Polaris 2014 Chromoly Balenced Drive Shafts

[Nut_Up]

I have searched a number of places and threads on this subject.
I can take my stock driveshaft off of my 2014 RZR XP 1000 and have a machine shop cut them and weld the yokes back in correct phase, but I was wondering if anyone sells a direct balanced in phase chromoly front and rear drive shaft for the RZR XP 1000?

Thanks.

 

[BrArmor]

I have searched a number of places and threads on this subject.
I can take my stock driveshaft off of my 2014 RZR XP 1000 and have a machine shop cut them and weld the yokes back in correct phase, but I was wondering if anyone sells a direct balanced in phase chromoly front and rear drive shaft for the RZR XP 1000?

Thanks.

In case anyone reads this thread.... cats out of the bag, BINGO! Balanced rotating mass is always the best and decreases chances of failure. Good Idea!! Think about lightening it too... maybe a better carrier bearing too? If the shaft is out of balance you will also deal with drag on the carrier bearing.

 

[Nut_Up]

In case anyone reads this thread.... cats out of the bag, BINGO! Balanced rotating mass is always the best and decreases chances of failure. Good Idea!! Think about lightening it too... maybe a better carrier bearing too? If the shaft is out of balance you will also deal with drag on the carrier bearing.

Exactly. I just purchased my first side by side earlier this month and joined the RZR forum and was reading thru all these threads about phasing the driveshaft, and I agree it needs to be phased correct but it also needs to be balanced. I hear the shafts are pretty thin wall so I would rather upgrade to a chromoly shaft that I can have balanced. Or better yet, just purchase one.
I figure with all the RZR 1000 owners and all the fab companies, this would have been a popular upgrade however I am not seeing anyone that is selling upgraded drive shafts for the RZR XP 1000.

If anyone knows of a company that does, or can reccomend a shop to have some built I would appreciate the info. I would like to have one the same or lighter rotating mass, just better fit and finish than stock.

Thanks dudes.

 

[Nut_Up]

I just contatced RCV Off-Road. I would love to have a set of custom drive shafts made with there joints to replace the factory u-joints. I will keep everyone updated when I get a reply.
I have got to think if they came up with a light weight replacement balanced drive line for the RZR XP 1000 they would sell them like crazy.

 

[Nut_Up]

I am not sure how the RCV joints will handle the heat with extreme high RPM of a drive shaft setup. But even if they could come up with a good balanced U-joint setup I would be happy.

 

[Brandon75173]

I had a local driveshaft shop build a front and rear chromoly shaft for mine reusing the stock joints. It has worked very well thus far.

 

[Nut_Up]

I had a local driveshaft shop build a front and rear chromoly shaft for mine reusing the stock joints. It has worked very well thus far.

Nice, yeah I am thinking I am going to have to order material and find a machine shop to do it too, it's blowing my mind no one sells a balanced replacement for these crap factory drive shafts.

What was the driveline shop you used?

Did they balance them?

And do you know if they reduced the weight?

Thanks man.

 

[sand shark]

Nut-up do you even have drive shaft vibration? You maybe doing unnecessary work as not all xp1s have the issue and it seemed to be more on the 4 seat model.

Also some of the cause was a bad front dif.

 

[Brandon75173]

Nice, yeah I am thinking I am going to have to order material and find a machine shop to do it too, it's blowing my mind no one sells a balanced replacement for these crap factory drive shafts.

What was the driveline shop you used?

Did they balance them?

And do you know if they reduced the weight?

Thanks man.

I had mine done at driveshaft king in Dallas. When I pulled the long shaft off it was 3/8" out of line from end it end, and out of balance and phase. Went back with .120 wall chromoly so it is not lighter. But the rotating mass of a 1" tube doesn't matter a few pounds this way or that. Mine are precision balanced, phased properly, and no concern anymore. I really should have gone .095 wall and 1.25" diameter looking back, but oh well.

 

[megadesertdiesel]

this is great info. I am about to ned a longer driveshaft for my Maverick.

when you talk phasing what do you mean? aligning the u-joints oppositely?

keep the info comming.

 

[paulk]

^^^^^^^^^^this would be a phased drive shaft
below is out of phase

 

[Brandon75173]

Correct. Orienting 90 degrees rotated from the opposing joint. To create a 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 scenario with the joints.

 

[badassmav]

Dont get too caught up with the whole "phasing" topic. Although orienting both ends of the drive shaft yokes to match one another is crucial when the u-joints are dynamic and operating at different angles, it plays a little role when the differentials remain static relative to the transmission output shaft(s), as they do in our world. Any driveshaft shop will weld the ends on with the same orientation as its counter part.

