hey was wondering if anyone knows anywhere to purchase an all aluminium drive train(drive shaft,axels etc) i heard of someone telling me about this but cant remember too much about it.
any help apreciated
thanks Derrek

Drive Shaft Shop in the US makes aluminum driveshaft and axles, but not exctly cheap.

Aluminum axles?, doesn't sound like a material I would want to use for axles? Like Ziggy said DSS offers a 3" & 3.5" single piece driveshaft that replaces the first two sections of the factory 3 pieces shaft. Believe the 3" runs you $800 US & the 3.5" is abit more. Never seen the last section of the driveshaft offered.

I think that depends on how mild of a steel is used in the stock axles, and alloy of Aluminum. The Al could make a stronger and lighter driveshaft!

I wouldn't expect to see full aluminum axles.

I wonder how much work was actually done on the driveshafts regarding their fatigue failure point. That's really the only concern I would have buying an Al driveshaft. Of course, it probably wouldn't be too good for a daily driver being exposed to our road conditions.

I think I'll stick to me losing the 15 or so extra pounds I'm carrying...seems cheaper

The OEM Mitsu CV's are already quite strong. The axle shaft is the weaker point I believe.

Ya, I meant aluminum driveshafts and performance axles. I wonder though, like a good 7075 aluminum....how that would compare? They could conceivably be made a fair bit LARGER for strenght and STILL be a lot lighter..

Like Tashko said, its not just a strength problem. Unlike steel, aluminum has no fatigue limit (and all around generally lower fatigue properties) so it is only a matter of time.

That being said, if they did their homework and figured out what stess level is in the shaft they could make it strong enough to have a reasonable life.

Same reason I didn't want an aluminum flywheel.

What about carbon fiber

I think the problem with aluminium is that the fatigue strength continues to decrease as the number of loading cycles increase. There's nothing wrong with using aluminium as long as you can design it such that the loads are well below the eventual decrease in fatigue strength over the design life of the part. I'm just curious how much engineering has gone into the stuff that's out there. I also find it curious that they rate these parts by HP rather than torque. Torque breaks things.

I believe 6061 has better corrosion resistance than 7075, though not as strong. As everything to do with cars and performance, compromises.

Carbon fibre I would expect to be very sensitive to the lay-up and orientation of the fibres. If it's not done well you can introduce weak points in the construction. I don't know too much about it. It's generally considered brittle so being unprotected under the car might not be the best application.

I'd also like to know what is in the new salt spray concoction they put on the roads.

Boy, I really need to go through my text books every now and then to keep the brain fresh.

At the DSS site they list driveshafts which are of carbon fiber and aluminum construction.

For the price of these things, you'd think they did their homework!

I would think aluminum would also be pretty corrosion resistant, as long as it is anodized...

Alkalines love to eat aluminium so depending on what the road salt is, it might not be very corrosion resistant.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking aluminium driveshafts. As Rob said, just hoping they've done the homework.

Aluminum driveshafts have more "give" to them vs our 3 piece stocker, so they are supposed to be easier on drivetrain components. CF driveshafts have even more "give" vs aluminum. There's guy trapping over 150 mph with the DSS 3", no issues & have heard others say Shep has used the 3.5" model for 190 mph passes (not sure if he's still running this model or maybe upgraded to CF?)