The deformation and strength of tubular shaft joints having various adhesive thicknesses were investigated analytically and experimentally. The strain distributions of the joints with two different adhesive thicknesses under the combined tensile and torsional loads were analyzed using the finite element method. The analytical strain distributions coincided approximately with the experimental results. On experimental stress-strain curves of the joints, it was observed that the initial fracture occurred at the edge of a coupling before the joint was completely broken and that the initial cracking stress of the joint with thinner adhesive was smaller than the joint with thicker adhesive. However, the effect of adhesive thickness on the final strength was little in the case of the adhesive bonded joints of tubular metal shafts. The strength of the joints was estimated by applying the strength laws of carbon steel, the adhesive layer and their interfaces to the calculated stress distributions. The predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental results.