Early Liberty front drive shaft specs needed .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:58 am

Hi all , can anyone give me the length and ID details of early Liberty front drive shafts . I'm trying to find 25 spline axle shafts (the shaft not the DOJ or CV) that are slightly longer than RX Turbo L series ones which not suprisingly also have 25 spline male ends on them .

I don't want info on adjustable strut tops because I want longer shafts to go with longer control arms , can't increase track width with strut tops .

Cheers A .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:38 am

My rally people tell me that in a Datsun 1600 10mm of increased track gives one degree of negative camber change .

Very quiet on this topic , I would have thought that the Liberty punters 'd have the front drive shaft specs well and truly sussed .

A .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:50 am

From Gee , Lib 25 spline shafts are identified as either 3 rings or a thicker shaft that necks down to the boot grooves with one ring .

I suspect that few know or give a toss because complete Lib shafts can be thrown together using smaller diameter 22 spline axle shafts , smaller joint internals and still link the hubs to the gearbox stub shafts .

A .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:56 pm

The fellas came through from RS Liberty Club and this is part of a 90's Liberty WSM section on front drive shafts .

It may be worth making a sticky of those specs .

http:http://www.rslibertyclub.org/forums/sho ... hp?t=81132

Cheers A.

BTW current plan is to use a pair of 1st Gen Liberty 95AC-25 shafts but with the CVs designed for an RX turbo .
Essentially these 3 ring shafts are the same as L (RX) Turbo but are longer and have the same 25 spline male ends .
Actually the only non std bit is the RX CV joint because the DOJs are identical I reckon .
I know Gee has used a Liberty shaft complete (23 spline at the gearbox stubs)
in a 5 stud converted L series and the DOJs internals just didn't bottom out with the axles horizontal .

He said you can check this by assembling the shaft and strut (minius the spring) in the car and jacking the suspension up until the drive shaft is inline with the diffs side shafts . With the DOJ's roll pin removed you can gently push the DOJ outwards from the gearbox and note how much it can move until its innards bottom out inside it's "cup" section .
In his case the DOJ cups could be moved outwards about half the diameter of the roll pin hole before they bottomed out or ran out of "plunge depth" . Uses his scone that fella .

I'll probably need my lower control arms extended ~ 10mm to get the geometry I want (~ 1/2 deg neg camber) so I should have around 10mm in the back of the DOJ cups (per side) with the shaft as short as it will ever get in normal use .
A long time mechanic friend of mine said that with about 3/8" (9.525) reserve plunge depth per side the diff would never the feel an almighty and probably terminal squeeze from the joints bottoming out .

Cheers A .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:10 am

I should have some tape measure and eyeball specs to post later of L RX turbo front driveshafts (axle shafts) vs the FrWD Liberty three ring 25 axle spline ones .

I got a mechanic friend to show me how to remove the DOJ's and strike the CV's off the other end .
Later this afternoon I have three RX-T ones to strip and provided my method of striking the CV's off works I can compare the axles with the largest Lib ones .

I want to be able to rebuild my own shafts and not get stung so bady for exchange ones .
Gee tells me that generally DOJ's don't die unless they've had water or dirt grinding away inside them and the outer or CV joints are replaced as an assembly .
So down the track with a boot and grease kit for the DOJ and replacement CV kit (joint/boot/grease/clamps) I may be able to do them for a hundredish depending on the quality of the CV and boot kits .

Later , A .

PS only special tools needed are a pair of expanding circlip pliers/lump hammer/clamp band tightening and cutting tool .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:47 pm

Time got short and I only managed to strip one RX L front shaft and bounced the CV off another . The third I got the DOJ off but it's non genuine CV joint is putting up a fight .

It's quite interesting to compare the L-RX and FrWD Lib 25 spline CV joints , aside from the totally different stub axle the Lib joints internals are all larger ie spider/cage/balls/bell or cup .

The OEM RX CV's are painted green and have NTN and 95 L AC stamped into them . I found the aftermarket joints harder to remove and its possibly because they use softer wire for the internal "C" clips .

Sadly never had time to measure the total lengths or the lengths between the circlip/C clip grooves , looks like there'd be roughly 30mm difference overall .

Get back to them soon , cheers A .

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:56 pm

You are doing a great job Al.

Going where no other L series modifier has gone before