Actually you would be wrong, not only did Tom post that kind of information he paid all expensees for a well respected and knowledgeable forum member to come to his shop and see the whole works from start to finish. Then RovingBeetle did a full write up with all his observations and findings on the construction of the drive shafts. No information withheld full disclosure.

Bill at GBR over the years has discussed his shafts at length as well.

I don't expect Justin to do that as well, but answering the questions that Buzz asked is to easy and doesn't cost him a dime. It is not top secret on how a shaft is built or the materials used. I honestly think it increased Tom's sales with all the information that was provided by him and RovingBeetle. I know after that information was given if I needed a shaft I would call Tom or Bill since I know exactly what I'm getting.

 

Well your about 100% wrong here...Both Tom and Bill will give you exact specific's on what parts are used to assemble their driveshafts. Both have posted this info and Tom actually had someone come to his shop and gave them a comprehensive tour of the facility where they custom build driveshafts. Both Bill and Tom are established businesses with many years of experience with Land Rovers and drivetrains, so all these questions are fair to ask of a company that was incorporated in 2012.

Here's Tom website...plenty of pictures of the facility and give Tom a call, he's been known to give both a short and long answer:
Tom Wood's Custom Drive Shafts - Tom Woods Custom Drive Shafts Custom Driveshafts Specialist

Here's Bills website...call him, he enjoy's lengthy conversations about how he build his products:
Home

 

My bad and yes I was wrong because both sites have pictures and detailed information regarding their warehouse and specs of products.
Tom Woods Established: 1999
GBR Establisished: 1992
Propshafts LLC Established: Unknown, I believe within last few years.

So its very unlikely that Justin of Propshafts LLC has a large warehouse, tons of industrial machinery, a workforce and a professional photographer who comes in and snaps pictures of the business. I doubt Tom Woods or GBR had all these things when they first started either. It takes years of experience, making profits and loans to acquire all those things so have some consideration for a new business.

 

Justin @ ProShaft is pretty confident in the quality and workmanship of the product he is selling.

I am the one that has an agreement with him to have the drive shaft inspected by a local drive line shop once I receive it. If the local shop doesn't give it the thumbs up, I am sending it back to Justin for a full refund.

I think the questions being asked by everyone here are fair. I have asked many of the same questions in private emails with Justin to which he did not hesitate to answer them honestly which I am sure he will do with those who have also asked here. Give him some time to address them.

I will have the shaft in about a week or less. I had him send it via USPS International to save me money in brokerage / duty fees. Once I get a second or third opinion on it I will post those here for everyone.

 

I'll ask the questions a different way.

Does ProshaftLLC build the shaft in part or whole? If not, that's OK. It means you are a distributor, not a factory or custom shop. There is no harm in that.

If you produce it or specify the production, then you select the parts. If you simply re-sell, you have searched for and found a superior supplier that produces a product you can be proud to represent. Their are positives for both business models.

No one wants proprietary info, the name of your private supplier, the AutoCad design plans, etc. Or pix that show proprietary systems.

But one thing you will find is that members have a questioning nature.

And that our members have a great capacity to promote a small supplier that offers an alternative.

 

The 4.6 was backed up by a stronger transmission which apparently was a touch longer.

 

Just got off the phone with Justin again and he said he will be online in about a half hour or so to answer these questions Buzz. I already know the answers but again its best you get them directly from the source. I will say that he started Propshaft LLC within the last few years so as I thought, his business is still in the early developmental stages and has a long ways to go before owning a large warehouse and hiring a workforce and heavy machinery etc. When I receive his product and get it installed I will offer my un-biased opinions of the shaft.

 

Tell people your story, keep it the short "elevator pitch" version. Maybe you make them in your shop. Small business on the way up. Maybe you import them. No harm there, just a good source of good products. Made in US or Canada is a plus, but with our labor costs, more stuff comes from somewhere else. Not many people around here can watch TV on a set made in America. I used to work for a firm that made electronic items in a factory. But they found out they could get a lot of plastic items much cheaper from Tiawan, where the tooling was free (rolled into the final price). Back in Jersey, the tooling was $15,000 for a small item.

 

There would DEFINITELY be harm there as these are heavily marketed as all US sourced parts.

 

Hello again all!

Sorry it took me all day to get back on the forum to reply to your questions. I promise I'm not trying to dodge anyone here. Hopefully I can answer most, if not all of your questions with my little diatribe. Before I get started, I'd like to again encourage anyone who has any questions for me to please give me call/text/e-mail as I'm busy for at least 10 hours a day and that's the easiest way to get ahold of me.

Let me start with a little background. I started building/repairing drive shafts at a large diesel repair firm around 2008 here in Little Rock. Both interstates I-30 and I-40 pass through here so I have a lot of experience working on semi-truck drive shafts as well as what I consider to be light duty (passenger vehicles). I've been in and around the transportation industry all of my life as my dad owned a pallet company when I was growing up and my mom has been dispatching trucks for about 30 years.

In September of 2010, I left the diesel repair firm to start a small drive shaft manufacturing/repair company. After two years, I left the company. To be quite honest, ProShaft, LLC was an unexpected occurrence. Just two days after leaving the company, I started receiving calls from customers and at first I was just referring them back to my old place. One customer in particular expressed to me that he harbored a level of trust for me as a business person and that I should consider supplying drive shafts on my own. Without any equipment, I was a little stumped. So, I called my supplier (who operates a manufacturing facility in Chicago as well as supplying parts) to see about getting an account setup. Instantly they told me that I had an open line of credit. A little shocked, I ordered 10 Land Rover Discovery II front drive shafts. So to answer the most important question, I am not building these shafts myself yet but I can describe the process in detail (which I'll get to in a little bit). I sold all the shafts within a few days. Again shocked, I ordered more and they sold as well.

To answer Savannah's request for pictures of my warehouse: man it would be awesome to have a warehouse with stocked shelves! In other words, I'm not that big yet. As previously stated, ProShaft, LLC was very unexpected and I absolutely did not expect the response and positive customer feedback that I received (minus whatever deception may have happened on the forum before I joined). As far as whatever happened before I joined the forum, I truly apologize if my company was misrepresented in any form or fashion. I've not willingly taken part in any deceptive practices and I've done my utmost to handle customer orders and requests in a timely fashion. If anyone is dissatisfied for ANY reason, please do not hesitate to contact me using the information in my signature.

Just to break things up a bit, I'm going to create another post detailing how these drive shafts are built and include part numbers. Hopefully this will instill some confidence in my customers as to my knowledge of the products sold. Thanks for reading! Please read on...