# 2005 GTO Driveshaft



## gtodad (Oct 14, 2008)

My son broke the drive shaft in his 2005 GTO right behind the front yoke. His has the 6.0 L and 6 speed. The drive shaft in the car is a 1 piece aluminum shaft. I found a used one and it is a two piece. I noticed the shop manual shows a 2 piece. We bought the car used. Is this an after market driveshaft or did GM make 2 versions.
Any help here would be appreciated. May in the end get a new 1 piece steel unit made.


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## Route 66 (May 30, 2005)

That would be an after market. All GTO's come with the 2-piece drive shaft. Id stick with a 2-piece....too many reported problems with the single shafts.


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## alsgto04 (Nov 21, 2007)

Welcome to the forum gtodad.



:agree Route 66


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

gtodad said:


> My son broke the drive shaft in his 2005 GTO right behind the front yoke. His has the 6.0 L and 6 speed. The drive shaft in the car is a 1 piece aluminum shaft. I found a used one and it is a two piece. I noticed the shop manual shows a 2 piece. We bought the car used. Is this an after market driveshaft or did GM make 2 versions.
> Any help here would be appreciated. May in the end get a new 1 piece steel unit made.


Wow I'm surprised he managed to snap a 1 piece driveshaft!! It must have been poorly made. Was it on the weld? Is the car modded besides the driveshaft? The stock GTO's came with two piece driveshafts that not all that great themselves, if your son has this car modded with some serous horsepower I would put the coin into another one piece and or a driveshaft loop.


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## rnoswal (Dec 2, 2007)

The aluminum piece was built for low mass, but if you have some sticky tires, you will snap one. The 2 piece is heavy but very strong. The length of the one piece does lend itself to twisting some and are more critical to be perfectly balanced, which it should have been. Maybe a balance weight fell off and helped with the premature demise.

Just my 2 cents worth

Russ


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

rnoswal said:


> The aluminum piece was built for low mass, but if you have some sticky tires, you will snap one. The 2 piece is heavy but very strong. The length of the one piece does lend itself to twisting some and are more critical to be perfectly balanced, which it should have been. Maybe a balance weight fell off and helped with the premature demise.
> 
> Just my 2 cents worth
> 
> Russ


Do you know how much force it would take to twist a drive shaft whether it's a one piece or two? Drive shafts are built based on hp/tq rating, speed, rpm, vehicle weight, etc. not just the mass of the vehicle. And even though our stock drive shafts may seem more heftier than an aluminum one it is more proned to failure because of the rubber donuts and the carrier bearing. But with all things mechanical they do fail at some point and his did. Why? Who knows.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

The only time I've seen a shaft fail is when it was damaged and/or dented by road debris first.


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## jmd (Sep 29, 2006)

get the 2 piece east texas muscle drive shaft. good to 800 rwhp.


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## rnoswal (Dec 2, 2007)

Well, you are right about the one piece vs two piece shafts. Usually it is the u-joint that fails first with either one, so a damaged shaft is the main cause for failure or a thrown balance weight. But not all aftermarket shafts are better quality, so hopefully he will check out the company and see what kind of hp/tq figures it should handle before buying.

Russ


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## NiceShyGuy (Feb 10, 2009)

*200 Shot of Nitrous = snapped driveshaft ???*



6QTS11OZ said:


> Do you know how much force it would take to twist a drive shaft whether it's a one piece or two? Drive shafts are built based on hp/tq rating, speed, rpm, vehicle weight, etc. not just the mass of the vehicle. And even though our stock drive shafts may seem more heftier than an aluminum one it is more proned to failure because of the rubber donuts and the carrier bearing. But with all things mechanical they do fail at some point and his did. Why? Who knows.


I am looking for a deal on a new or used ... but not abused straight drive shafts.

The lowest HP rating on one is 600 HP made by DriveShaft Shop Inc. 

BMR makes them and here is what they say ....

The factory driveshaft in the GTO is the weakest part of the entire driveline. It's a two piece design that is only 2 inches in diameter and uses rubber mounts instead of u-joints. Not only do the rubber mounts contribute to wheelhop, they are notorious for failing on even slightly modified 6 speed cars. 

