If there is an interest in steel half shafts, I think I can round some up. If there is enough interest we might be able to get some kind of group deal going.

Right now, they would be about $500 plus shipping a pair.

I've already got them, and they came with the car from the factory. :D

stock strength?

I didn't know you could get a steel half shaft from GM. On my car the shafts are aluminum. Maybe you are confusing the half shaft with the outer stub axle? The outer stubs are steel in all C4's. Here's a pic of a half shaft, and a pic of how I keep breaking them. I have broken 2 in this manner, and I'm hoping that steel replacements will hold up better.

If I can get some more people to go in on it with me, and the shop can do a run of more than two, the cost will go down.

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The steel ones should be stronger. I don't have any empirical data as to how much stronger steel is than aluminum; I can't tell you that at XXX torque the aluminum shafts will fail and the steel will handle XXX+. I don't know if anyone could tell you that. I think it's common knowledge that steel is stronger than aluminum, but I can't think of an appropriate way to quantify it in this situation.

If jeffvette is correct, and GM did use steel half shafts in certain cars, that would indicate to me that at some point GM was worried about the strength of the aluminum shafts in cars with stock power. That alone is enough to get me thinking about using steel shafts; couple that with the fact that I've broken two aluminum half shafts (with moderate power, 415 RWHP) and making the move to steel shafts makes sense to me.

However, assuming jeffvette is correct, GM could have been moving from steel to aluminum to save weight on the shafts. It might not have been a strength issue at all. I've never heard of steel shafts in a stock car before, maybe jeffvette can tell us what the intent was behind certain cars having aluminum and others having steel.

I tried to find some info on the steel half shafts, but only found information leading back to ZR1's. I also found this site that may be useful for you.

http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/c34_d ... afts_and_half_shafts.html

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You buy an early build ZR-1. The first 600 had steel halfshafts.

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That is great. I'll dig around and see if I can come up with a GM part number for the steel shafts. I doubt they are still available from GM, but that atleast gives me a starting point. Thanks man!

I talked to the shop again today. If we can get 5 people to go in (that'll let them build 10 shafts) they will do them for $424 plus shipping per pair.

They will come balanced, and have heavy duty spicer U-joints installed.

i have had regular driveshafts made for like $150. why are these soo much more and probably less then half the length of ones i have bought before?

I don't know. I've never had a drive shaft made before, so I don't have a basis for comparison. It seemed like a good deal to me, Denny's wants $200 a piece for their aluminum ones. These should be stronger than those, for almost the same price.

I asked about just balancing my aluminum ones, and they would do that for $120 a shaft. That seemed pretty high to me, but maybe it's a more involved process that I realize. That puts the bulk of the expense in the balancing, not the construction of the shafts.

Do you mind checking with your drive shaft builder and getting a price? The shafts are about 20 inches long and take 1350 series yokes. If he will do them for less money I'll buy them from him instead of the shop I'm working with now.

i haven't had a driveshaft built in a while. i don't know of anyone in my current location but i will do some searching.