drive_shaft

No, the slipjoint can be on either side. [ Mount it so that the slipjoint is away from the dusty side...] If Hotchkiss universals are used, the two "crosses" must line up exactly and at the driver side and driven side the angles at which it drives, must be equal otherwise you will have vibrations. Jurie

As for slip joint, it is mentioned that it is always a good practice to have the slip set at 1/2 the length of the total slip that is available. why is this so and what happens if it is lesser or more? will it cause any effect?

"must be equal otherwise you will have vibrations."

That's a 'Furfy'.

The angles across the joints are never equal (except for a rare miniscule time as the angles 'pass each other'). Think of all the influences in a Hotchkiss drive: suspension travel extremes, axle 'wind-up', etc.

Vibration is more likely, due to 'whirling', when the driveshaft is co-axially, exactly in-line.

Stu.

"whirling" happens because of its own weight right?

Vanuta, Whirling happens when the driveshaft starts to act like a skipping rope. It can be for a multitude of reasons, but mainly imbalance, (due to foreign body contamination?) wear in the crosses or in the sliding joint spline, allowing eccentricity, or perhaps it's just bent. I've seen wrongly installed joint crosses too, in assembly, one or more of the needles displaced from it's race into the bearing cap.

Stu.

As an addendum I have some wizard pics of just the phenomenon, but I can't /don't know how to, post them on here.

Stu.

Still the best to have the gearbox main drive-shaft and the final-drive pinion as close as possible in parralel to each other.

With leaf springs at the rear, we altered the wedge thickness between the rear axel and main spring blade to get the driving shaft and the driven shaft closer to parralel, getting rid of vibrations! With load or without load the angels at either side of the propellershaft does change but stays roughly the same.

jurie

jurie,

its a bit difficult for me to visualise, it would be helpful, if you could sketch something

Vanuta, I would gladly scetch and scan BUT do not know how to post; How can I get your e-mail adress safely? My tel no. in South Africa is 028 3161 080[The computor do not want to send my number????]