I called around and was told that the GTO driveshaft is designed to be smoooooooth .. like on a Benz.. Obviously daddies little boy had an aftermarket straight shaft which can handle anywhere from 600 to 1000 HP.

That is why they are put on and they are expensive ... apparently because you have to buy the drive shaft and yoke adapter. So it is expensive, and I am just guessing that maybe the "stickey" rubber on the tires did not snap the shaft ... could be say a 100 .. or say 200 hundred shot of nitrous ???

By the way I a looking for site that sells the after market straight driveshaft. I will be putting in a Maggie with a 122 blower soon and I don't want my little goat to fall apart.

Have no clue what GM was thinking when they put in a whimpy two peice drive shaft ... from reading these posts .. I can see you people have no clue either ... well that's what you get when you want to save a buck $$$ and buy a poor man's Corvette ... Hey are the engineers at GM also covered by UAW bargaining agreement ... if so .. it would explain a lot ... what the "F" where they thinking?


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

whatever drive shaft you use, one or two piece, they are strong enough in most cases. what kills a drive shaft (i know) is wheel hop. the snapping action of it will break one quickly. lots of people have had high horsepower, low ET cars with the stock shaft. i have a Drive Shaft Shop one piece (after learning my leason about wheel hop) and it's "OK". i had to have it rebalanced at a local drive line shop and it's much better than new now. Hendricks Engineering makes the best one. it's a two piece that has built up shafts and center carrier. for most people tho i'd say find a used stock shaft and fix the wheel hop. they're good enough.


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

NiceShyGuy said:


> I am looking for a deal on a new or used ... but not abused straight drive shafts.
> 
> The lowest HP rating on one is 600 HP made by DriveShaft Shop Inc.
> 
> ...


if you need the big one, here it is 2004 - 2006 GTO


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## NiceShyGuy (Feb 10, 2009)

*Driveshaft ....*



svede1212 said:


> if you need the big one, here it is 2004 - 2006 GTO


I heard OEM drive shafts twist and snap ... but the OEM should be ok for regular applications.

My guess is that the original posters .. son bought a GTO that was drag raced and the yoke or shaft itself was already damaged. I have seen "wheel hop" at the track ... where the car jumps straight up four feet off the ground lands and takes off ... it is way cool. Of course I am talking about heavily modified cars ... but running nitrous in an LS2 with no other mods creates tremendous torque enough to pop the car up in the air, I guess you can call that wheel hop ...

That is why the straight driveshafts are installed ... for suddend inpact. The post does not mention the name of the company .. just said it snapped. I would think that most of the reputable drive shaft makers would replace it for free? The price of a straight after market shaft is $800 to $1000 plus yoke that allows a straight one to be put on ... 

Wonder if the car in the post the one the "son" bought has a rebuilt title. If it does the original drive shaft might have snapped in two during an accident and who ever patched it back together just found a straight one that fits from the junk yard ... again the after market ones are expensive ... as are the yoke and harness that you need to install them.


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## NiceShyGuy (Feb 10, 2009)

*Driveshaft ....*



svede1212 said:


> whatever drive shaft you use, one or two piece, they are strong enough in most cases. what kills a drive shaft (i know) is wheel hop. the snapping action of it will break one quickly. lots of people have had high horsepower, low ET cars with the stock shaft. i have a Drive Shaft Shop one piece (after learning my leason about wheel hop) and it's "OK". i had to have it rebalanced at a local drive line shop and it's much better than new now. Hendricks Engineering makes the best one. it's a two piece that has built up shafts and center carrier. for most people tho i'd say find a used stock shaft and fix the wheel hop. they're good enough.


I think you are right ... the two piece drive shaft is about $1,000 ... and it really does not handle that much HP.

Hard to believe that GM would leave a weak drive shaft in a car they know people are going to modify. So it could be ... wheel hop ... or just urban legand regarding the strengh or lack of strengh of the OEM driveshaft?
Might be just hipe by BMR .. DriveShaft Shop ... to scare some $$$ out of your pocket ...

Also like you say .. the straight driveshafts have a tendency to vibrate. So you are screwing up your ride comfort for the sake of buying an aftermarket part that might only come in handy if your car's front end jumps up four feet in the air at the drag strip ... but it never hurts to ask ...


