Narrowed axles?

[Sunroof53]

I have just read Johans tech article on narrowed irs arms ,But wondered what he used as driveshafts .can you safely cut /sleeve and weld a type 1 driveshaft?and does this affect u/j movement ,ie the change in angle due to the shorter length?

Thanks in advance:

[zeroaxe]

I wondered about this before as well. My application would be for an off road buggy, so brakedown is not really an issue(well, I would prefer it not to brake easily, as I might just be stuck fairly far away from home on a farm road!)

The way I thought about doing it is to cut it the lenght I want, then sleeve it with a steel pipe(not those used for plumbing applications though!). Once sleeved, drill perpendicular holes through the sleeve and axle. Feed a rod through the hole and weld the ends up. Then weld the sleeve to the axle at both ends too.... Now I am no genius, but thought that this might work for my particular application/need....

[Sunroof53]

I was thinking something similar but without the cross drilling .I was going to machine the axle to a limited diameter then make a sleeve with an interference fit .Press the sleeve on and weld the end of the sleeve.Its just that welding affects the material and wondered if anyone had a better solution.

[davetaylor]

i believe i've read a couple of places that you can use the short-side axle from a type 3 auto when narrowing the irs and they're each like, 1.5" shorter, but i might have made up those numbers.

[Sunroof53]

Sounds good ,i had an auto type 3 and never new the axles were were different !

[zeroaxe]

I also heard that Cabrio axles are shorter. Problem being that these axles are hard to come by..... And it doesnt seem that anyone are making these aftermarket (I might be talking arse though!?)