The problem (with the Maverick at least), is that the u-joint that Can-am went with, while adequate for the stock environment they were designed for, are much too small when increasing tire size and horsepower outputs. The problem we have had, and are currently having, is the tooling required to properly balance the drive shaft. Every shop I spoke with in San Diego couldn't touch ours because they did not have the fixtures to properly grasp the tiny yokes at the ends of our drive shaft, since they are much smaller than the automotive industry uses. I told marc to buy a lathe, and I would do it myself. We have had 2 different shafts made in the last year and a half. One as a favor from a local shop who has a lathe, and the other from a referral I received here in the Underground who supposedly does them for our industry. Both were welded with the yokes out of center relative to the connecting tube. Both had half a battle ships worth of steel welded on to each end, that looks like the welder just graduated from the eagle school of welding (birdshit welds). Both were crap.

I would look into the Texas company mentioned in this thread if I didn't already massage the shaft myself to get us through the V2R race. I'm amazed that this is such a difficult service to locate. Good luck with yours! I agree that the 1 1/4" x .095" would have been the better choice. Torsional rigidity is all in the cross section. It is inversely proportional to the diameter of the tubing used.

 

[megadesertdiesel]

good info for sure.

my plan was to cut my driveshaft in half and chuck the ends up in a lathe and turn the ends down to fit inside the new tube, tig weld the tube to ends and then hopefully take it to a shop to have it balanced.

looks like i might just have to run around Phx to see if it can be done first.

thanks guys

 

[badassmav]

good info for sure.

my plan was to cut my driveshaft in half and chuck the ends up in a lathe and turn the ends down to fit inside the new tube, tig weld the tube to ends and then hopefully take it to a shop to have it balanced.

looks like i might just have to run around Phx to see if it can be done first.

thanks guys

That is exactly what the 1st guy did with ours. If I recall correctly, the stock driveshaft tubing was pretty thin to start with. Then, ours was welded off center from the factory, so it was a tedious job that netted mediocre results, and since we run our alternator off of the front driveshaft, I had to manipulate the pulley that we made so it was out of round opposite the driveshaft. How cheesy is that?

Also noteworthy is that the bores in the yokes that the bearing caps press into seem to be pretty soft, AND the snap ring grooves in the yokes are machined too far apart. By .005" on one driveshaft, and .010" the other. I had to put shim washers between the end of the bearing caps and the snap rings to keep the u-joints from sliding back and forth every revolution due to the tension of the alternator belt.

If I were making the shaft (and I will if we end up racing next season), I would pay to have a yolk made that accepts larger, u-joints, and that have the mini u-bolts that hold the joint in the yoke. You would have to have it broached or EDM'ed to match the splines on the factory pinion shaft which renders the project cost prohibitive to most week-enders, but boy, how nice would that be to be able to pull the motor with only removing the mini u-bolts instead of removing the whole diff (and axles, brakes & spindles on our car).

Oh, if the id/od combination is available, CDS (cold drawn seamless) is the way to go. It is the most concentric tubing you will find. $$$$. I want to say that we had to resort to a piece of pipe for ours, based on the turnable o.d. of the stock driveshaft tubing, and available i.d's of the replacement tubing.

 

[AReed]

how nice would that be to be able to pull the motor with only removing the mini u-bolts instead of removing the whole diff (and axles, brakes & spindles on our car).

It would be amazing to be able to do that.

 

[badassmav]

It would be amazing to be able to do that.

Betcha that custom yoke would cost you 5-700 bucks. Oh, can I have 3 more please!

 

[Nut_Up]

Nut-up do you even have drive shaft vibration? You maybe doing unnecessary work as not all xp1s have the issue and it seemed to be more on the 4 seat model.

Also some of the cause was a bad front dif.

I only had it out a few times before I flew up to work, and I thought I felt unusually excessive vibration when I was in 4WD.
And when I had some time after work these past two weeks I was looking at the forums on the RZR and found out about the driveshaft issues.
I fly home today and I will be able to dig into it and see for sure now that I know what to look for, but from all the reading I have done I am pretty sure my rig is one of the units that either has a bad front diff or a drive shaft out of phase... Either way I would still like a quality balanced driveshaft, spinning crazy RPMs inbetween my 4 year old and I under a .25" thick plastic cover I would feel much better knowing it was balanced.

 

[Nut_Up]

Betcha that custom yoke would cost you 5-700 bucks. Oh, can I have 3 more please!

Ha, right. I would pay ridiculous money for a replacement driveline for my RZR and I don't even race it...

I may be in the wrong buisness. I might need to invest in a friggin lathe and start making some quality light weight balanced UTV driveshafts and make some cash.

Or someone could just read this effin thread and make some already (PM me for address to send the commision check )

 

[Nut_Up]

I had mine done at driveshaft king in Dallas. When I pulled the long shaft off it was 3/8" out of line from end it end, and out of balance and phase. Went back with .120 wall chromoly so it is not lighter. But the rotating mass of a 1" tube doesn't matter a few pounds this way or that. Mine are precision balanced, phased properly, and no concern anymore. I really should have gone .095 wall and 1.25" diameter looking back, but oh well.

That's cool, yeah considering the 1300 lb. weight of the car and the fact that it only has 107 horsepower I would think a stock size shaft will be fine. If it had quality material, good welds, and correct phasing I am thinking that would get it pretty close to balanced, but I would still like to have a drive line shop balance it just to be safe.