If the front uni snaps, as above wont do much damage, though has more potential with it being twice aslong.

rear - If the rear uni joint snaps, theirs no safety cradle or anything, and they are known to hit the road, and bounce up through the floor pan and tear it to pieces, and in some cases fling out, grab the road and flip the car (id like to see prove of this happening though)

If your worried about it breaking fit a safety loop .

BINGO!

[Paiste402]

ah thanks tom, mate u know nearly everything

[Tom_1569]

ah thanks tom, mate u know nearly everything

Close mate.... I KNOW EVERYTHING..... but rep given anyway lol jks..... Just have to much free time so spend reading car forums lol.

[immortality]

single piece driveshaft means there is less to go wrong, no center bearing or C.V. to fail. if upgrading your drivesaft then there is no reason not to go with a sigle piece shaft.

an old neighbour of mine told me a little story of someone who didn't do the 6 capscrews up properly that hold the 2 halves together. should these come loose or fail then the rear half of the shaft will fall down and hit the road, should it dig in it can flip the car. i always loctite em if i split a driveshaft.

[SL/ENUT]

All Commodores had 2 piece tailshafts.

Oh and tom, if you know everything, you would of already said Commodores don't have factory 1 piece jobs.

[Reaper]

Yeah - from the factory all Commodores had 2 piece tail shafts. Also from the factory a lot of Commodores had vibrations caused by the centre bearing. The simple fix was to eliminate the centre bearing and install a 1 piece tail shaft. I don't have any issue with them myself - Keep the thing maintained, fit a tailshaft safety hoop and make sure it's up to spec to suit whatever hp applicaton you are running and it will be fine. I think any tailshaft failure (1 or two piece) could cause a lot of un intended panel beating under your car.

Reaper

[Nevyn]

with a one piece tailshaft if the front uni snaps the sharft drops down and can dig into the road....do that at even 100k's/hr and see what can happen. a mate had it happen in his valiant back in 1980 and rolled the car.

[immortality]

didn't brocky have a tailshaft failure at bathurst one year? i remember him coming down conrod straight with stuff flying around the cabin coming from the floor area

[Reaper]

didn't brocky have a tailshaft failure at bathurst one year? i remember him coming down conrod straight with stuff flying around the cabin coming from the floor area

He had a VN one break on the start line once. That was in the very early 90's when they were way short of money. I sort of remember one like what you were talking about but thought it was either Win Percey or Alan Grice in a VL/VN/VP??? HRT car???

Reaper

[immortality]

He had a VN one break on the start line once. That was in the very early 90's when they were way short of money. I sort of remember one like what you were talking about but thought it was either Win Percey or Alan Grice in a VL/VN/VP??? HRT car???

Reaper

could have been, fairly sure it was HRT. had in car camera and there was a lot of debry fly'n around for sure. wouldn't have been nice trying to get it back to pit lane

[Tom_1569]

All Commodores had 2 piece tailshafts.

Oh and tom, if you know everything, you would of already said Commodores don't have factory 1 piece jobs.

It was a joke mate, As a said my knowledge doesnt go back far enough to know whata VB came out with, ive never worked on one.

[vee ka]

one piece are no good for lowered old model commodores, they tend to hit on the floor when going over bumps, a two piece takes up the change in angle with the centre bearing.

one piece do tend to be stronger because, as said less parts to break but they are really only needed when you have big power going through it. the std two piece can handle a fair bit

[Fusion]

I'm pretty sure it was brocky in a VL coming down conrod when the gearbox let go and was spitting teeth and other stuff into the cab . If i had the chance i would run a 1 piece tail shaft . Just bolt a strap of steel in a "U" shape near the front of the tail shaft so if it does break the strap will stop it from hitting the ground ...... used in most race cars now .

[Smitty]

Yeah - from the factory all Commodores had 1 piece tail shafts. ..snip.

Reaper

huh..???
think u mean 2 piece

lots of reasons why GMH went 2 piece with the shafts on Commodores
...to overcome NVH, driveline angle, durability issues that came from the
fitment of aussie engines and trans into the Opel designed chassis.

and FWIW the 2 piece shaft is as strong as a one piece...and without the
advantages the 2 piece gives. After all Brock Grice HDT etc used 2 piece shafts
with the Grp C and Grp A race cars


hth

Smitty

[Reaper]

huh..???
think u mean 2 piece

Duh... Yeah - original post edited.

I'm pretty sure it was brocky in a VL coming down conrod when the gearbox let go and was spitting teeth and other stuff into the cab . If i had the chance i would run a 1 piece tail shaft . Just bolt a strap of steel in a "U" shape near the front of the tail shaft so if it does break the strap will stop it from hitting the ground ...... used in most race cars now .

Nah. The only VL Brock ran at Bathurst was the 1987 race where 05 expired early (blown engine) and in the 10 car which he won. After that he ran the BMW and then Sierras before returning to the VN Mobil car (which broke it's tailshaft on the starting grid).

Reaper

[DANNY8]

Thx for the info guys. As soon as my new motor is built I'll be converting to manual so I'll prolly just take the 1 peice shaft out and put in the 2 piece which I got with the other motor and trans.

The main thing I was worried about was having to drill holes to mount the centre bearing on the new tailshaft......but if all Commodores had a 2 piece well it should all bolt in no probs

[SL/ENUT]

It was a joke mate, As a said my knowledge doesnt go back far enough to know whata VB came out with, ive never worked on one.

Ahhh, its all good. Didn't mean to sound harsh on what i said chief.