VR V8 T5 NON-IRS TAILSHAFT - Where to get one?

[DK101]

Hey guys, I been having problems with my driveshaft for some time. I blew the old one out from the rear end in an angry clutch-dumping sorta moment, and had to replace it with a T5 shaft from a V6 wreck we had laying around. It hasn't held up and now the uni's, centre bearing, and the CV joint itself are all shagged out (pretty sure they were already lame before we removed it from the wreck).

I'm not an aggressive driver (on the streets) and have pretty much babied the car since I got it, except for one track/testing day, but I got a little mad when a drunken fight between mates got out of hand and my car copped a stray boot to the rear quarter. When you dump the clutch and hear that sound of the shaft coming loose from the diff at over 3500rpm you know you stuffed up...

I took the car (old spare shaft in the boot - minus the rear Uni, a worn centre bearing, and rooted CV) to some driveshaft and tranny shops to get them looked at and discuss my options, as well as taking it to 3 different mechanic shops to get their advice, and they all say the same thing - It's gonna be cheaper to find a new shaft than to rebuild my V8 shaft, as the CV joint and centre bearing is never fun or easy to do, let alone cheap.

Problem is, where the hell does a desperate commodore owner find a new shaft for a V8 T5 Manual VR without IRS? Rare spares? No. GMH? No. Tailshaft shops? No. Wreckers? No.

Pretty much chased my tail all the way round northern Vic trying to find one, and spent countless hours scouring eBay for parts, but it looks like I'm gonna hafta start searchin elsewhere...

There's a one-piece shaft from an old Holden sitting here where I'm staying, apprently fitted with hi-perf V8 uni's, I'm thinking it might be easier to get that custom fitted and balanced than it would be to find a whole new two-piece shaft...

Any help or advice you guys might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated, as I'm stuck at me missus' house, 150km from home and can't go anywhere until I find a new shaft...

[97vsv8]

Not sure on where your going to source a replacement, maybe try a commy wreckers down the city & get it freighted up??Pretty sure pickering transport has trucks running down to Melb (& other places aswell naturaly but knowing they are based up here in northern vic). Tailshaft size should be able to go through AU post no worries also. Guessing you would've rang M.A.W in Irimple (Mildura) yeah? (everythings expensive there) I think they're hooked into a site that links a lot of wreckers & auto shops together via the net. Maybe there'll be a tailshaft at a wreckers that you haven't rang yet & M.A.W could get it in for you. Not sure where you are & where you've tried already so i've just listed the above incase.

The centre bush on them are bastards to say it nicely to change, but nothing that a 2lb sledgy, impact socket & impact driver wont eventualy undo with time, patience, care & lots of talking to it nicely lol.

I should also say i guess if repairing the existing shaft becomes the most viable option (you've probably already had it done seeming it's been to quite a few places) make sure it's straight & no bad dents etc (possibility after being thrown off at the back uni somewhere & doing a few rotations knocking into things) then if ok have it ballanced just to make sure it's right before it goes back in.

[VrWagz1]

If your getting low on places to wring. Give Commwreck a ring cause they only do commodores and you would think they would have one......you have one in vic it seems
Commwreck, Car Wreckers, Airport West in Melbourne

The one i was thinking of is this one in sydney. Im sure they would freight for a reasonable price. They got heaps of junk there.
Commwreck - Auto Parts Recyclers - Condell Park, NSW - Yellow Pages®

[DK101]

Cheers Fellas, I haven't had an internet connection available for some time, so I couldn't get on here.
I ended up moving from North-East Vic down to Dandenong, which seems to be performance car central.
My brother and I figured out the problem when we jacked up the car and dropped the old V6 shaft and laid it beside the V8 one.
The yoke on the gearbox end of the shaft is a little bit longer on a V6 Shaft than it is on a V8 one, so the shaft was operating on too much of an angle and causing that grinding sound in the CV (it actually ate that little metal clip inside it, thats meant to hold back the rubber sheath), and wore the front uni to beyond repair...
So we just got two tough new uni's and another used V6 shaft with a great centre bearing/CV joint, and just bung the V8 yoke and two brand new uni's onto it... Bolted her in and she was tough as nails, 'cept we mounted her 180 out so I got the classic vibration goin on, but besides that she holds ok. An example of that would the fact I have rooted my diff since and the shaft is still holding solid...
It's good but I still wanna upgrade it soon enough, but I gotta track down a new diff housing first and toughen it up just a tad, so far I'm thinkin of beefier axles and a 3.79 minispool... We'll see how the finance thing goes...

But yeah, cheers for the replies fellas. Just thought I'd take the time to write up what I went thru with it, so that it makes perfect sense to anyone lookin for a fix to the same problem...