Blown front axle u-joint

[Jerry Bransford]

I hope it's okay.
I have disconnected my front driveshaft (to reduce vibes) on several cross-country trips.

You can drive it forever like that. But more importantly why is the front driveshaft vibrating? Your lift isn't tall enough to cause the front driveshaft to vibrate just for that reason. I'd find what's causing the vibration than continue just disconnecting it. Could have just lost a balancing weight or it might have a bad u-joint, I'd take it to a driveshaft repair shop and have them figure it out.

 

[mrblaine]

You can drive it forever like that. But more importantly why is the front driveshaft vibrating? Your lift isn't tall enough to cause the front driveshaft to vibrate just for that reason. I'd find what's causing the vibration than continue just disconnecting it. Could have just lost a balancing weight or it might have a bad u-joint, I'd take it to a driveshaft repair shop and have them figure it out.

Or, he has one of those that even with perfectly balanced quality driveshafts, perfectly dialed in angles, and perfect everything else, he still endures the cyclical harmonic that travels front to back incessantly with the full intention to drive one fully batshit insane after throwing more time and money at the problem than should be legal and it still does it. Disconnecting the front driveshaft for long trips is a lot cheaper than a hub kit.

 

[LONGJP2]

You can drive it forever like that. But more importantly why is the front driveshaft vibrating? Your lift isn't tall enough to cause the front driveshaft to vibrate just for that reason. I'd find what's causing the vibration than continue just disconnecting it. Could have just lost a balancing weight or it might have a bad u-joint, I'd take it to a driveshaft repair shop and have them figure it out.

Brand new Tom Wood's driveshaft.
Same vibes as original oem shaft.

 

[JMT]

Brand new Tom Wood's driveshaft.
Same vibes as original oem shaft.

If you’ve exhausted pinion angle adjustments and the TW Shaft is balanced and u-joints and centering ball are good then it is what it is. Hub kit is the solution. Or just detach it for long highway trips.

 

[psrivats]

You can drive it forever like that. But more importantly why is the front driveshaft vibrating? Your lift isn't tall enough to cause the front driveshaft to vibrate just for that reason. I'd find what's causing the vibration than continue just disconnecting it. Could have just lost a balancing weight or it might have a bad u-joint, I'd take it to a driveshaft repair shop and have them figure it out.

I'm going to remove my hub kit, put the front ds back on, and ship my jeep to you to diagnose and you can please let us know what's causing the cyclical vibes. Once you experience that in person, you'll realize how serious a problem it is and why folks happily plunk down the money for the hub kit.

 

[Ron Hall]

One more piece of information... it's unlikely just the u-joint broke on its own. Odds are one of the ears on the inner or outer axle shaft that hold the u-joints stretched or broke with released the u-joint so it could spin and break. I'd replace both the inner shaft and outer stub shaft along with installing a fresh Spicer 5-760x u-joint which is direct fit stronger and more durable replacement for the standard Spicer 297 u-joint the factory installed.

And yes it'd be fine to take it home with the front-end up on a dolly. Shift the transfer case to Neutral before starting home.

I pulled the jeep back to Gunnison on a trailer and tore it down.

One more piece of information... it's unlikely just the u-joint broke on its own. Odds are one of the ears on the inner or outer axle shaft that hold the u-joints stretched or broke with released the u-joint so it could spin and break. I'd replace both the inner shaft and outer stub shaft along with installing a fresh Spicer 5-760x u-joint which is direct fit stronger and more durable replacement for the standard Spicer 297 u-joint the factory installed.

And yes it'd be fine to take it home with the front-end up on a dolly. Shift the transfer case to Neutral before starting home.

I pulled it to Gunnison on a trailer and pulled the axle. I ordered what i thought was an mammoth axle kit for 2006 Rubicon. When I slipped the oil slinger on, i realized the a axle was smaller diameter under that slinger and it was very loose. Ends up the axle kit was not mammoth and they had shipped a kit from ten performance. Splines were correct, but axle shaft was smaller diameter than rubicon at slinger. Current plan is to send it back and get a Yukon. I am going to get assurance about that being correct diameter for Rubicon. Needless to say I am Extremely hacked about the bait and switch on the parts.