cajunscrew said:
Isin't the "dog bone" wrapped around the drive shaft right before it connects to the rear axle. It seems like that is for saftey, in case it ever disconnects from the axle it won't be spinning around like crazy when you're doing like 120 and hitting your rear seat passengers on the bottom.
cajun
It has nothing to do with safety. If the DS ever came unbolted from the rear diff it would slide out of the tranny as there is nothing holding it in up there. To remove a DS, all you do is unbolt the four diff bolts, push the DS forward into the tranny (to clear the pinion flange), and then pull it right out. The DS comes out of the tranny quite easily and is quickly followed by all your tranny fluid. Unless, of course, you were smart enough to get a plug to keep most of the oil in the tranny instead of on the garage floor. Trust me, that's a mistake you only make once.
The safety aspect of DS's comes into play if you break the transmission yoke or snap the shaft mid-length. This is where a DS loop comes into play. If it breaks at the transmission for example, it will spin around and quite easily come through the floorboards as the car's weight continues to roll the car down the track, turning the tires and in turn spinning that DS. Since it is bolted to the pinion flange, it isn't just going to slip off and fall on the ground. A DS loop keeps the shaft from penatrating into the cockpit.
On a side note, I was unlucky enough to witness the after affects of a DS coming through a loop that wasn't designed properly. This was in a series of custom race cars I used to race (Dwarf Cars if you're familiar with them) and so the DS ran right beside the right leg of the driver. The DS failed, tore through 24 gauge steel, three pieces of 1/8" x 1" steel strap, and promptly turned my buddie's femur into pudding. His motor was turning 12,500 rpm at the time and he was in 6th gear so you can only imagine how fast the shaft was going when it came looking for him.
The dogbone is just for vibration dampening and acts as a sort of counterweight on the pinion nose. However, few cars really need it and once you go to an aluminum DS or new gears (the dampener is setup for the harmonics of the stock gears, not aftermarkets) it's just dead weight.
why does it say caution? Is it a caution for something moght go wrong if you take it off or what?
And then BLING didnt I see something on Stangnet about this? So I ran over to the computer and logged on, and it looks like I'm going to be 25lbs lighter on the front end. 
Thanks!
