Thread: Legalities of shortening a propshaft

certified welder, certified engineer..

I forget the classes but...

the bloke who oks the materials and design needs to be the certified engineer

the bloke who does OR inspects the weld needs to be the certified welder.


you can DIY BUT....

you must then pay for the recalc on the designs (90% of the time if you shorten it you're ok if you stick with the OEM components) and for the welder to inspect the quality of the welds before it gets stuck on a balancer.

By the time you pay for all that its cheaper to chuck the existing shaft at someone like spicers and say "just whip XXmm out of that for me" or give them the flange ends from the shaft you want and say "maketh me a shaft that places those bits YYmm apart"

Any engineering works worthy of the name can do this easily. However, I have always found the local Hardy Spicer shops to be reasonably priced and as this is what they do, no problems with misunderstandings or quality.

My daughter's Volvo had a two piece shaft with centre bearing. Hardy Spicer used the ends and made a one piece shaft for $180. This was about 2000. They did the same for the cook's Escort. The Escort tailshaft is a two piece and centre bearing job like the Vulva and only God knows why. The Escort shaft was made to be unrepairable. Ford dealer wanted over $400 for a shaft assembly. Hardy Spicer to the rescue for less than half that.

My concern was really the legal aspects. I have read forum statements along the lines of "this MUST be done by a certified...", but I've not found what that means in real terms.

I live four hours from my local Hardy Spicer office, but have a local engineer (who I know very well) who fabricates everything from truck bodies to cattle feeders, and can machine anything out of anything. He is a licensed vehicle repairer (his original apprenticeship before he founded his engineering business) etc., and can without a doubt do the work, in fact he has made me driveshafts for farm equipment in the past.

But of course that doesn't make it legal for a road vehicle if there is a specific certification required!

If it comes under the same "engineering certificate" requirements that apply to over-sized wheels or lifted suspension (i.e. inspected and certified by an RTA approved engineer), then Hardy Spicer, assuming they qualify, come back in to play because my nearest RTA inspector is also a fair drive away!