[Rich 5150 69]

A thread from another forum I am working on...this may or may not apply to our trucks but curiosity has gotten me to thinking about the applied torque values, for all those that have restored or original driveshafts one piece but we`ll extend it to two piece driveshafts if you guys would chime in on those that have a drive shaft that has the yokes offset by 20% here is the thread it applies to only the small block camaros, all the big blocks were in line... Current thread..

I have seen two examples where the yokes on each end of the center tube section of driveshafts from Norwood built 1969 Camaros were not "in line" with each other, but offset - one with respect to the other - by approximately 20 degrees.

One of these driveshafts was originally in my 69 RS coupe which I have owned since Nov 1991 (VIN# 124379N581767, 01C build date). The other driveshaft was from a 69 Camaro base coupe, 327, built around the 3rd week of November 68 (VIN# 124379N551248, engine code V1122FJ). Both cars are base V8's, my RS has a Powerglide, the other car had a 3 speed manual. The other car was being parted out back in March 1994, so I collected several items, including the 327 motor and the driveshaft - which I still have.

All other driveshafts that I can remember (other than these two) have the yokes "in line" (0 degree offset) from end to end.
The reason(s) that the "as built" offset doesn't seem right to me, in that fundamentally, a driveshaft is designed to cancel out the inherent variations in rotational (angular) velocity from one end of the driveshaft to the opposite end and change those variations in angular velocity to essentially constant velocity. How well the driveshaft does its job is a funciton of several items.

One key element is to ensure that the included angle between the transmission and the center tube is the same as the included angle between the center tube and the differential. If these angles are not the same (+/- tolerance), the resulting non uniform angular velocity between the driver and driven ends of the driveshaft can result in potentially very high inertial forces, resulting in vibration, and eventual damage.

In addition to maintaining the proper angular relationships, the other key element is to ensure that the yokes on each end of the center tube section are in line (0 degree offset) with respect to each other so that the center tube can articulate by the same angular amount, but in opposite directions, from one end to the other.

So here is the crux of my question. The two driveshafts that I referenced above clearly do not have the yokes in line with each other with 0 degree offset. They are offset by approximately 20 degrees. Consequently, it seems to me that it would be impossible to maintain the proper angular relationship between the transmission and differential during operation because the center tube cannot articulate properly.

Did Chevrolet actually design the driveshafts this way for 1st Gen Camaros? If so, why - no other car that I know of ever had offset driveshaft yokes. If Chevrolet did design the driveshaft this way, what was their logic? What was different in 1st Gen Camaros that would require the offset?