How To Align A Shaft Without Using Any Tools

How To Align A Shaft Without Using Any Tools FARM SHOP Maintenance 28-6-36 Albert L. Url, 4117 E. Briges Road, Elk, Wash. 99009 ph 509 292-5119: "I came up with a way to align a shaft without using any tools. I got the idea while installing a Plymouth 318 cu. in. car engine in an International 4-WD truck. The Plymouth engine has a longer tail stock, and the easiest way to make the change was on the universal joint. But when I put the new engine in, there wasn't room for two drive shafts - one for the transfer case and one for the rear wheels. So I mounted the universal joint between the car engine and the International transfer case, eyeballing it as best as I could. In order to get the drive shaft correctly aligned, I idled the engine so the universal joint was going in a circle and was able to align itself. Then, with the engine running, I welded the transfer case in place (be sure to weld the old frame of the transfer case onto the truck because it saves a lot of alignment work). As the weld cooled, the transfer case centered itself so the two shafts were perfectly aligned with each. The last step was to mount the rear driveshaft. "The bottom line is that any time you want to align a driver and a driven transmission or any driven unit, if you can operate them before they set where they've got to be they'll align themselves. But you can't be more than .3000 of an inch off or else the bearings will get out of whack and vibrate, which will quickly wear them out."

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