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Cutting drive shaft down found card board tube

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by temper_mental, Aug 11, 2009.

  1. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

    I was cutting a drive shaft down for my new project and found a card board tube inside of it. Is this placed inside of it for some reason? Really not sure
     

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    kidcampbell71 likes this.
  2. i've seen it before , i believe that they were used for sound deadening....i don't know if it actually worked
     
  3. fordcragar
    Joined: Dec 28, 2005
    Posts: 3,198

    fordcragar
    Member
    from Yakima WA.

    Same here.
     
  4. Retrorod
    Joined: Jan 25, 2006
    Posts: 2,034

    Retrorod
    Member

    It is for sound/resonnance dampening. Leave it in there even if you have to cut it up....the driveline will be much quieter than an empty tube.
     
    gimpyshotrods and Bearcat_V8 like this.

  5. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

    I will leave it in for sure.
     
  6. Dreddybear
    Joined: Mar 31, 2007
    Posts: 6,084

    Dreddybear
    Member

    I'll be damned you learn something every day.
     
    Boryca, clem and lothiandon1940 like this.
  7. pdc
    Joined: Nov 25, 2008
    Posts: 354

    pdc
    Member

    Well, I build driveshafts for a living. Yes they are for sound deadening, when they get loose inside almost impossible to balance.
     
    ring gap and lothiandon1940 like this.
  8. lanny haas
    Joined: Nov 1, 2008
    Posts: 560

    lanny haas
    Member
    from Phoenix AZ

    I bet that thing was dizzy
     
    clem, razoo lew, Stogy and 2 others like this.
  9. dabirdguy
    Joined: Jun 23, 2005
    Posts: 2,404

    dabirdguy
    Member Emeritus

    Well, you can see from the picture it is blond, so I doubt you could tell.
     
  10. RAY With
    Joined: Mar 15, 2009
    Posts: 3,132

    RAY With
    Member

    I always removed it when shorting a shaft. I know what its for but never noticed any difference in sounds. Most of us use them in hotrods so the other noise drowns out any thing else if it was a little louder than stock. I installed one in my truck I made and its real quiet as to road or mechanical noise and there is no difference I can tell period.
     
  11. pastlane
    Joined: Oct 4, 2007
    Posts: 1,063

    pastlane
    Member

    I read awhile back in the internet that they hid the dead sea scrolls in a drive shaft. It's gotta be true, right?
     
    Stogy and lothiandon1940 like this.
  12. yoyodyne
    Joined: Nov 26, 2008
    Posts: 855

    yoyodyne
    Member

    Best explanation I heard was that it dampens the tube and changes the critical rpm where it will whip so they can run a smaller diameter/thinner wall tube for a given length. I always take them out too.
     
  13. mac762
    Joined: Jun 28, 2007
    Posts: 676

    mac762
    Member

    Yep, I don't know what it's for but they put it in big truck driveshafts too. I used to work at a place that would take brand new trucks and shorten the frames, for beer and pop trucks. I was curious the first time I saw it too.
     
  14. 34toddster
    Joined: Mar 28, 2006
    Posts: 1,482

    34toddster
    Member
    from Missouri

    You should see what they do when the car /truck burns to the ground. I'll try to take a shot of mine to show ya!
     
  15. Scott K
    Joined: Oct 17, 2005
    Posts: 824

    Scott K
    Member

    Packing inside a driveshaft is to change the natural frequency of the shaft. Typically done because gear noise from the differential is amplified by some driveshafts to the point where it's audible inside the vehicle (a no-no in new cars) Depends on O.D., wall thickness, length, etc. Not all shafts will need it.
    And when you shorten the shaft, you change the natural freuqency, so you may not need it. But it's not hurting anything by leaving it in....providing it's not loose and causing balance problems.
     
    Bearcat_V8 likes this.
  16. Von Rigg Fink
    Joined: Jun 11, 2007
    Posts: 13,418

    Von Rigg Fink
    Member
    from Garage

    its the cars birth certificate
     
  17. Every big truck shaft, pickup shaft, and passenger car shaft we build gets cardboard.
    One customer (Dodge dealer) brought us a shaft that had spray foam having been sprayed in it. Because the stuff couldn't get air to set, the liquid flowed around inside the tubing like bull snot and caused a hell of a vibration.
     
    Atwater Mike likes this.
  18. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    One might think the liquid 'spinning' would cause a 'balance', clinging to the 'lighter side'... Recall the 'hoops' with steel balls and/or oil on big rig wheels, to 'balance' them above given RPM...
    Experiments on the track abounded in the '60s, attempting to quell 'race imbalance'.
     
  19. el Scotto
    Joined: Mar 3, 2004
    Posts: 4,698

    el Scotto
    Member
    from Tracy, CA

    Put a slinky in there! :D
     
  20. harpo1313
    Joined: Jan 4, 2008
    Posts: 2,584

    harpo1313
    Member
    from wareham,ma

    Must of been absent in a long empty dodge van I had in the early eighties. sounded like you were in an airplane .
     
  21. Jack E/NJ
    Joined: Mar 5, 2011
    Posts: 836

    Jack E/NJ
    Member
    from NJ

    I think concrete-filled lally columns would make decent driveshafts. Kinda heavy though, 8^) Jack E/NJ
     
  22. I never put the cardboard back when shortening a shaft. I thought it would burn when I welded the end back on. and a driveshaft will exploded and flatten when its subjected to enuf heat.
     
  23. you should write a message on it.
    a high rpm time capsule.
     
    clem likes this.
  24. 56sedandelivery
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 6,695

    56sedandelivery
    Member Emeritus

    They're actually there for extra strength. I'm kidding! Sound deadening. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
     
  25. Butch is 100% correct. I worked in a driveline shop in my younger days. We never put the card board back in either.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  26. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I just having to tell a friend of mine that a lot of driveshafts came with them when he called me all wound up because he thought that someone had messed with it when the found the cardboard inside when he cut it in two to shorten it.
     
  27. rooman
    Joined: Sep 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,045

    rooman
    Member

    I guess that old threads never die--this one came back after 10 years in HAMB limbo.

    Roo
     
    kidcampbell71 and clem like this.
  28. Quite a few years ago I remember a few people mentioning that they'd found what appeared to be rolled-up newspapers stuffed inside driveshaft tubes. The more I've thought about it over the years it started sounding like some used car dealers "field fix" for a driveline howl or harmonic noises. Maybe it helped to dampen the noise of a badly worn transmission or rear axle. :p
     
  29. I work for a driveline company, its for sound deadening. We use a high density foam insert on stuff now a days though. Ive seen cardboard in them as well as paper wadding. And even seen a couple home made jobs with pool noodles stuff in there to cut the resonance down, if it works it works!
     

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