Ok, I had a meeting with Jesse at High Angle Driveline about making a spool and some halfshafts.
To make a long story short, perhaps I was oversimplifying the problem...
In my case, I'll need a Mitsubishi Eclipse halfshaft to mate with the front wheel's spline. I may get lucky and have a driveshaft from another year Eclipse, or a Mitsubishi Lancer fit that output spline. They all have different lengths - left side, right side, AWD, FWD, etc. etc. This is actually good - it gives lots of options.
Cutting the Mitsubishi Eclipse halfshaft in half and doing the same with a Toyota Highlander, then sleeving and welding them together isn't a particularly good solution. There's a good chance they are heat-treated and the weld has a good possibility of failing in fatigue.
On the inboard side, the Eclipse uses a tripod joint, where the cup is attached to a splined shaft that goes into the differential. Of course the splines of the MGR are not compatible...
Something that has a flange that would bolt to the 4 bolt MGR output would be most desirable. Something that has a tripod joint output and the right spline would be silly lucky.
We all have this problem - we all need some form of halfshaft that can connect to our various vehicle types. Does anyone have any ideas for a shaft with a tripod joint (or other double CV joint) that can bolt to a flange?
It would be nice to solve this problem once, as far as designing and making custom parts.
