Thanks O&D.
Well, on Monday I ordered a drive shaft from Gibson Driveshaft Services. It arrived (out here in the bush) on Wednesday! Talk about quick!
The ordering process was fairly easy. I downloaded the appropriate form, took all the required measurements and emailed it back to them, DDed the dough, and voila: a drive shaft.
I'm getting a lot of information and guidance from JTR's book on Volvo V8s . It does not cover LS engines and is more aimed at making standard off the shelf parts fit, but it is non-the-less a wealth of info.
The shaft is 2 3/4" diameter (as recomended by JTR) and uses the Dana Spicer flange and 1310 Uni joints, which are bigger and stronger than the odd sized Volvo ones. It weighs 8.4 kg while the two piece Volvo one weighs 10.2kg. Ballanced and nicely painted. Cost was $594 including shipping and GST.
I fitted it to the mule this afternoon. The only odd thing is that I had to ream the bolt holes in the flange slightly to take the Volvo original bolts?
With the weight on the car, the slip joint protudes about 15mm past the seal. With the rear wheels off the ground, it protudes about 13mm and with 250kg of stock feed bags in the rear, and touching the bump stops, it protudes about 13 mm again. So that all looks good.
Fully loaded, there is plenty of clearance above and to the left side of the shaft but it is pretty tight on the right side. For some reason the Volvo pinion is offset to the right about 20mm. A bit of hammering will easilly give me all the clearance I need. And I reackon the old centre bearing bracket will serve as a safety strap.
Here's something odd though. Volvo apparently used the heavy duty 1031 axle in turbo and V6 cars. But this wagon is neither and yet has a 1031 rear. My V6 should have a 1031, but actually has a lighter duty 1030 rear end. Musical parts I guess.
Here's some pics.
Chrismas comes often these days.
A bit tight on the right side. This is with the suspension touching, but not compressing the bump stops.
No problem on the left side though. I can run my fingers all along and over the top of the shaft.
These things can sure carry a load. Thats 250kg of feed, plus lots of other junk.