Front diff drop kits

Scorpiate · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:38 pm

Hey,

I just got back from a rather costly dealership appointment to find out that my frond drive shaft needs to be replaced soon. On passenger side on speeds of 90-100km/hr (~55mi/hr) there was a sharp vibration. Dealership found it to be the front passenger drive shaft...

Before replacing, they recommend putting on a Front differential drop kit to level off the CV back to how it was before the lift. I tried local and "global" places but no one has heard of one for the KJ's (heck some never heard of one period) ... From the internet I found something for a Toyota - just an extended bolt and a spacer to drop the front diff down. One guy said that may lead to other problems...

Do I really need one? or did I just break something inside on my last excursion in the woods? (only passenger side one is failing). One other guy says the CV aren't that bad of an angle, he had other vehicles much worse...

Any help is appreciated.

I have frankenlift premium I and 30.5" BFGs

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:53 pm

There are NO kits available to do a front diff drop on a KJ, a few have done it but if you keep under a 3.5 inch lift you should have no problems. The CVs will and do go bad, esp the right side with the intermediate shaft. The shaft starts to rust, it can not slide back and forth and then you have noise and then they need replaced. All part of owning any 4 WD drive. With all the moving parts things wear out, go bad and you get to spemd money.

Oh I assumed you were talking about the CVs since you mentioned the right side and not the front driveshaft which also has problems of its own. Check the rear boot every oil change they like to wear out and cause problems as well

If they suggested doing a diff drop I really wonder how much they know about Libertys?????? :shock:

I haven't looked recently but I think JeepinByAl (thanks jeepinjarhead) :wink:

did have a diff drop but still you should not need it.
I ran mine for over 98000 miles lifted with no problems, and then had to replaced the right side CV due mainly to rust on the splines causing noises.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:57 pm

chances are it was due to a combo of trail damage and/or accelerated wear from the increased angle on the cv's from being lifted but your angles are no worse than the rest of us in the 3" - just under 4" range

there's a few things you can do

replace cv's with the appropriate remanned cv's

have the cv's modded to use U-Joints so that future repairs are much, much easier and cheeper

I haven't had either of my cv's take a dump yet at 110k with 30k'ish being lifted but it's been mostly beach and highway

LibertyFever · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:48 pm

I find dealerships difficult to deal with when it comes to warranties.

I bought my Liberty used from the dealership but they can't seem to be able to provide me with anything in writing explaining exactly what's covered and for how long, how many miles. They simply provide me with verbal explainations.

Before installing an OTT lift on my Libby I asked my dealership if it would void my warranty. They told me they didn't care how much of a suspension lift I put on my Libby just that I couldn't put a tire on it that wasn't in the BCM.

Johnny I feel your axle shaft simply wore out, maybe the lift kit accelerated the wear a bit. I feel the dealership should cover the replacement under the 7 year Powertrain warranty. You may have to go to Chrysler Canada to get results.

good luck...

Xodius · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:49 pm

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

chances are it was due to a combo of trail damage and/or accelerated wear from the increased angle on the cv's from being lifted but your angles are no worse than the rest of us in the 3" - just under 4" range

there's a few things you can do

replace cv's with the appropriate remanned cv's

have the cv's modded to use U-Joints so that future repairs are much, much easier and cheeper

I haven't had either of my cv's take a dump yet at 110k with 30k'ish being lifted but it's been mostly beach and highway

Do we have more information on how to convert the CVs to use Universals? This might be a very good toption since most of us are starting to roll 6 digit mileages. What would be the "best" way to repair them or take care of this issue?

LostRenegade · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:12 pm

Here is more info on the problem. If you installed your Frankenlift, you can do this fix yourself for under $300 USD.

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=46463

Scorpiate · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:37 pm

nope I got a friend to do it for me (who I don't talk to anymore ... for a few reasons)...

I got the part from a local car place and the stealership will fix for 80$ ... so technically it is getting fixed for 280CAD ...

Thanks for all the help... I might have to replace the driver side now cause its shaking sometimes ... the stealership was in there playing and i know they messed something up...

Scorpiate · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:49 am

I just noticed you guys are saying to go with remaned CVs over new ... why?

The part I ordered was the same number as the dealership first quoted me, but I got it from a local car place for $70 less... I later found after reading the other posts that based on the part number it was a "new" CV (663352)... what is the difference?

oldMountainMan · **Posted:** Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:06 pm

Wouldn't dropping the front diff negate a lot of the benefit of the lift? I haven't lifted my liberty, and the biggest problem I've had when 4-wheeling is dragging the front diff.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:39 pm

you're talkin about 2 grand to drop the front diff 2"

you can replace alot of cv's for 2 grand, of course if you intend to go over 4 inches then you'd have to do something

as for remanned cv's, people have had some pretty rough luck with the "New" cv's being the wrong lengths, the remanned cv's are actually the "correct" part hince the remanned status

VoodooMann · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:26 pm

the purpose of dropping the diff is to allow for more lift for larger tires.

people do it on other 4x4 rigs all the time, the extra lift you can get from larger tires will always be countered by the diff drop though

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:40 pm

How are you dragging your front diff while off-roading? That thing sits up in there. No skid?

Front diff drop kits

Who is online