and so it begins.  I would love to tell you that from hear on out you you will have all the correct parts and that the install is a piece of cake.  The truth is this is the first of several to many issues you may have.  My Jag project has had lots of  issues, best advice I can give, is deal with each problem as it comes. As far as you axles what if you have them shortened and use the original splines??  I looked in to two viable options on the Jag half shafts and I think either could work for your set up.

here is an excerpt from my web page on narrowing the Jag pieces, I would think it could apply to the Ford pieces.

Bevel and weld:
  -  Hot rod builders have used this first technique to narrow the half shafts of Jaguar IRS units for their street rods since Jaguar came out with IRS in the 60s. The concept is simple, place a half shaft in a lathe and cut out the section needed to achieve the desired length.  Then on each end piece bevel from the cut edge back toward the yoke so that the shaft of each yoke ends up with a point on it.  Line the two shafts up, point-to-point in a piece of angle iron, making sure that the yokes are perfectly in phase with each other, and begin filling the area between the two pieces with weld. A competent welder should be able to fill in the shaft and return it to a solid piece. Using this technique results in maintaining a solid shaft just as the unit was originally designed, and the welded section will probably be stronger than any other part of the shaft.   However, there are two difficulties in this technique, one, getting the yokes lined up, and two, ending up with a straight half shaft that is not slightly bent or warped.  If the half shaft yokes are out of phase even 1 or 2 degrees or the shaft is bent, the slight variation will result in horrible vibrations and/or broken u-joints.  Assuming everything is correctly welded, together this technique has proven to be strong and reliable.   


Red lines show beveled cuts and the green area is the weld

Turn down, cut, press & weld:
  -  Another option is to use the yokes from the solid half shafts to make a mechanical tubing type half shaft.  This is done by turning down a section of the half shaft near each yoke end to a size that will be a .002 to .01 press fit in the mechanical tubing that will be used to connect the two ends.   Then cut the yoke ends off of the half shafts, leaving about 1" - 2"  of turned down shaft attached to each yoke.  As mentioned, thick wall mechanical tubing cut to the correct length will join the two yoke ends together by means of a press fit as well as a bead of weld around the base of the yoke and mechanical tubing.  One major advantage to using this technique is by converting to a tubing type shaft, weight is shed and, if repairs are needed in the future, they are simple to do just as you would with any other tubing type drive shaft.  You may wonder how tubing could be strong enough, especially when you consider the original shafts were solid, but the reality is that the modern materials used to make thick wall mechanical tubing are stronger ounce for ounce than the materials used to forge the original shafts and the strength is probably fairly close, if not better, on the modified shafts.  This option is usually less expensive than the one mentioned above because it is easier for a driveline shop to index the yokes and avoid having the half shafts warp.  After discussing the options with several machine shops, as well as others who had narrowed a Jaguar rear end, I decided to have my shafts narrowed via this technique for both cost and reliability.  NOTE the larger the diameter of the mechanical tubing used, the stronger the half shaft, just as an example, a tube 1.75"  O.D. is almost 4 times stronger than tubing of the same wall thickness with only a 1.25"  O.D.  Also, for ideal penetration while still maintaining strength, ¼"  wall tubing will be best for this application.  Several aftermarket companies that narrow up Jaguar rear end assemblies use 1.75"  O.D. and 1.25"  I.D. DOM mechanical tubing.


Red lines show modified yoke ends, blue lines represent mechanical tubing, and green lines represent the welds.

Daze / Irstang - 99 and 9/10 of the people I have talked to say DO NOT WELD half shafts from the the t-bird irs, they will not hold up because of the torsion bar that they are,I figure they have been thru it so I might as well learn from there experience,I'll figure something out, I just don't know what is right now.If it had U joints and shafts I wouldn't hesitate cutting them,I even thought about converting them to U joints,But I'm sure I wouldn't be ahead of the game cost wise.
Vern

irstang wrote:

There is a third method of making Jag half-shafts any length you want.  The u-joints are common to early Chevrolets.  Chevy driveshaft yokes can be used to make half shafts using steel drive shaft tubing.  I had Curt Hamilton at Hamilton Automotive Industries, (818) 787-9695 make mine and they were not that expensive.  Care must be taken to insure they are true and balanced.  The results are half-shafts stronger than stock ones welded up.

