DRIVE SHAFT EXTENSION

[larrydr 38]

6 Years ago I needed a 2 inch drive shaft extension for a swing arm extension on my 1995 XV1100 Virago  The stock wheelbase is to short if you are doing a lot of 2 up riding  ..  First cut the old shaft in the middle  and machined both of the cut ends ..The made a sleeve to act like a coupling ...Machined the inside of the sleeve .003 inch smaller than the machined ends of the drive shaft ...They would not slide together ...Put the drive shaft into a freezer for 5 days , next heated the sleeve to near red hot ...Mounted the drive shaft in a jig under a hydraulic press and proceeded to press the sleeve over the machined drive shaft ends .. It a tough job to press them together ...But it did go together after some time of trying ...The Yamaha shaft had spines at one end and gear at the other ..Did a spin balance in a metal lathe ....I road the bike with extension for 45000 K's never a any trouble > It did improve the ride by a long ways and handling had very little change ....The turn radius became about 10 percent larger  ...I sold the bike in 2020 April , and because of the safety inspection , I needed to return the bike to the original wheel base ...    I still have extension .  If you are going to try making a extension do not weld near the cuts on the machined ends of the shaft

Edited January 13 by larrydr