Front Drive Shaft Vibration

timothyd · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:58 am **Posts:** 90

When I got this beast the front drive shaft was blown apart, so I replaced it with a new one from autozone (CRS New brand), and ever since I have been chasing down a vibration that is pretty violent at 65+. After a lot of replacing stuff I pulled the new front shaft out and the vibration went away completely, I actually started to notice that even at 35+ I had a small amount of vibration that is gone now. I took the shaft back and had it warrantied, put the new on in today and the same issue came back but is even worse down to 55+ now.

Question is, is this $379 driveshaft ( https://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/dri ... ckfit=true ) just junk? Balancing issues? Is there any special clocking require when installing the shaft? Anything I may be missing here at all?

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sat Jun 15, 2019 1:38 am

timothyd wrote:

When I got this beast the front drive shaft was blown apart, so I replaced it with a new one from autozone (CRS New brand), and ever since I have been chasing down a vibration that is pretty violent at 65+. After a lot of replacing stuff I pulled the new front shaft out and the vibration went away completely, I actually started to notice that even at 35+ I had a small amount of vibration that is gone now. I took the shaft back and had it warrantied, put the new on in today and the same issue came back but is even worse down to 55+ now.

Question is, is this $379 driveshaft ( https://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/dri ... ckfit=true ) just junk? Balancing issues? Is there any special clocking require when installing the shaft? Anything I may be missing here at all?

Looks like there are three possible drive shaft lengths depending on what engine/transmission you have.
According to what I read you have to measure your old shaft, weld to weld, to determine the correct replacement shaft.
One is 16.5", one 19", and the other is 20".

Measurement is taken by measuring the Tube length only.
Measure from the centerline of the weld on one end to the centerline of the weld on the opposite end of the collapsed Prop Shaft.

https://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/dri ... odel=drive

timothyd · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:58 am **Posts:** 90

I don't have the old shaft readily available to measure right now but if I remember right I did measure it to 20", and it does seem to be a perfect fit, after the transfer case side was in, there was only about 1 inch of slack to pull out on the fully compressed cv joint, spins completely free with no binding.

timothyd · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:58 am **Posts:** 90

I took the shaft out, measured the mating surface to surface distance to 32 1/4", after stretching out the shaft the joint looked centered at that length. What I did notice was that although while in the vehicle the transfer case side CV seemed fine, once removed (this is only 15 miles or so) it was extremely stiff and hard to rotate at all. At this point i'm chalking it up to a crap manufacturer. Does anyone have any recommendations other than the OEM stealership part?

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:45 pm

timothyd wrote:

I took the shaft out, measured the mating surface to surface distance to 32 1/4", after stretching out the shaft the joint looked centered at that length. What I did notice was that although while in the vehicle the transfer case side CV seemed fine, once removed (this is only 15 miles or so) it was extremely stiff and hard to rotate at all. At this point i'm chalking it up to a crap manufacturer. Does anyone have any recommendations other than the OEM stealership part?

https://www.detroitaxle.com/
I am running their CV replacement joints on both ends of my front driveshaft and both front wheel bearing hubs replaced with their bearings.
No issues with either parts and the CV joints have been on the Jeep since 2013. :BANANA:

timothyd · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:58 am **Posts:** 90

Looks like they only list the 16.5" tube length, this one takes the 20". Sasqautch parts list one that has the overall length options which matches mine, I think I might try theirs.

TKB4 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:39 am

I haven't had to replace front drive components, but I have seen products on eBay etc to replace just cv joints. So my question is:
If you are only replacing the CV joints what difference would it make how long the original shaft is? Wouldn't the joints be the same on the different shaft lengths?

dirtbikemike18 · **Joined:** Fri May 31, 2019 11:47 am **Posts:** 9

timothyd wrote:

I took the shaft out, measured the mating surface to surface distance to 32 1/4", after stretching out the shaft the joint looked centered at that length. What I did notice was that although while in the vehicle the transfer case side CV seemed fine, once removed (this is only 15 miles or so) it was extremely stiff and hard to rotate at all. At this point i'm chalking it up to a crap manufacturer. Does anyone have any recommendations other than the OEM stealership part?

I'm having the exact same issue on my '05 2.8L. Mine is also 32 1/4" from surface to surface, but I don't know which driveshaft to order. Sasquatch parts has driveshafts in lengths of 29.3", 30.3", 31.3", and 32.5".

I'm not sure which one to order, can anyone help me out?

timothyd · **Joined:** Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:58 am **Posts:** 90

In my case the original shaft was destroyed, the xfer case side was bashed around for so long the splines are toast, so I do need a full replacement. I will be trying the Sasquatch ones in about a couple weeks, not gonna bother putting one in to take it right back out when I drop the transmission. I am going to assume that the 32 1/2" is what we will need to order.

Front Drive Shaft Vibration

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