Sourcing drive shafts

[AnotherPITA]

The world seems full of £45 drive shafts, but just from zooming in on the photo's, they are clearly poor quality.
Whilst I wait for my 8mm triple square drive to arrive and considering I'm running a sleeper/rolling resto, I'm thinking Design 911 OEM Match quality at £96 exc, rather than genuine Porsche at £450 exc.....

Any thoughts, or trusted alternative sources?

 

[blade7]

I used to work for a company called Bailey Morris that manufacture drive shafts, I'd go somewhere like that, rather than the likes of Design 911. Who are buying them in, and adding their margin on top. My daughter, who is very easy on her cars, used to own a 1.4 Corsa, one of the driveshafts snapped in half on that car. So I wouldn't go near the £45 rubbish.

 

[dlknight]

Do you actually need the entire drive shaft or just CV joints? I got GKN / Lobro CV joints from Design 911 for my rebuild. I've heard although can't verify that those all-in-one packages with a new shaft and CV joints aren't the same strength as the factory drive shafts.

 

[AnotherPITA]

Do you actually need the entire drive shaft or just CV joints? I got GKN / Lobro CV joints from Design 911 for my rebuild. I've heard although can't verify that those all-in-one packages with a new shaft and CV joints aren't the same strength as the factory drive shafts.

I've got a lot of play/rotation in the offside drive shaft so was going to replace the entire shaft. I might just take it off and have a look first, but either way the play must be contributing to the lag/thump I'm getting, particularly when decelerating?

 

[dlknight]

I've got a lot of play/rotation in the offside drive shaft so was going to replace the entire shaft. I might just take it off and have a look first, but either way the play must be contributing to the lag/thump I'm getting, particularly when decelerating?

It is a splined shaft, more likely for the CV joint itself to be worn out, the symptoms are exactly what you describe. But better to take a look first and you can inspect the drive shaft splines. When I had a tiny budget for car maintenance, I even rotated the CV joints on my old 944S and it cured the problem, switching the wear to the other side of the bearings which only get used in reverse.

 

[AnotherPITA]

I've got a lot of play/rotation in the offside drive shaft so was going to replace the entire shaft. I might just take it off and have a look first, but either way the play must be contributing to the lag/thump I'm getting, particularly when decelerating?

It is a splined shaft, more likely for the CV joint itself to be worn out, the symptoms are exactly what you describe. But better to take a look first and you can inspect the drive shaft splines. When I had a tiny budget for car maintenance, I even rotated the CV joints on my old 944S and it cured the problem, switching the wear to the other side of the bearings which only get used in reverse.

Thanks for the advice - never thought of reversing them and it also confirms that they are universal fittings.
That's decided then, I'll remove the offside one first and have a look.

 

[scam75]

I bought 2 x shiny new Q drive shafts for my turbo from ECP, about £90 a side. I exploded a CV joint within weeks. Put new GKN cv's on my old shafts and all is good.

 

[dlknight]

I have four of the GKN Turbo CV joints in a box in the garage, I had to move them over the weekend and they weigh a ton. If quality can be measured in weight you can tell they are good CV joints!