Driveshaft Detailing

images and dimensions courtesy of Mark Brown

The three color markings on the center of the driveshaft were used to help the assembly line worker pick the right part as the car arrived at the work station. The worker would look at the build sheet driveshaft section, see "BUBULA", go to the rack and pick the driveshaft with the blue, blue, lavender stripes. Ford still uses this process today.

Mark says, "It looks as if the stripes were painted on rather quickly with the
driveshaft standing up on the front end. I say this because the orange and blue stripes had runs the length of the driveshaft from back to front. I would
also imagine that if the stripes in the center are replaced any where within
2 or 3 inches it would be alright. I'm sure the guy wasn't measuring where
the stripes went." So it appears the absolute size of the stripe/dot are not critical. These are just assembly aid identification markings.

Additional information from John Taylor: The driveshaft paint stripes are put on by the operator that builds the shaft. The shaft is put into V blocks with rollers. Then the paint markers are lowered down onto the shaft and the shaft is rotated 360 deg. The paint running happens when he picks the shaft up to put it into a rack when it's still wet.

25.4mm = 1 inch (denoted by the double quotation mark, " ) for your metric conversion.

From the weld at the front yolk:

4" back....1/4" wide white stripe (first photo)
22" back...3/4" wide lavender stripe (second photo)
24-1/4" back... 3/4"+ wide lt. blue (second photo)
27-1/4" back....3/4"+ wide lt. blue (second photo)
36-1/4" back...1/2" wide orange (third photo)
At the rear yolk weld, one side only, a yellow dot about the size of a
quarter (a US $0.25 coin, under 1" diameter). (fourth photo)

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