chrisneu68olds

I have been looking at some documentation and have run into the term "Propeller Shaft" a few times. This term is usually linked to the option G71 - Propeller Shaft and is associated to the manual transmissions. Question: What is a "Propeller Shaft?" Is this just a fancy name for something?

Tedd Thompson

Not sure, but isn't it the drive line tunnel?

chrisneu68olds

Lord knows. Since people at this time liked to place interesting titles to common parts or functions, it could mean anything.

One that always got me is that when you look at the automatic gear selector, P,R,N,D,S,L, "S" doesn't mean "second", it means "super."

starfire

Propeller shaft is just a fancy name for the drive shaft.


And "L" means "Low". Some vehicles use "2" and "1" for Super and Low.

oldcutlass

That is correct! We older farts (not old) remember this term well!

chrisneu68olds

I have no reason to doubt that and I suspected as much. By default all cars have a "propeller shaft" but I guess that you have to make it sound special.

On the 67 442 it was an "mandatory" part of the package (again I reiterate that all cars have a "mandatory" drive shaft if you actually want to go somewhere ) which leads one to believe that perhaps the "G71 Propeller Shaft" implies that there might have something special about it. Lighter? Heavy Duty? Or just a fancy name for Drive Shaft?

DeltaPace77

To smplify things, it propells the car. Have several older repair manuals, and all use that term. Took me awhile to figure that one out too.

TK-65

I do know the early 442s have a bigger prop shaft, part of the 442 option package.

citcapp

Haven't heard that term in a while have to bring it up at a club meeting as a question to the younger generation and see what answers I get

chrisneu68olds

Maybe that is where the "G71" comes in as a 442 separate line item. I can assume that it would be perhaps larger in diameter or maybe the U-Joints are a little more heavy duty or something. Makes sense.

ah64pilot

Hell, even in Army aviation we use the term "Drive Shaft" to indicate the shaft that turns the propeller...figure that one out lol!

Jetstar 88

Yup, "Propeller Shaft" is just 1960's technical writing for driveshaft.

Of course, some Cubans with disdain towards Castro have made the term make more sense.

Yellowstatue

Prop shaft; PN 7804895 '65 - '67 w/ 4sp HD w/ 400 engine...sup 5697021.

wmachine

Originally, the auto shafts were 2-pc with a rubber damper to absorb minor drive train vibrations and give a smoother ride. But with the stick cars, "they don't need no stinkin' dampers" and used a solid one pc shaft.
However, by '72 they were using the same dampered shafts as OEM replacements.

oldcutlass

And as those 2-pc sleeved shafts got older, the rubber would deteriorate, and that smooth ride went away!

joe_padavano

Actually, if the rubber deteriorated, forward motion went away, making for a VERY smooth ride!

oldcutlass

LOL!! Thats what happened after the rattling noise went away. Very smooth ride on the back of a flat bed.

rustyroger

Propeller shaft (normally shortened to prop shaft) is the usual term for a rwd drive shaft this side of the pond, fwd shafts are called drive shafts.
It connects the gearbox to the back axle rather than the transmission to the rear end.

Roger.