BMR Front Drive Shaft Safety Loop

Guess this is something the Driveshaft Shop is more likely to answer, but wouldn't it still be problematic if the driveshaft snapped at the front joint? Forward motion would turn the wheels, which turn the axle, the diff, the shaft... No loop = ??

I imagine the primary reason would be if the rear joint was significantly more likely to break. And the rear loop might mitigate a lot of the squirrel-iness that could happen in the above situation.

FiK said:

Guess this is something the Driveshaft Shop is more likely to answer, but wouldn't it still be problematic if the driveshaft snapped at the front joint? Forward motion would turn the wheels, which turn the axle, the diff, the shaft... No loop = ??

I imagine the primary reason would be if the rear joint was significantly more likely to break. And the rear loop might mitigate a lot of the squirrel-iness that could happen in the above situation.

Click to expand...

Well, since the front loop is actually a good distance rearward of the shaft's front joint, I would think the if the front joint snapped, you'd still have the shaft just rattling around within the confines of the loop. I don't see how it could "snake" out of the loop, it would have to go rearward, which shouldn't be possible since the rear axle doesn't have that much forward/back movement.

Now if the shaft snapped just rear of the loop, that would probably be the worst case. Then the shaft would probably destroy the exhaust pipes right below it. At that point, I guess it could stick into the ground and flip the car forward. But the chances of a one-piece drive shaft snapping in a location that's not a joint is probably much lower (than the stock drive shaft at least).

Driveshaft safety loops are designed to contain the shaft in the case of the u-joint or CV joint failing, keeping the shaft from dropping down and "pogo-ing" the car.

Per NHRA rules, the loop is to be within 6 inches of the front u-joint of the shaft. In the case of the stock GT shaft, it has a front u-joint on the front shaft and a CV joint at the front of the rear shaft, this is what the dual loops are designed to contain in the case of failure. The front loop for the front u-joint and the mid loop for the CV joint at the front of the rear shaft section on the GT.

They are not designed to contain the shaft if it breaks in the middle of the tube.

Ltngdrvr said:

They are not designed to contain the shaft if it breaks in the middle of the tube.

Click to expand...

You mean, like this? :winks

Safety loop(s) arrived

As I anounced in this post, I bought the safety loops from BMR. It is the "Driveshaft safety loop, Front" (DSL017) and the "Rear tunnel brace with rear driveshaft safety loop" (DSL011) - in red, of course :bigthumbsup

Both are designed for the GT.

I installed both of them yesterday on my 2011 V6 and had quite a few issues.

But first here are some pics and a short installation review:
I lifted the front of my car and put both loops over the front joint. It isn't necessary to unmount the DS. I pushed the loop for the rear safety loop to the back for later use - it's not possilbe to pull one of the loops (both are the same) over the rear joint!



Than I had to support the automatic transmission and unmount the brace, after that I put the safety loop bracket, the little spacer plate and the brace together and mounted it with the new (longer) screws under my car.



After placing the loop and secure the bolts the front part was done.

Now I focused on the rear safety loop:
I didn't unmount the exhaust as described, I pulled the brace between DS and exhaust and placed it where it has to be. Then I had to remove two plastic covers, because the bolts wwill be used by the brace.



Securing the bolts for the loop was a little bit tricky, there is not that much space between the DS and the brace - two 14mm (or 9/16") wrenches were working well.

Now the issues were starting:
The DS hangs down when you lift the car - I wasn't able to mount the brace with the hanging DS (or better: rear axle), So I lifted the left wheel:



Than I had to secure the bolts, remove the jack stand and lowered the car, everything was done:



Everything?

Wait!

I talked about issues, not one issue.

First thing:
Everytime you lift the car on both sides (or complete) you have to unmount the brace (and let it hang on the DS) - OK, only 10-15minutes.

Second issue:
But - is it possible that the DS will hit the brace while driving? It is! I have stock suspension, when I braked sharp I had "a little bit" of nose-diving - which means: "Butt lifting" - and the DS hit the brace - Not a nice sound!

So i put some spacers between brace and the base plate - roughly 5-6mm - but only at the four "rear" bolts, so that the brace "hangs" a little bit down at the rear side. Until now I couldn't here the hit of the DS on the brace. I thin I will file a few mm off from the brace.


So far so good - Oh - Wait!

One more thing (No, nothing from Apple):
After driving a few miles, I heard a rattling sind from the tunnel - I thougt something hit the DS - It was baaaaaad :angry

I drove right turns, left turns, braked, accelerated - I wasn't able to specify when the rattling occurs - but it became worse. I looked under the car, pulled here, pushed there - hmmmm......

Finally I figured out what it was. As I mentioned at the top - the Safety loops are for the GT - and it seems, that the rear transmission mount is a little bit different. There is a rubber-metal joint which holds the transmission on the aluminum brace - and the metal part of it was hitting the safety loop, making the terrible noise. (I marked it with a pen, you can also see the part, where the color went of because of that:



Now I removed the marked parts of the Safety loop with a file, painted it and tomorrow I will mount it the second time - we will seee......., pics will follow!

bluebyu12 said:

looks like a lot of hassle and the whole driveshaft hitting the safety loop doesn't sound to peachy. Are there any other options on a safety loop. Nice write up by the way I appreciate it!

