New driveshaft CV joint issues

rockymountain · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:02 pm

Well, since jeepkj is pretty much down give or take, I'd thought I'd ask a question here with the experts. I replaced the CV joint on my front driveshaft with one from driveshaftparts.com. I've never replaced one before and thought it strange that I could barely move the cv joint around with my hand. It was really tight. I thought it was normal, installed it and took a drive. Immediately I had a rumble over 20MPH so I turned right back around. I got under there again and did a touch test and the CV was too hot to touch. :shock:

Is the joint bad? What the heck. I'm lost. :lol:

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:28 pm

As long as you got the grease packed in there good it should be fine, takes some doing to get the grease worked in but can be done
I've installed 6 or 7 now and all felt tight when first done but never had a vibration issue on any of them

rockymountain · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:46 pm

I squeezed the grease into each bearing both sides and tried pushing it in there best I could. Then I just put the rest in there.

The fact that it was too hot to touch bothers me.

I might put the old joint back on. The only thing wrong with the old one was the boot and it wasnt contaminated at all.

rockymountain · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 3:26 pm

Hold the show! Seems the dumby who installed my spicer ujoints (me) didn't get a couple snap rings seated. The ujoints were starting to shift.

I got them seated now. Taking a test run to get some good cv grease for the new cv.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:02 pm

rockymountain · **Posted:** Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:29 pm

Haha! Yeah!

Smooth as butter again. Got the cv packed full now. Out of energy. I'll put it back in tomorrow...

rockymountain · **Posted:** Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:30 am

Just put the front driveshaft back in after putting about a whole tube of grease in it. The grease that came with it was sort of dry in my opinion. I went and got a tube from Autozone and it was more oily. It is good now. Still hot after the first drive but I think it's ok and there are no vibes at all, at least not coming from that. I am very particular about vibrations and it is passing my criteria now.

The vibes were coming from the rear driveshaft anyway.

I have to drive to Chicago tomorrow so that will be the real test and should break it in pretty good. This trip is why I was trying to get this all done.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:33 am

Glad you got it all back together and rolling again :wink:

Jeeper4life · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:52 am

Glad you got it fixed rocky

Elmer · **Joined:** Sat Sep 22, 2012 11:43 am **Posts:** 83

When I replaced the CV joint on my front driveshaft last month I had the same issue; the joint was extremely tight even after greasing it up. I called driveshaftparts.com to make sure I didn't receive a faulty joint and they assured me it was normal for the joint to be that tight out of the box.

Luckily mine didn't cause any further issues, and loosened up once the grease had a chance to heat up. Sounds like yours may have come with a packet of very old grease or something. In any case, glad you got it figured out!

TwoBobsKJ · **Joined:** Fri May 11, 2012 8:03 pm **Posts:** 463

Rocky, I had the same issue with mine. I left it in and figured if it was bad it would grenade and I'd just get a new one via warranty.

But it loosened up and has been great ever since. Packing the grease in there will assure that it will function normally.

Bob

rockymountain · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:51 pm

Drove it up past Chicago and it's fine.

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it greatly!

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:09 pm

Heyyy, glad you got it all fixed up. I have my new CV, and waiting for a chance to swap it out.
I hope you dont mind, but I'll piggy back on this post with a relevant question...
I loosened all the bolts on the drive shaft, front and rear, and I couldn't drop the shaft down. It's on there tight, I have ~94k miles on it, so I'm thinking maybe its just a bit stuck in place.
Is there anything special I need to do? I read the FSM and it just says to remove it, so I'm assuming I need to use more force? I was just scared not to mess it up more.
Thanks for the help in advance.

rockymountain · **Posted:** Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:15 pm

Remove the transfer case side first. I stuck a big screwdriver on the back side of it from behind to push it off the pinion. You may need to hit it some. For the front side, I had to wack it pretty hard on the side to budge it.

Elmer · **Joined:** Sat Sep 22, 2012 11:43 am **Posts:** 83

infernicus wrote:

I read the FSM and it just says to remove it, so I'm assuming I need to use more force? I was just scared not to mess it up more.

I had the same issue. Use a pry bar if you have one and force that sucker out. Mine required that I put a good bit of muscle into it.

infernicus · **Posted:** Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:22 am

Elmer wrote:

Use a pry bar if you have one and force that sucker out. Mine required that I put a good bit of muscle into it.

rockymountain wrote:

Remove the transfer case side first. I stuck a big screwdriver on the back side of it from behind to push it off the pinion. You may need to hit it some. For the front side, I had to wack it pretty hard on the side to budge it.

Thanks guys, I guess, I will have to start working out, haha. Thanks again.

New driveshaft CV joint issues

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