I actually cover that option as well on my web page, however I didn't mention it because it doesn't really apply to the t-bird

vernlee wrote:

Daze. I just sent you some pics of the t-bird cv joints and shafts,the cv joint is held to the differental by a cir clip kinda like a C clip,but I guess you could say the thing is held in place by the control arms not allowing the half shafts to move either in or out, the outer cv joint just pulls off the axle shafts, the differental side is held in by the cir clips and come apart real hard,I hope the pics make it a little clearer, If you want to post the pics feel free, or pic and choose,
Vern

Now that I see how it attaches, I see why you are wanting to have them resplined.  rather than having to buy other units and then having to modify them, you may be able to have something made from scratch...  basically just a shaft with splines on both ends and a groove for the boot.

here are pix you sent





















I would love to see pictures of the rest of the unit, could you email them to me???

Daze, I need 2 1/2 inches cut from each side,Sometime this week I'm going to a drive shaft shop near me to see about changing to U joints, or at least get some price ideas. the more I think about U joints the more I like the idea.
Vern

irstang, interesting point about the half shafts haveing to move in and out , I didn't consider that, But didn't the corvette use a system like I want to do ?
Yes some guys have welded a tube around the shaft after shorting and have had some luck, but others have had catastrophic results,Clearence I don't think would be a problem,I'm running  5.4 dohc with a 5 speed,not planning on drag racing, just want to do burn outs as my heart desires  just after a nice performing street ride.Didn't the corvette have upper and lower control arms with U joints on the half shafts ??
Vern

Is that a weld I see on the shafts in the second and third picture?

O.K. here's the skinny-I went to a drive shaft shop today,And he said that what I wanted to do would work no problem at all,Yes I can change from CV joints to U joints, BUT, the cost would be around $500.00 plus alot of labor on my part to prep( grind or turn down ) the tulip for welding and fitting the yokes to,So this idea is out the window  I can have two new haft shafts made for under the 500 bucks and that includes any shiping cost, and no labor for me other then reassembly which I would have with either idea,So new or welded shafts is where I'm at now.
Vern

Daze,I guess that is what I'll do,First I'm going to anneal the shafts,then I can cut them,put a nice deep bevel on them,slip a sleeve over the shaft weld together, slide sleeve in place weld sleeve in place, and I think I will mill some slots in the sleeve first for some heathly rossette welds,then have the shafts hardened at a local heat treating shop,I don't see why this wouldn't work, after all this will be a light weight car,and I'm not going to be racing with slicks or anything,If I wasn't so poverty stricken  this wouldn't be such an issue. I'll keep you posted
Vern

What I'm going to attempt with mine is to true the ends about 4" in from the cut site (on a lathe, NOT a sawzall) from each side, chamfer the ends slightly, insert in some high carbon thick walled pipe and get the length that I need, weld back together at each section, have balanced, re-install (find out that I did something wrong and scream..)kidding)     
The CV joints do NOT slide like a slip-yoke. They have a little snap ring that holds them in on the inner joint end. The movement is taken up by the actuation of the control arms keeping the flanges in "PHASE" with the diff itself, or its' housing. The problem arises with the bushings wearing/breaking that changes that/those dimensions and causes wear on the CV internals and eventually poopooing it. 

I've watched a good friend rebuild them and the hardest part was to get the balls back in the cage.. Well, maybe getting the housing off could pose a true challenge of ingenuity.. (if this works I got it.. If not, do I have the $$ to get a new one) 


Errol