This doesn't sound good . . . HELP

[Schmo]

I had the same noises that seemed to be coming from the trans- t/c. I took it to Bucky at O.R. in Bloomington. He drove it maybe a couple hundred feet, took off the rear DS.... bad double cardon joint. I was ready to put a new trans in it, his expertise and honesty saved me thousands of $$$$.

Steve

Did you have any other issues that were related to the DS going out that I should keep an eye on? What type of DS did you have and how much did it run you to have it rebuilt?

I don't want to rain on you parade, but when you said that you felt a power loss going up the Grape Vine and needed to keep the RPM up above 2800, it kinda sounds like maybe you have a CAT- converter cloggin up on you which would also might create a rattling sound from the vibration. Not that it's not possible, but I cant see a CV causing a power failure like that. I would stay with what is the cheapest to check first. I would be interested to hear the outcome of it though.

I had my CAT replaced about 5K ago . . . I think it may have had more to do with having a load on the DS causing it to vibrate vs. a loss of power. I was on the 99 fwy almost the entire way home which is pretty darn flat and I really didn't feel anything different than usual at first, but after getting gas and hearing the more severe noise, I started to realize that it sounded louder than usual when I accelerated, but just cruising along or where I was just maintaining my speed it was not noticable . . . and that's why I think I noticed the difference when I hit the Grapevine as I was putting a load on the DS trying to climb the hill and it was rattling, not to mention the locker pumps had worked the all bolts out about a half inch or so, so they were making a nice noice along with the DS. The DS needs to be rebuilt for sure, so I'll start there and see where it takes me. I really think that the DS is the culprit, and am just crossing my fingers that nothing else was damaged.



I've never driven my Jeep in front wheel drive before . . . it sure feels weird when you turn.

[Schmo]

Shipped the DS to Tom Wood's today to have it rebuilt and rebalanced. Hopefully that'll take care of everything. This whole time I thought I was greasing the DS properly, but I didn't realize that the centering ball didn't have a zirk nipple but a different type of fitting for a needle, and you can't get to it when the DS is on . . . looks like I'll be removing the DS from time to time from now one to make sure I grease up that centering ball.

[Geebo]

Joe, you know I,ve got the Tom Woods driveshaft and Advanced Adapters slip yoke combo ..will I have to grease mine in the same way??..what I wanna know is do we have the same one?..Hope it all works for ya.. or give me a call I can hold a flashlite..and hand ya tools..lol

[aw12345]

Now that you mention it I had the centering ball and cup on my rear driveshaft go out and that does make a bunch of racket. Any local driveshaft place can fix it, you can by the needed parts at a good auto part store provided it did not get totally destroyed, this telediagnosing isn't always easy lol it's such a beatch to hold the Jeep to the monitor/ webcam lol.
The big thing is to lube the centering ball every so often with a grease needle on a grease gun and expect the thing to fail every couple of years depending on the amount of lift you have

[Schmo]

Is there anything I should pay close attention to after installing the rebuilt driveshaft, or as long as it stayed together and didn't brake and really smack around, everything else . . . TC, rear diff, etc . . . are usually fine?

Geeb . . . we have different driveshafts . . . I've got the flange on the TC and therefore don't need the SYE, but you will still have the double cardan joint with the center ball (probably the same one mine had) and it will need to be lubed. I can show you where it's at but from what TW told me, most of the time you will need to remove the DS to access it as the angle will block the hole. Honestly even having the DS in my hands, it took me a minute to find where I was supposed to insert the needle. Live and learn, I was preparing for something big, and a rebuilt DS is getting off easy . . . big time . . . hoping I am so lucky!!!

For the more seasoned guys out there this may sound silly, and I hope I don't jinx myself here, but I'm really pleased with myself. Before I bought this Jeep, I never worked on my cars and wouldn't have thought to climb under there and nose around before just assuming the noise was something big and over my head and having it towed to a shop. It's not just the thought of how much money and aggravation I'll save by doing this myself, but the feeling of accomplishment is huge. I'm getting more and more comfortable and confident every time I crawl under the Jeep. I don't necessarily enjoy wrenchin' as much as I enjoy wheelin' but the sense of accomplishment I get from wrenchin' on my Jeep is right up there with conquering some of the trails. I had a pretty big grin cruising around in front wheel drive last night without all the racket I was hearing before removing the rear DS . . . did a little dance and everything!!!

[mrchips]

Schmo,
Ask Tom Woods to put there Gold seal U-Joints, into your re-build, as they have zerk fittings that are easy to reach,, also you will get zerk fitting in the CV so you can get to them.
I just had a new front drive shaft built for me, he does great work.



http://www.4xshaft.com/index.html

[Geebo]

Thanks Joe!!!

[Schmo]

Schmo,
Ask Tom Woods to put there Gold seal U-Joints, into your re-build, as they have zerk fittings that are easy to reach,, also you will get zerk fitting in the CV so you can get to them.
I just had a new front drive shaft built for me, he does great work.



http://www.4xshaft.com/index.html

The one I have, has the Gold seal U-Joints, and I was pretty good about greasing them up, and thought I was doing everything I was supposed to but didn't realize that there was another grease fitting for the centering ball. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I'll be sure to lube it up from time to time. For you guys with the TW DS . . . do you need to remove the DS to get to the grease fitting for the Centering Ball, or are you able to get to it with the DS attached?

[4xfiend]

How long have you had the driveshaft for, Joe? Curious about how long it took for it to go bad.

I agree with you about working on the Jeep. Before I had mine the only thing I'd done on my own vehicles was change the oil, but I've tried to do everything on the Jeep. The beautiful thing with our Jeeps is that for pretty much anything you want to do someone has done a write-up on it online. When I swapped my exhaust manifold and did my SYE I had the laptop out in the garage so I could look at the write-ups and follow them as I did the work. I'd never done anything like that before, but I feel great about having done it myself and learning more about my Jeep in the process.

[Schmo]

How long have you had the driveshaft for, Joe? Curious about how long it took for it to go bad.

I had the driveshaft on for over a year and a half.

[OU812]

Sean has been replacing his double cardon every year. He asked the driveline shop what is wrong with his setup to make it go bad. They couldn't give him an answer.

[Materdaddy]

Sean has been replacing his double cardon every year. He asked the driveline shop what is wrong with his setup to make it go bad. They couldn't give him an answer.

Holy crap, maybe I need to start saving pennies for a spare driveshaft... I've had mine for 2+ years now... granted I started putting miles on the Jeep, but still, the angle that short drive shaft rides at is steep since it's so short on my TJ!

[Schmo]

Only two things I can think of to extend the life is to ensure the angle is correct and keep it lubed. Seems like other than that, it's just another thing to keep an eye on and rebuild when it needs it.

[aw12345]

To lube it just disconnect it from the rear axle push it up or strap it up with a bingee cord then lube then bolt the bathing back in place. No need to take the whole shaft out

[alittleoff]

DS rebuild...

Schmo,

The DS was donated by Banning Driveline (1310's w/ yokes @ both ends). It was lubed with a needle fitting. It lasted about 3 yrs. I think it failed b/c of the severe angle and not the workmanship. I went with a JE Reel to match the front DS. It's a standard hvy. duty double cardon for a lifted Jeep, plus the old one got repaired for a spare. It was around $300 +/- for both. If and when it happens again, I'll look at High-Angle Driveline.

Steve