U-Joint Play In Rear Pinion Yoke

Westbrook

Westbrook

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 24, 2019
Messages
107
Location
Oshawa, Ontario
So I had a large amount of vibration mostly from 40-55 kph after reassembling my Jeep from a drawn out spring/shock upgrade. I pulled the rear driveshaft and it drove amazing. As I was putting the rear DS back in tonight to take some driveline angle measurements I noticed that its possible for the u-joint that goes in the pinion to sit off centre, as in when I centre it, there is about 1/8" space left on either side of the yoke from the end caps. Is this normal?

I know when I removed the rear DS out a few days ago it was all the way to one side of the yoke. I centred it the best I could by feel tonight and took it for a drive and it was way better, not perfect but a lot better.

I have rubicon axles under my non rubicon TJ so I believe I need a 1310-1330 u-joint from my DS to the pinion right? The last time I drove it in October 2022 was after replacing that u-joint after the old one was super worn out and had to be replaced after a weekend on the trails. I had to scramble to find a u-joint the next day and the only place I could find one was a drive-line specialty shop, it was really expensive but I had no choice, I was in a rush and just assumed they gave me the right u-joint. Thinking back I maybe remember some unusual vibration then but that was a long time ago and I had a lot on my mind that day.

I can take some pictures tomorrow if my description doesn't make any sense. Thanks in advance.
 
So I'm guessing I need the 5-793X u-joint to go between my non-rubicon driveshaft and rubicon pinion? It's the only u-joint on there thats a conversion joint, The only thing thats throwing me off is that it says "1330 to 3R Driveshaft", the Dana website doesn't make sense to me either.

https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p3...on_greasable_fits_2003_to_2006_jeep_tj_r.html

My dad has my caliper right now so it's a little difficult to take precise measurements but I think I need to measure my yokes to be sure of what I have going on.

I looked at the u-joint on my front driveshaft and it sits tight in the yoke so I guess that answers my original question and that it's likely that I have the wrong u-joint at the back.
 
Westbrook said:
So I'm guessing I need the 5-793X u-joint to go between my non-rubicon driveshaft and rubicon pinion? It's the only u-joint on there thats a conversion joint, The only thing thats throwing me off is that it says "1330 to 3R Driveshaft", the Dana website doesn't make sense to me either.

https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p3...on_greasable_fits_2003_to_2006_jeep_tj_r.html

My dad has my caliper right now so it's a little difficult to take precise measurements but I think I need to measure my yokes to be sure of what I have going on.

I looked at the u-joint on my front driveshaft and it sits tight in the yoke so I guess that answers my original question and that it's likely that I have the wrong u-joint at the back.
Click to expand...

You can put tj Dana 30/Dana 44 yokes in place of the rubicon yokes.then you don't need conversion ujoints. Tj d44s don't use crush sleeves. It's as simple as torquing the new yokes down
 
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It sounds like you either have the wrong size joint in there or you have a bad yoke. Sometimes the yokes can get stretched. But because of the amount of gap you say you have between the yoke and joint I'm betting it's the wrong size joint. Many shafts do use conversion joints in the TJ Rubicon, not ours but some stock shafts and some aftermarket shafts. Upload a picture of the joint and end of the drive shaft and I'll probably be able to tell you what you have and what you need.
 
Okay here's what I've got, if there's any other measurements needed, let me know. The one measurement of the "cap size" for the yoke may not be super accurate, kind of hard to measure a circle at an awkward position.

It looks to me like the cap size is alright it's just the cap to cap measurement is too small.

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It's the yoke, you need to replace that yoke. It looks like one of the centering tabs is badly worn, it looks paper thin in that first picture. The joint is measuring out to the correct 1330 dimensions.
 
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Thanks everyone.

So looking at a few threads on changing the yoke, it looks like with a Dana 44 its a simple job, take the nut off, put on new yoke and tighten to 180-200 ft-lbs. This might be a silly question but I guess better safe than sorry, it's alright to put the ~200 ft-lbs torque on the gears when tightening? I realize that my Jeep weighs way more than that and the driveshaft is what moves it all but again, better safe than sorry.

Is there a consensus on best replacement yoke for a rear Rubicon pinion?
 
Shawn at Tom Wood's said:
It's the yoke, you need to replace that yoke. It looks like one of the centering tabs is badly worn, it looks paper thin in that first picture. The joint is measuring out to the correct 1330 dimensions.
Click to expand...

Wow, how you ever seen that before? It looks like at some time in its life a seized bearing cap was turning in the yoke wearing that tab down.
 
Westbrook said:
Thanks everyone.

So looking at a few threads on changing the yoke, it looks like with a Dana 44 its a simple job, take the nut off, put on new yoke and tighten to 180-200 ft-lbs. This might be a silly question but I guess better safe than sorry, it's alright to put the ~200 ft-lbs torque on the gears when tightening? I realize that my Jeep weighs way more than that and the driveshaft is what moves it all but again, better safe than sorry.

Is there a consensus on best replacement yoke for a rear Rubicon pinion?
Click to expand...

Is that a 1330 ujoint or a 1310/1330? I put good used front Dana 30 yokes on my 05 rubi axles in my 97 so i could stay with 1310.they are the same as standard rear Dana 44 yokes.used standard rear Dana 44 seals.

You can get spicer yokes new.
 
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Rickyd said:
Is that a 1330 ujoint or a 1310/1330? I put good used front Dana 30 yokes on my 05 rubi axles in my 97 so i could stay with 1310.they are the same as standard rear Dana 44 yokes.used standard rear Dana 44 seals.

You can get spicer yokes new.
Click to expand...

I didnt take the u joint right out of my DS so I'm not sure if it is a 1310/1330 conversion joint, but the side that is exposed and the pinion yoke that I need is 1330.
 
Westbrook said:
I didnt take the u joint right out of my DS so I'm not sure if it is a 1310/1330 conversion joint, but the side that is exposed and the pinion yoke that I need is 1330.
Click to expand...

So Rubicon Axles have the 1330 yoke. The Driveshaft from TW sounds like you have a 1310 DS with a 1310 to 1330 U Joint on the Dana 44 end.

If you are replacing the Yoke, that is bad, in the Diff, why not just use a 1310 yoke, so that it’s 1310 across the board on the rear DS, and you no longer have to get that specialty U Joint.

I have this exact setup, and haven’t changed the yoke yet, but will eventually, just haven’t yet.
 
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