A "Q" for those who had front DS failure

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:48 pm

Were there any warning noises before the ultimate result? I ask because as I drove home in traffic with my window down I heard terrible noises as I accelerated from stops.... no noise as I was sitting still. The noise was a combination of the clicking you hear in turns with a bad CV and the binding noise of 4Lo on pavement.

Back in May I thought I was having font DS issues while in MOAB but a visual inspection yielded nothing and the noise I was hearing (a squeak) went away. I should add that my front CVs are 13 months old with about 20K on them but everything else is OG. I was driving in a straight line when I heard the noise.

I'll put it up on the lift tomorrow (not that I know what I'm looking for) to see if there's anything obvious.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:48 am

I haven't looked at it since May but then that boot was fine. The noise happens when coasting in gear or in "N"... the noise does go away sometimes.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:58 pm

Of course, as in MOAB all of the terrible noises of Day 1 are non-existant on Day 2.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:45 pm

Yup... in MOAB the noise went away as soon as we got off the trail and I was back in 2WD. A visual inspection of the boot today yielded the same "no trouble found" result. :roll:

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

Mine revealed itself as a rumble that seemed to come through the whole chassis when I drove over 60 mph. Sometimes I could also hear the rumble, but not as loud at 45-50 mph. Ultimately, I checked by grabbing hold of the shaft near where it went into the transfer case and shook it vigorously. It kind of crunched when I did it. Trying to see the rubber boot can be kind of difficult under a dark Jeep. A flashlight helped me to see that the boot was shoot. New shaft and all is well.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:57 pm

Rut ro....

Looks like the axle seal is fo schizz. I had to top off the front diff because it was really low. The last time I was under there was in May when the fluids were changed and it wasn't like that then. I'm not sure it has anything to do with the noise I haven't heard again in two days but it's obviously a problem.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:38 pm

I've also seemed to have devoloped a roar at 65 mph. The wheel bearings seem quiet and snug when I checked them while the KJ was on the lift last night. Can the boot be intact and the DS still be checking out?

kskj · **Posted:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:07 pm

JL Rockies wrote:

I've also seemed to have devoloped a roar at 65 mph. The wheel bearings seem quiet and snug when I checked them while the KJ was on the lift last night. Can the boot be intact and the DS still be checking out?

I would not think so. But it does have 100,000 miles on it.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:21 pm

I am going to swap the front DS with my spare I carry with me and see if the roaring noise goes away. If it does, I'll get the original rebuilt and rotate them again.

jimymc · **Joined:** Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:51 pm **Posts:** 248

You carry a spare front driveshaft with you? :ALONE:

KJWildman · **Posted:** Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:32 pm

Ya, he's kind of a big deal!

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:53 am

jimymc wrote:

You carry a spare front driveshaft with you? :ALONE:

You don't?

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:50 pm

I solved the problem.... it was the rear u-joints. Even though they felt tight trying to turn the shaft (lol) by hand, they were pretty effed. Roaring noise is gone.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:13 am

See everyone thinks they need to be loose to be bad, these rust up and basically go solid and create noise. Told several that was their problem :banghead:

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:24 am

my rear dshaft was pretty jacked, the joints were cooked, blue, most of the needles were dust and I had a heck of a time separating the shafts as the grease was cooked

so basically the joints were shot, and the dshaft wasn't sliding easy at all

fixing it just made me hear other noises

sounds like you ran into the same stuff

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:28 pm

I did run into an interesting problem however. When I went to the driveline shop to get the u-joints, the guy said there were two sizes listed in the computer and he didn't know which ones I needed. I bought two of each and was going to return the others the next day. The smaller Spicer one fit onto the front yoke but neither fit the rear. Since it was late we ran to NAPA with the old u-joint for reference. The counter guy confirmed that one of the two sizes we had should fit but the u-joint I had taken out was not symetrical in dimensions like the others we had. The only way we got the job done was the NAPA guy got out the calipers, took measurements and then looked up a replacement in a catalog. When we got back to the shop we noticed the rear yoke had "Spicer" stamped on it. I believe that when 4 Wheel Parts in Pompano, FL did the last u-joint replacement and broke both the front and rear yokes back in 08 they didn't use OEM parts. I saved the box for the rear u-joint so I know what to order as a spare and any future need.

NAPA was cool for helpng me out after closing... rock on NAPA in the SLC!

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:10 pm

yea I got two wrong ujoints before getting the right set, most of these parts places have two different sizes of ujoints listed for it, the smaller ones, and then the size the manu shoulda used

but oh well, what can ya do

I can see how someone could break one of these yokes if they were not used to doing ujoint work, or in a huge hurry, or just an idiot with a big hammer

A "Q" for those who had front DS failure

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