Click to expand...

Yes there are, here is one from Steeda:

Ford Mustang Driveshaft Safety Loop 555-5081 555-5077

I wrote them an email today - because I couldn't see where it has to be mounted (in the front - in the back???). Hopefully they send my the installation manual - may be this is the better solution for the rear.

After I removed the small part of the BMR front loop I think it will be fine - tomorrow we will know more.

Ee:yup:

wrxified said:

I'm confused. Are you saying the actual drive shaft made contact with one of the safety loops? Was it the rear loop or front loop?

Click to expand...

Yes!

The rear one had contact with the DS, the front one had "just" contact with the rear transmission mount (that's why I modified the front one).

I think, the rear one is the bigger problem - may be not with the GT, because the GT has an additional bearing in the middle. Also the "car lift issue" with the rear one is a little bit annoying. Not really tragic, but annoying.

I will provide pics tomorrow!

Turbofred said:

Ee:yup:

Yes!

The rear one had contact with the DS, the front one had "just" contact with the rear transmission mount (that's why I modified the front one).

I think, the rear one is the bigger problem - may be not with the GT, because the GT has an additional bearing in the middle. Also the "car lift issue" with the rear one is a little bit annoying. Not really tragic, but annoying.

I will provide pics tomorrow!

Click to expand...

That sucks. Not sure why you're rear one would be an issue. I don't have an issue but there are a couple difference on mine. Steeda lowering springs and a 3.5" drive shaft. I wouldn't run it if you can get it straightened out because even knocking the DS can significantly increase the chance for a potential failure or balance issue.

These options came up in a search at Apex Speed's web site, when I followed the menus to 2011 Mustang/3.7L V6/Suspension/Driveshaft Loops and Braces:

Mustang Drive Shaft Safety Loops and Braces

The one that has my curiosity is the Competition Engineering C3160 model at the bottom of the page. I am skeptical because of the way it's listed (2005+ Mustang, Mustang GT and GT500), but you never can tell. It did come up in the product search for the 3.7L V6, so...

wrxified said:

That sucks. Not sure why you're rear one would be an issue. I don't have an issue but there are a couple difference on mine. Steeda lowering springs and a 3.5" drive shaft. I wouldn't run it if you can get it straightened out because even knocking the DS can significantly increase the chance for a potential failure or balance issue.

Click to expand...

I think lowering the vehicle solves the problem (or at least heled a lot). After I inserted the spacers it became better (and that were just 5-6mm). But with my stock suspension, hmmmm....

And yes, you are right. A loop which is hitting the DS will probably increase the DS-Problem.

We will see, I am not done yet!

V6 Cannonballer said:

These options came up in a search at Apex Speed's web site, when I followed the menus to 2011 Mustang/3.7L V6/Suspension/Driveshaft Loops and Braces:

Mustang Drive Shaft Safety Loops and Braces

The one that has my curiosity is the Competition Engineering C3160 model at the bottom of the page. I am skeptical because of the way it's listed (2005+ Mustang, Mustang GT and GT500), but you never can tell. It did come up in the product search for the 3.7L V6, so...

Click to expand...

I wrote to apex-speed today. The C3160 is a front safety loop. It won't help against a DS which will broke in the middle.

Text from the email:
"...The Competition Engineering loop mounts near the transmission where the existing crossmember is located. There are also rear tunnel braces available. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the part installed...."

The front safety loop is done!

I modified the safety loop with a angle grinder and painted the blank parts yesterday. I just removed approximately 10mm on each side:



Now the bracket from the automatic transmission has enough space so it doesn't hit the safety loop anymore. No more noise!

When I installed the "base plate" from the safety loop I pushed it back as far as possible (the holes are a little bit bigger than the screws are thick). So I gained about 5mm distance between automatic transmission bracket and base plate:



(here mounted without crossmember)

You can see that there is not that much space between the two parts - but I did a really strong testdrive and couldn't hear anything but the CAI :bigthumbsup:bigthumbsup:bigthumbsup

So, I would recommend the DSL017 - if(!) you modify the base plate and move it as far back as possible while tigthening the screws from the crossmember. Hopefully BMR will modify the plate itself and make it work for the V6.

Nice write-up Turbofred! You should give Kelly from BMR a call, he's the guy I'm working with to get it fitted on the manual transmission. They are looking for feedback regarding how the design should be changed for better fit. He might be able to compensate you somehow for your findings here. Especially since they are under the impression the front loop fits just fine on a V6 automatic without modification.

Is your DS stock? I'm sorta worried if a 4" DS would be an issue. It doesn't look like there's much clearance around the front loop for an additional 1/2".

I spoke with Turbofred earlier today. I must say, I truly appreciate his effort in making our parts work on his car.

We have made one revision, and now we will be using the information provided to revise once again to ensure the V-6 Mustang owners can have a nice quality drive-shaft safety loop for their cars.

If any of you have any questions about our components, PLEASE feel free to give me a call at 813-986-9302.