Quick Fists to hold axle/drive shafts??

[BigDaveZJ]

Anybody tried this? The majority of my wheeling time is spent on trails where breakage can and will happen and I was thinking Quick Fists could help me keep my spare shafts from flying around all over the place.

I currently keep my spare shaft stuffed kinda under the backseat in my ZJ, but will be pulling out the seats entirely here soon and making a storage area similar to this, except it will go up closer to the front seats.


This is kinda what it looks like under the lids:


My thought was to make some brackets similar to the 4xRac brackets for the Hi-Lift jacks to get the shafts off the floor (and with u-joints and wheel flanges they can't lay flat anyways), and then attach the Quick Fists to the brackets. I figure between my front 30 and rear 8.8 and a spare driveshaft I would need 10-12 Quick Fists. My short side 30 shaft would probably be fine with just two Quick Fists, one on the stub and one on the inner. 3 for the long side shaft, one on the outer and two on the inner, two per 8.8 shaft, and 2 for the driveshaft.

I need to weigh my shafts too to make sure they fit the weight requirements, but the axle shafts are definitely a lot heavier than the average shovel or axe that people are using this for.

So has anybody tried this? Any feedback?

Thanks!

[tdesanto]

I've never done this, but you'll want to verify the weight limits on the quick fists. I am guessing that those are static-load weight limits, not dynamic. If you're in an accident or have to stop suddenly, the kinetic energy stored in the shafts while in motion will be much greater than when static. So, this needs to be factored in.

[BigDaveZJ]

The shafts would still be contained inside the steel box too, so I'm not too worried about them becoming projectiles. The box in the pics above was built a bit overkill with 1/8" plate, I probably won't go that thick, but it won't be much thinner either. It's also a very rare thing for my Jeep to go over about 45 mph.

[off-roader]

You could always fab in a bunch of strap points inside your box. Then you can simply use ratchet straps instead.

IIRC QuickFists provide weight guidelines for each unit. That's how I know it will handle my 15lb CO2 bottle strapped to a plate on my roof rack.

[angusdevil]

That's a lot of coin spend on quick fists that will do an OK job at best. Since your fabbing stuff, I second the idea of using very short ratchet straps. They're stronger, they just as quick to use and fully adjustable if you need to strap something else in there.

[motomech]

on the rock buggies we run we attach the drive shafts to the roll cage with metal hose clamps. Works well even after being on the lid many many times.

[Snagger]

I can't see a problem with it. I use Quickfists to secure a wheel brace, Maglite and fire extinguisher internally and as shovel and pick axe externally. Those are all lighter than drive shafts, but I'm sure you'd use enough of the Quickfists to be secure, and if the shafts came loose in an accident, they'd still be contained within your steel box. I'd probably use them for your application - they're easier to fit and use than ratchet straps and will give more positive location of the shafts unless you make a snug cradle for the shafts to use in conjunction with the straps.

[BigDaveZJ]

Snagger, those are the exact reasons I want to try and use the Quick Fists.

The hose clamps may work as well, but certainly are not as quick and easy as the QF's would be.

If I had them on vertical wall as opposed to a horizontal floor, I'd be MUCH more concerned about it too, but I'm thinking it should work out okay. Now I just need to do all the other fab work for this project which should be fun. On top of a similar floor to what you see above, I've got a lot of tube to bend as well.

[Snagger]

I don't think you'd have problem with the Quickfists, whichever orientation you mount them.

[jesusgatos]

Take a look at the little metal hose-clamp stand-offs that you see weld to the rollcage where shock reservoirs are mounted. They're basically little cross-shaped tabs that allow you to hose-clamp a cylinder to whatever surface you weld the bracket/tab to. That's how I am planning on mounting a spare CV to the bedcage in my Tacoma.