FYI: Driveshaft Lengths

[Rodeo Joe]

In the past I've noticed 1994-97 3.8L owners inquiring about or actually buying a 1993 Mark VIII one piece driveshaft as an upgrade. Little do they know that it won't fit!

So I thought it would be a good idea to pass some information along. The complaint from people is they didn't know that the 3.8L 4R70W car has a driveshaft that's 1.20" shorter than the 4.6L car.

MODEL YEARS	ENGINE	TRANSMISSION	DRIVESHAFT LENGTH
94-97	3.8L V6	4R70W	57" driveshaft
94-97	4.6L V8	4R70W	58.20" driveshaft
93-98 MARK VIII	4.6L V8	M5R2	58.20" driveshaft
89-95	3.8L V6	AOD	53.80" driveshaft
89-93	3.8L V6	AOD	57.80" driveshaft
89-93	5.0 V8	AOD	57.80" driveshaft

94-97 3.8L 4R70W 57" driveshaft

94-97 4.6L 4R70W 58.20" driveshaft

93-98 Mark VIII 4R70W 58.20" driveshaft

89-95 3.8L M5R2 53.80" driveshaft

89-93 3.8L AOD 57.80" driveshaft

89-93 5.0 AOD 57.80" driveshaft

These specs are from a previous group purchase.

Joe

 

[MadMikeyL]

To add to this,

4.6 with T45 or SN95 style TR3650 swap 55.5"
4.6 with 05-10 TR3650 swap 63.5"

All measurements are between centerlines of the u-joints

 

[Zep5.0]

Are our U joints 1330?

 

[dDUBb]

Mark 8 with a m5r2 .. was this a factory option ?

 

[XR7-4.6]

I suspect that stat got flipped with the 3.8 one below it

 

[Jae 'Bird]

Is the driveshaft on the 5.0L stronger than the one on the 3.8L? Maybe cause of more torque? I would maybe upgrade if it was better not that I would really the upgrade

 

[Rodeo Joe]

I wouldn't think so. Anything stronger is to get away from the stock 2 piece and go aftermarket.

Joe

 

[MadMikeyL]

No, all the AOD cars got the same driveshaft, regardless of engine. That includes the SC.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Driveshaft attributes are more determined by rpm(critical speed) than strength. The diff and halfshafts are beefier on SCs and V8s(apart from some ABS V6 NAs that got 8.8s when 7.5 ABS cases weren’t available).