A welding system includes a welding wire feeder, and the welding wire feeder includes a motor and an adjustable drive shaft assembly. The motor is and configured to rotate a feed roll with respect to the wire drive assembly housing. The adjustable drive shaft assembly is coupled to the motor and configured to couple with the feed roll. The adjustable drive shaft assembly includes a drive mechanism configured to urge rotation of the feed roll and to adjust a position of the feed roll relative to the wire drive assembly housing.