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

NiceShyGuy said:


> *Have no clue what GM was thinking when they put in a whimpy two peice drive shaft ... from reading these posts .. I can see you people have no clue either ... well that's what you get when you want to save a buck $$$ and buy a poor man's Corvette ...* Hey are the engineers at GM also covered by UAW bargaining agreement ... if so .. it would explain a lot ... what the "F" where they thinking?


Please share your infinite wisdom with the clueless that have posted in this thread. Also it's obvious that you are clueless about the GTO because it is in no way a poor man's Corvette. All it shares with the Corvette is its drive train. All other aspects of both cars are completely different and GM did not intend to make the GTO a lesser version of the Corvette. So before you start running your mouth and pretending you know more than you really do, do a little research on the history of both cars then come back and apologize for your ignorance. 

Have a great day.

Oh! Nice, shy guy huh? Now that's funny. :rofl:


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## mdbomgoat (Feb 24, 2009)

6QTS11OZ said:


> Please share your infinite wisdom with the clueless that have posted in this thread. Also it's obvious that you are clueless about the GTO because it is in no way a poor man's Corvette. All it shares with the Corvette is its drive train. All other aspects of both cars are completely different and GM did not intend to make the GTO a lesser version of the Corvette. So before you start running your mouth and pretending you know more than you really do, do a little research on the history of both cars then come back and apologize for your ignorance.
> 
> Have a great day.
> 
> Oh! Nice, shy guy huh? Now that's funny. :rofl:


No Duh, I have OEM driveshaft and I don't have any problems. If you have a vette and you try to run away from my lesser version, you will learn that you payed too much for yours


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

mdbomgoat said:


> No Duh, I have OEM driveshaft and I don't have any problems. If you have a vette and you try to run away from my lesser version, you will learn that you payed too much for yours


Yeah there are plenty of guys running crazy amounts of hp through the stock drive shaft and having no problems at all. The only reason I went to a 1-piece drive shaft is because I thought I was having a vibration issue with it when it turned out being the pilot bearing that I destroyed when I tried to put my trans back in after a clutch change. Now I have a vibration with the 1-piece and I'm thinking about put my stock one back in if I don't get an aftermarket 2-piece.


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## mdbomgoat (Feb 24, 2009)

You better listen to the experts, God knows what could happen, maybe you'll get ate by a corvette, it's a real muscle car..............LOL


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## CKrenos88 (Mar 27, 2009)

they should have realized the two piece drive shafts weren't a good idea when they started putting them in the camaros when they redesigned the car for 1998 the first six months of prodduction they ued a 2 piece then switched back to a single when they came back with problems


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## thatsmygto (Nov 6, 2012)

*Just ordered one from the www.driveshaftshop.com*

1 piece driveshaft. I saw someone was talking about a lower hp driveshaft and the driveshaft shop has a 550 hp one for $629.99. I bought the 1000hp one though its only $679.99 and a direct fit besides grinding a bolt down a little for clearance. :cheers


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## Gotagoat (Jan 6, 2006)

6QTS11OZ said:


> Please share your infinite wisdom with the clueless that have posted in this thread. Also it's obvious that you are clueless about the GTO because it is in no way a poor man's Corvette. All it shares with the Corvette is its drive train. All other aspects of both cars are completely different and GM did not intend to make the GTO a lesser version of the Corvette. So before you start running your mouth and pretending you know more than you really do, do a little research on the history of both cars then come back and apologize for your ignorance.
> 
> Have a great day.
> 
> Oh! Nice, shy guy huh? Now that's funny. :rofl:


My thoughts exactly. Some people think obnoxious makes them appear smarter.


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## 68OldGoat (Nov 23, 2009)

:agree​svede1212 has the right answer IMHO. Here is a quote from one of the vendors offering a 2 piece rated @ 900HP for under $1,000.

"After offering single piece shafts for some time, we have come to realization that some of the GTO's have harmonic vibration issues, which the 2-piece shaft with hanger bearings will completely eliminate this problem. This shaft is 3" chromoly front and back and also features our strong 1350 joints. Don't forget, The shaft also comes equipped with your choice of our Billet 4340 Rear Pinion Flange Mount or the Billet Aluminum Plate, so you no longer have the go into the rear differential."


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