Grow UP!



Heard nothing but good things about Shaftmasters by the way. Go for it young shaftmaster...

 

Tom, I checked into This a couple weeks ago, when I seen 475.00 shipped. I called them talked to a guy named David for about 10 minutes He was very informative! Stated that they use Spicer components on the Shaft, this is a big thumbs up!! Spicer is top notch, I used to use Spicer drive components in my off road days, there just about bullet proof!!........

 

This is Robert, a co-owner of Shaftmasters. Thought a little info on our company might help ease your mind. Shaftmasters is owned and operated by myself and my business partner David. I personally have been manufacturing and repairing driveshafts for 25 years and have worked on well over 50,000 driveshafts in my career. Every mustang aluminum driveshaft that is sold over the internet is personally made by myself. I have a vested interest to make sure that they are done right. My business and personal/family life all depend on me doing a great job. I won't say anything bad of our competitors, I don't know them personally. I don't know if the person working on these shafts from our competition has as much at stake, or has the experience that I do. All I can say is that we have yet to receive one complaint from any of the shafts that we have sold to any of our mustang customers. The right tooling and experience goes a long way toward insuring this. I sometimes wonder if "it must be out of balance because it was damage in shipping" is being honest or a good story. As far as our price goes, we could charge more to try and avoid any skepticism of us, that there must be something wrong with these guys if they are selling them so cheap. We perfer to make a decent profit and slowing build our reputation by fair pricing and a quality product.
Robert

 

Welcome Robert!

 

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the welcome. We hope that we can provide some good info to forum members on what to look for when considering a aluminum replacement shaft for there Mustang. We have developed are own heavy-duty 3.5 inch diameter aluminum shaft that you may want to consider. It weighs the same as the 4.0 inch diameter aluminum shaft but has a higher torsional yield rating than the 4.0 inch shaft. It also will help some with any clearance issues associated with the 4.0 diameter shaft. We are sending one out Monday to a 4.0 collective forum member who is going to test it out and post his review of it on the collective forum.
Robert

 

When posted, could you please provide a link to that forum? Thanks.

 

Gotta agree with 70MACH on this one. I've done DS swaps on my S197 about 10 times and did it easily in about 1 hour and that's both with the stock DS and aftermarket. If not swapping out the rear flange, that saves even more time. I replace the flange and installed the Spyder in about 1.5 hours and thats because the stock flange did not want to come out. Nothing a 3 lb hammer couldn't handle though.

 

I only did the swap once (on my own car). Don't have a lift, just jack stands. I also work relatively slow and try to make sure I don't mess anything up, especially the documentation process.

All in all, I think it took me 3-4 hours. I always try and estimate a mod job on the long side for anyone who asks me how long it takes. That way it can usually take no longer than the time I spent on the installation.

 

LOL...Not doging on you Man, it's just that your install times are no indication to "real" install times. You are by far the documentation master!!

 

What are the advantages of getting a 4 inch shaft over a 3.5 inch shaft?

 

.5 bigger!

 

One big advantage in going with a 3.5 inch diameter driveshaft over a 4.0 inch diameter driveshaft is the clearance issue. I've have seen on this forum where someone downplays this because it actually only gives you 1/4 inch more clearance. This amount could very well be the difference between your driveshaft being sawed in-half or not. I have had to retube many driveshafts over the last 25 years, both steel and aluminum because of them rubbing on emergency brake cables, exhaust clamps etc. I have seen many shafts that come in for balancing, lengthening, shortening etc. where there is a wear mark that has starting digging into the tubing but has not quite wore through yet. In these cases you better believe that 1/4 of an inch more clearance would have made a difference!
Robert
By the way, I have seen these issues on Mustangs that are using 3.0 inch diameter steel and also 3.5 inch daimeter aluminum driveshafts. If they had been using a 4.0 inch diameter driveshaft it definitely would be in two pieces. Of course if the emergency brake cable wasn't sagging, or better care was giving positioning that exhaust clamp etc. these instances would not happen, but they do. The bigger the diameter the tube you are running the more critical it is to ensure your clearances from these objects. I would make it a point to check your driveshaft for clearance from these objects on a regular basis.

 

Robert, I am very interested in the 3.5" driveshaft. How much does you aluminum 4" weigh? I know the SpyderShaft is roughly 18 lbs.

 

Sounds good Robert, welcome to the board. It sounds as if you won't give us the shaft (pun intended) except of course the ones we want.

 

I was the prototype V6 for this project. The guys who installed my rear end (life long family friends) refered me to David at shaftmaster. One conversation with David and your issues should be cleared up. David came out and did the measurements of my car and had it built in 2 days.....from scratch, they had never done a shaft before for the S197, this shows you the professionalism.
I am not being paid by them or sponsored by them, I just was the first guy to go get a GREAT LOCAL company to do a custom shaft and they have been progressive enough to run with it.
My review of the shaft was nothing short of PERFECT, really made the car smoother and the install was literally 15 MINUTES! including moving the break cable. The car ran steady quite and vibration free at all speeds, I had my car well above 100 a few time.
If you looking to help a local small business out that is intrested in making a quality product, give them a shot.
http://www.mustangcollective.com/showthread.php?t=13198 3.5 review
http://www.mustangcollective.com/showthread.php?t=10808
http://www.mustangcollective.com/showthread.php?t=13602

 

The 4" for the V6 weighed 17 pounds.
http://www.v6john.com/Main/Performan..._the_shaft.htm
http://www.mustangcollective.com/showthread.php?t=11012

 

Welcome Robert!

It is good to hear from the guy who is actually building the parts! I will definately consider this as one of my future mods.

BTW You guys need a Shaftmaster sticker...Maybe even a windshield size one!!! that is one sticker that I would actually put on my car.

here is my vision...

 

Well thank goodness the shape of that arrow isn't different...... you had me worried for a minute Johnny!

 

 

Robert, I see you price your shafts either with a replacement pinion flange or with an adaptor. Which is your preferred setup and why? I see and hear lots of differing opinions on this.... what's your thoughts?


Hi Ron..... on your install did you use the replacement pinion flange or an adaptor?