dzlfarmboy

I see you guys are from up north Maryland, do you come to any of the events around here. Not sure if I've seen your trucks around or not.

Brett

Redliner

Yes Brett. Weve been known to hang out with TWB a little. Both of us have been down your way a few times. I got a truck like TJ's. You probably know Nick as Bumble Bee??

dzlfarmboy

Gotcha, TWB? Is that Bailey or the lawn care logo? So what are you planning on doing with yor buddys trans.

paulb

Both the 02 and the 05 have Opie's shafts. Fat shafts in the 05.

Paul

Redliner

Bailey... Think we gonna do it ourselfs on this one. I did mine and a few more and they still holding strong.

MAIDEN12valve

Hi

I broke the stock input on my 47re saturday ....just cam back from a 600km trip with my goosneck trailler friday....lucky that's happened in front of our shop....just hold the brake...up the rpm at 1500-1700...and clunck....neutral...nothing :/

push in the shop....remove everything and found the input broken...no small pieces...cut straight in the middle


I run stock injector....only no fuel plate in my p7100.....boost elbow....and 5 inch exhaust...the truck have 300 000km....but the tranny and the torq have been replace after november 2005

do I need a billet input shaft?

HOHN

Being a manual trans guy, I haven't paid much attention to what's current or going on in the world of auto trans upgrade shafts. So take this post as the amateur thinking-out-loud that it is.

It seems to me that whoever is making these "billet" pieces is making a ton of money off of marketing something based mostly on the fact that something is "billet". I can make a "billet" copper shaft that will shear if you look at it, but hey-- it's "billet", right?

The metallurgy matters a lot more than just being carved from a chunk of metal. The grainflow in the metal matters a ton, too. In many cases, a forged piece will be stronger than a billet piece because a forging can "flow" the grain structure, while a billet piece will have the grain all in the same direction. That's why a properly forged connecting rod is actually stronger than a billet connecting rod made of the exact same material.

It seems to me what's missing in these shaft is ductility. The fact that these shafts are shearing into two pieces, or even just shattering in some cases seem to point to a lack of ductility. Hi tensile strength with most hi-strength steels is relatively easy to achieve compared to achieving hi strenght WITH TOUGHNESS.

When you have a really tough material that is both strong *and* ductile, you end up with something with a longer fatigue life.

I'd like to see a Goodman diagram of the material used in these shafts.

camododge

You talking bout factory or billet shafts?

dzlfarmboy

I wouldn't think you would need a billet input but if you tow alot it might not be a bad idea.

Brett

MAIDEN12valve

I do not tow a lot....but when I tow its about 8-9k pounds....

and I drive it a little hard...

I dont want to have to change it next year ehehe

camododge

I'd say it was a fluke. Way to many people pulling way heavier loads with a lot more mods that aren't having any issues. Quick question, were you beating on it hard before it broke? Seems a lot of shafts tend to go out while people were just normal driving but like an hour or so before that they were beating the snot out of their trucks.

MAIDEN12valve

hum...I was driving like usual...but i'm a little hard on it...and like I said the day before I pulled my gooseneck....with a lot of hills...and I didn let him slow ..I always kept the speed .... but when it broke I made a little drift before.....and it breaks when I hold the brake and up the rpm to 1500-1700....

camododge

I'd say it sounds like a fluke but beating on stuff while pulling loads and boosted launches on stock shafts is asking for disaster.

dzlfarmboy

Yeah sounds like a fluke break, your prob only at 250hp at the wheels if you just have the plate out and a boost elbow. Unless your going to make more power with your truck a new stock shaft should be fine.

Brett

MAIDEN12valve

one day I plan to put some injectors....maybe 50 or 75 hp....

and I want to put a low stall torque....maybe the stock will not support this??