57 Drive shaft question

Ecode70D · 2014-01-23 03:31

Has anyone ever figured out the reason why the 57 Fords had that strange looking tapered drive shaft? Over the years whenever I did an alteration to one, I always used a straight tube one.

hotroddonnie · 2014-01-23 07:44

Jay. I have no idea why, the one on mine I had custom made. One thing I do know is guys love that type of drive shaft for custom made headers for their hotrods.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-23 08:11

I asked the guy that has the drive shaft shop when I had mine balanced if he knew the reasoning behind it and he had no idea. He sad if he ever built a rat rod he would like use one just because they are so unique.

hotroddonnie · 2014-01-23 08:37

If I'm not mistaken the headers are called Lakers. One guy that would know for sure hasn't commented yet but if I know him well he soon will. HRD

modifieddriver · 2014-01-23 08:57

Hot Rod guys use '36 Ford torque tubes as collectors. Tapered tube. Look cool.

Ecode70D · 2014-01-23 10:51

NOW for question number two....

When they first came out in late 56 and into 57, I remember driving in new 57 Fords. The tapered 57 drive shaft always had a distinct ringing sound to them while going through first and second. It would gradually go away after you got up to speed in third. Does anyone remember that? I don't remember that sound in 57's with automatic transmission.

I also remember driving new 58 Ford Custom State Police cars with the new FE and 3 speed stick. The drive shaft was not tapered and there was no ringing sound.

dgasman · 2014-01-23 11:00

The tapered drive shaft was for ground clearance . The new ford for 57 was lower than 56 and with the 14 inch wheels and they thought a straight drive shaft would hit something .

hiball3985 · 2014-01-23 11:07

I had a thought when I needed drive shaft work done. I asked the guy about possibly using something like a CV aluminum shaft and the guy cracked up laughing. Then he showed me a pile of scrap shafts from CV's and Vans. These things were ripped apart on the ends, in the middle and everywhere else you can think of, they looked like beer cans torn in half and the wall thickness was about the same. He builds numerous relacement ones every week. I'm sure the hipo aftermarket ones are much stronger but I wouldn't give 2 cents for an OEM..

Ecode70D · 2014-01-23 12:09

Quote from: dgasman on 2014-01-23 11:00
The tapered drive shaft was for ground clearance . The new ford for 57 was lower than 56 and with the 14 inch wheels and they thought a straight drive shaft would hit something .

dgasman... That sounds like very good deductive reasoning. When the 58's came out they probably just gave up on the idea of tapered shafts, and went back to using the 57 floor in the 58's and straight d. shafts... I have done a lot floor swapping over the years between 57 and 58 and the only difference I ever found was the mount/tab in the trunk floor for the bumper jack.

Ecode70D · 2014-01-23 12:10

Quote from: hiball3985 on 2014-01-23 11:07
I had a thought when I needed drive shaft work done. I asked the guy about possibly using something like a CV aluminum shaft and the guy cracked up laughing. Then he showed me a pile of scrap shafts from CV's and Vans. These things were ripped apart on the ends, in the middle and everywhere else you can think of, they looked like beer cans torn in half and the wall thickness was about the same. He builds numerous relacement ones every week. I'm sure the hipo aftermarket ones are much stronger but I wouldn't give 2 cents for an OEM..

Thank you Jim
As you already know, I'm in the process of doing a drive shaft for my car. I did toy with the idea of the aluminum shaft but decided to stay with a non tapered steel one. After reading what you just posted, I'm glad that I made that decision. Jay

hiball3985 · 2014-01-23 13:36

Quote from: Ecode70D on 2014-01-23 12:10
Thank you Jim
As you already know, I'm in the process of doing a drive shaft for my car. I did toy with the idea of the aluminum shaft but decided to stay with a non tapered steel one. After reading what you just posted, I'm glad that I made that decision. Jay

I'm just on my lunch break from working on mine today. I don't think an aluminum one would be a bad idea if you had it custom made using better material the the OEM type. I just didn't want to spend that much for my low performance car..

dgasman · 2014-01-23 13:41

I had most of it right. But knew I had some print for the tapered drive shaft.

Why are my pics upside down? I will start taking them standing on my head I guess

rmk57 · 2014-01-23 17:58

The 1999-2005 Crown-vic cop cars have an aluminum driveshaft that's a bolt in, plus there balanced to 130 mph.
They also come with 1330 u-joints which is an upgrade from the smaller 1310's.

Sprint cup cars use DOM aluminum tubing for there driveshaft material and there good for up to 1000hp.
In a hi-performance build theres no way I would use the stock driveshaft.

Frankenstein57 · 2014-01-23 19:44

I was reading some Ford PR stuff over on 57ford.com, what Dgasman says is correct, it was for the low chassis. Mark

Ecode70D · 2014-01-23 20:32

Quote from: Frankenstein57 on 2014-01-23 19:44
I was reading some Ford PR stuff over on 57ford.com, what Dgasman says is correct, it was for the low chassis. Mark

Mark ... I have wondered about that for years. Jay

News:

57 Drive shaft question