PRI 2019: Mark Williams Enterprises 7075 2-Piece Aluminum Driveshaft

Modern muscle cars are fantastic in every aspect except curb weight. Due to today’s safety standards, cars like the Chevrolet ZL1, Mopar Hellcat, and the Ford GT 500 are not known to be easy on the scales. When this weight is combined with massive amounts of power, the combination can spell disaster for the drivetrain and especially the driveshaft.

Mark Williams Enterprises (MW) has developed a new driveshaft for these heavy cars, and it might be to your surprise that the unit is, in fact, a two-piece design. Generally, for this type of application, everyone wants to use a one-piece driveshaft. Andrew Dickson of Mark Williams Enterprises tells us why a one-piece shaft is not the best solution for some of these modern cars.

Andrew said, “When you add a sticky tire to these cars, they tend to break parts. To fix this problem, some manufacturers came out with a single-piece unit, which is strong enough for drag racing, but if you reach critical speed, the driveshaft will come out of the car.”

If you are not familiar with the term critical speed, it is a rate of rotation that approaches the object’s natural frequency. This will cause the shaft to resonate, dramatically increasing vibration and causing failure. One of the problems with a single-piece driveshaft in this type of car is the driveline angle. Andrew explains, “There are some geometry problems, because the cars are so tight you don’t have room to get the proper angles.” To fix the problems associated with the factory and single-piece drive shafts, Mark Williams took their time and developed a stronger aluminum two-piece shaft. The new design maintains the correct driveline angles, allowing the car to be drag raced and hit high speeds without any driveline vibration or breakage.

The two-piece 7075 aluminum driveshafts are assembled using a patented bonding process that joins the end fittings, which is much stronger than the standard welding process. These shafts include Spicer 1350 universal joints and are high-speed balanced with controlled shaft runout. MW even torsion tested the units to assure quality.

The 7075 driveshaft is currently available for Fords and Mopars, with Chevrolet units in the works. For more information, be sure and check out Mark Williams Enterprises.

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About the author

Brian Havins

A gearhead for life, Brian is obsessed with all things fast. Banging gears, turning wrenches, and praying while spraying are just a few of his favorite things.
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