tomwoods utilizes an alum spacer and more readily available slightly beefier u joints. Stiffer? yes(i hear) more money?yes. My concern may be negligible, but I am not a fan of aluminum in the drivetrain(or alum mated against steel in a wet hi torque areas), and the thickness of the spacer is 7/8" so it actually hurts the driveline agles by shortening the lenght of the shaft(longer shafts=less harsh angles), but being a beefier shaft it is supposed to be stronger, biggest advantage being you can get the ujoint at any auto parts store usually in stock..I think they quoted me $385
GBR I was on abudget and have a factory shaft with only 12k miles, I opted for the GBR solution where he just puts greasable ujoints, and suspects that so long as you take care of it, its not the torque or strenght that kills the shaft, so its not like NEED a stronger shaft as much as i want one that lasts better than 20k miles. the down side is if you break it the ujoints arent as common. My cost was $175 for two ujoints, his service and return of my shaft. I can buy two shafts for the cost of 1 TW shaft.
Thus far I am not sure I have found any compelling reasons why the GBR solution isnt good enough or why the TW is better if anyone can help chime in, that be great
i know there are many folsk who have used the TW solution for years, which suggests a longer service life I think over the stock shaft...
I am hoping that if I follow GBRs INSISTENT Instructions that I grease the u joints at a max interval of 3k mile sor after any water exposure, he claims I'll get as much life out of those ujoints as the ones on TW...
I have asked for a spare ujoint for my toobox for $40 to add to my spare rotoflex.
