Carbon fiber drive shaft

After doing a search there are several people who have talked about a adding a carbon fiber drive shaft but no one has ever installed one, at least that I can find. There are a couple of places that advertise carbon fiber drive shafts for under $1000. It seems that the low end torque should be improved which this 3rd gen truck really needs. This makes a lot more sense than carbon fiber wheels which are going for $12k-@16k a set. Anyone have any experience with this.

 

Subd

 

So..... changing from a steel to carbon fiber drive shaft improves torque? How? Less mass to rotate?

I'd stick with HP stickers.

 

It actually has a greater effect than lighter wheels which are unsprung weight.
http://www.pstds.com/product-category/all-carbon-fiber/

 

This has been a mod for drag racers for some time now. Any time you get rid of rotational mass you will gain power. Now, is 5-6 hp/lbs of tq that costs $1000 worth it? I guess it depends on the person.
I do believe that the Tacoma's ds is aluminum though so the gain would be minimal.

 

2nd gen's are steel. Mine is aluminum and significantly lighter even.

 

Do you have any idea how much HP and torque you gained with your aluminum drive shaft? How much weight did you save?

 

Sound like a pretty big sacrifice in durability for a truck that is advertised as off road worthy/ready. Can't imagine the 5-8HP is worth sacrificing impact resistance.

 

Gotta get me some of that!

 

The aluminum crankshaft pulley that saves 3-4 pounds of weight on the crank produces 10-14HP so a carbon fiber drive shaft that saves around 20 pounds will produce more than twice as much HP gain.

 

Whatever it cost would pay for itself in short order. Need group buy. Now

 

I'm not buying that

 

While I did not find any HP figures on the drive shafts, I did find LCE performance claiming 2.7 HP per pound weight reduction off the crank for their pulleys.
http://www.lceperformance.com/5VZ-Lightweight-Crankshaft-Pulley-p/1016101.htm

 

Hmmmmm, I'm interested in this. What's the chance of it getting damaged off-roading?

 

Probably pretty good chance of damage if you go off roading. I use my truck for towing once a year and hauling several times a year, but never go off roading.

 

U have a link to anyone of these places?

 

There are several places but I will probably go with this one since it is not far from where I live in Florida. They start at $659 and $125 for an aluminum yoke upgrade which I would go with since it saves another 3.5 pounds.
http://www.pstds.com/product-category/all-carbon-fiber/

You may want to consider aluminum at the same web site. You will still save weight and be able to go off road while paying half the price.

 

@Mad T

 

I can see what you are trying to describe, but thats not how that works at all in real life. those two items are located at completely different positions on the vehicle. Mechanical advantage/disadvantage and drivetrain losses come into effect on the driveshaft. Its also not a linear scale at all. You are only gaining back HP at your engine already has by creating less losses, but if 3 punds for a crankshaft pulley gains you back 7hp on the crank another 3 lbs will not gain another 7hp. Its diminishing returns. And therefore assuming youll be able to scale any estimated drivetrain loss savings is just pure speculation.