Drive donuts

[marchsv]

Anyone have a source for the heavy duty rubber drive donuts? Pegasus is on back order.

Thank You
Tom

Happy new year!

[myf5000]

Taylor Race Engineering should have them.
http://www.taylor-race.com/index.cfm

[rv greg]

http://www.davebean.com/

[TimH]

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56121

[bob darcey]

Cleaned off the kitchen table this morning and found my notes on donuts. The old Metalastic donuts from 30 years ago were pretty strong and used solid bushings at the bolt connections. The modern day (read: SE Asian equivalent) versions use two stamped steel "halves" spot welded together to form each bushing. The welds are prone to break, the donuts fall apart and the reprecussions are nasty. A bunch of us vintage FF people have gone to a more contemporary flex donut, which is used on Volvo's and BMW's. It's narrower (so you would need to add spacers, shorter bolts, etc.) but a lot stronger, a lot cheaper and always available somewhere.

BMW P/N 26117511454

http://www.bmwpartsweb.com/Part-Numb..._6BB4EABD.aspx

[scorp997]

that's great information. I new one of the BMW parts could be adapted, I just didn't know which one. I wonder if being thinner helps out when addng 'donut savers'? Are the bushing holes in the BMW part the same diameter, or do you have to install sleeves? (I remember my old 535is having some pretty large bolts on the guibos)

Not sure if they are any easier to find (or now also made in Asia), but are the joints from an Alfa Romeo Alffetta/GTV the same size as our FF joints?

[bob darcey]

Ha! Oh yeah, I rolled sleeves out of shim stock to insert into the slightly larger holes in the BMW bushings, then wrestled to get all the bolts in. Finally removed all the sleeves and just tightened the bolts. I forget the dimensions, but would say don't bother with the sleeves. Everyone else that I know with these just installed 'em.

[DanW]

BMW quibos -

Any idea how much angular misalignment they will take from suspension droop to full bump?

If the PCD will allow, they might work in a Lotus Elan. As has been said above, the "Metalastic" couplings produced now have the pressed and spot welded metal leaflets that collapse and break under bolt torque.

The preferred donut savers are those that press into the drive yokes and the half shafts. The bolt in ones don't help much once the first bolt breaks or a yoke breaks.

[Charlie Schmidt]

When I installed the Volvo parts, I did like Bob, rolled up some shim stock to fill the gap I used JB weld to hold it in place, just do it the night before with dummy bolts. It's probably long gone, but assembly was easy Doesn't take much, diff between 3/8" and 11mm my 2 cents on donut savers---take them to the lake and do the Carrool Smith "flotation test"

[provamo]

Cleaned off the kitchen table this morning and found my notes on donuts. The old Metalastic donuts from 30 years ago were pretty strong and used solid bushings at the bolt connections. The modern day (read: SE Asian equivalent) versions use two stamped steel "halves" spot welded together to form each bushing. The welds are prone to break, the donuts fall apart and the reprecussions are nasty. A bunch of us vintage FF people have gone to a more contemporary flex donut, which is used on Volvo's and BMW's. It's narrower (so you would need to add spacers, shorter bolts, etc.) but a lot stronger, a lot cheaper and always available somewhere.

BMW P/N 26117511454

http://www.bmwpartsweb.com/Part-Numb..._6BB4EABD.aspx

take note that the "BMW " part shown is stamped "Made In Germany"

avoid "after-market" guibos assigned the same part number but produced in Inda et al

[bob darcey]

The centering devices on my Lola work well. There are short, heavy-wall tube sections welded to the Hewland output flanges. The halfshafts are drilled and tapped to accept a threaded ball-stud (which is actually a small-block Chevy clutch pivot), and the ball of the pivot stud rides inside the tube. So, the centering happens even if all the bolts and donuts have shredded and flown away.

The bolt-on donut savers work on the same principle. In either case, the ball is the center of the angle between the output flange and the halfshaft, so you have to locate the donut centered in that "neutral" plane. Otherwise, the centering device will force the donut into extremely unnatural positions and all hell breaks loose....