Aluminum driveshaft from Ford Aerostar?

ForceFed70 · Oct 13, 2006

Has anyone looked at using an aluminum driveshaft from an Aerostar in their classic? Was hunting around at the local boneyard last week and saw a couple of '93 Aerostars with good looking aluminum driveshafts.

I realize I'll have to get it shortened....

hsr · Oct 13, 2006

I've been running one since 2002. Paid $20 for it at the JY. It cost me $100 to have it shortened/balanced and $30 for new Spicier joints.

BTW: Starting in '91, they have correct yoke to fit T-5/Toploader.

Don't understand why more people aren't using them when compared to the much more expensive commercially available alternatives.

ForceFed70 · Oct 13, 2006

hsr said:
I've been running one since 2002. Paid $20 for it at the JY. It cost me $100 to have it shortened/balanced and $30 for new Spicier joints.

BTW: Starting in '91, they have correct yoke to fit T-5/Toploader.

Don't understand why more people aren't using them when compared to the much more expensive commercially available alternatives.

Thanks! I'm planning a T5 swap so it sounds like the 93 driveshaft will work perfectly! When I crawled under that aerostar it was like striking gold. Then I found a 2nd one... and started wondering if there was something wrong with them.

NasaGT · Oct 13, 2006

Thats some good info there. Anyone know of any other cars with aluminum driveshafts? Crown Vics maybe?

StaffAmerica74 · Oct 13, 2006

my mark viii has an aluminum driveshaft 93 was the only year that they were a 1 piece though.

bnickel · Oct 13, 2006

i've wanted to do an aerostar shaft for a while, but i had already had a new shaft made for my car before i found out about the aerostar aluminum units.

66newbie · Oct 13, 2006

Just curious, would that swap work with an AOD ? I would like to do the AOD swap and figure I might as well do that swap while I am at it. How much weight do you save ?

bnickel · Oct 13, 2006

66newbie said:
Just curious, would that swap work with an AOD ? I would like to do the AOD swap and figure I might as well do that swap while I am at it. How much weight do you save ?

it should. the t5 and aod use the same yoke so that should be fine and the aod is about the same length as an FMX and a bit longer than a c4 and the aerostar shaft is plenty long.

reenmachine · Oct 13, 2006

Well, what's the diameter and wall thickness of these shafts? I don't ever recall seeing an Aerostar with a lot of horsepower and torque. Has anyone looked into if these shafts are strong enough to handle what you're putting through them?

68converted · Oct 13, 2006

Hate to toss in a wrench, but of the three driveshaft shops I tried, not one would even touch the driveshaft. The wall thickness is way to thin for them to make a good weld. Ford does it with very high tech robots. I had mine built, 3" with a thickness rated for very high hp setups. This thing is soo light, about a third of the original and perty. I paid $200. To have one shortened and balanced with the appropriate joints would have cost $125. Just made sense to go brand new.

bnickel · Oct 13, 2006

i know a guy who has one in a 57 Ford custom, with a blown Y-block, a T-5 and a 4.11 geared 9" rear. he hasn't had a problem yet. it has run in the low 12's

ForceFed70 · Oct 13, 2006

Aerostar's with the larger engine only made approx 150hp and 225 ft/lbs depending on the year(Some more some less).

That's not alot of power, but remember that the Aerostar was ford's "Workhorse" minivan, it had a fairly hefty tow-rating for a minivan and the driveline to support it.

I'm going to give it a try... we'll see how it handles approx 300hp. I won't be doing any nitrous launches anyway...don't have the traction for it with 275 street radials and limited slip.

Sicarius428 · Oct 13, 2006

I had my driveshaft built from scrach(bought the car and it didn't come with one) and the guy at my local shop said not to go with the aluminium when I asked him about it. He said that the 428 would probably snap it. Seeing you have nos It might apply to you too. Go with a custom AL one for strength if you go that route but I would stick with good ol' steel. It would have been in the guys benifit to sell me an AL one because he could charge more but he insisted that an AL would not hold up.
Kevin

reenmachine · Oct 13, 2006

Sicarius428 said:
I had my driveshaft built from scrach(bought the car and it didn't come with one) and the guy at my local shop said not to go with the aluminium when I asked him about it. He said that the 428 would probably snap it. Seeing you have nos It might apply to you too. Go with a custom AL one for strength if you go that route but I would stick with good ol' steel. It would have been in the guys benifit to sell me an AL one because he could charge more but he insisted that an AL would not hold up.
Kevin

There are aluminum driveshafts out there that will take a gazillion horsepower. It's very, very commonly done.

Sicarius428 · Oct 13, 2006

Very true. The guy at the shop said it would have to be a very large diameter tube and said that the mustang tunnel isn't large enough. Sorry I didn't elaborate. He could be full of it too... I definately would have liked to have one.
Kevin

reenmachine · Oct 13, 2006

Just what kind of horsepower and torque are you running?

stangdriva67 · Oct 13, 2006

sorry to hijack the the thread but....
Im putting in a DS from a Crown Vic and it will fit on my aod but what do i do about the rear u joint connecting to my 8 in.

ForceFed70 · Oct 14, 2006

stangdriva67 said:
sorry to hijack the the thread but....
Im putting in a DS from a Crown Vic and it will fit on my aod but what do i do about the rear u joint connecting to my 8 in.

You'll probably need to get a conversion U-joint.

69gmachine · Oct 14, 2006

Another thing to consider with aluminum is that they dent easily compared to steel from road debris. The local shop here talked me out of one saying he replaces them all the time. Throws them in the trash, as they cannot be repaired. He also wasn't willing to shorten one for the same reason as mentioned in a previous reply. Ultimately I went with a light weight chrome moly shaft. A bit pricey, but it's balanced to rev to 7K, and is lighter than a stock steel shaft, although not nearly as light as aluminum.

There is a benefit to aluminum not mentioned here, and that is aluminum has a natural frequency resonance that is way higher than steel, so it tends to dampen harmonics in the normal driving RPM range. Since the OEMs use aluminum, the risk to road debris can't be too high, but some people are just lucky. I'm definitely not one of them.

x73mach1x · Oct 14, 2006

will these driveshafts fit any other transmissions besides the aod and T_5. how about a c-6 no???

Aluminum driveshaft from Ford Aerostar?

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