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busted driveshaft?

StylerG

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Oklahoma City
Driving home from a run with the jeep on the trailer and have a question.
Was on a muddy trail and the front end was spinning then made a loud pop. Tires will still spin but front end pops, clunks and makes all kinds of noise. Tires occasionally lock up but if you give it some gas it will pop and continue to spin. Specs on the front end are 4.56's tru-trac in a d30 with 32's. Sounds like the tru trac exploded on me, but my front driveshaft could be giving me the same symptoms right? I'm wondering about the slip yoke busting in it because the grease zerk fitting ring-whatever that collar is called, is able to freely spin if I twist it which I know shouldn't happen. Any ideas on this while I'm driving? Does is sound like the driveshaft would be toasted with the symptoms I have?

Forgot to add, axle ujoints look fine, driveshaft ujoints look fine and the driveshaft seems to be bound, you can't even wiggle it for ujoint play
 
Last edited:
^yep

I take it you never blew out a constant velocity shaft on a FWD car? ;)

Good news man!

Time for the D44s!
 
Well I don't like the sound of that!!! Ring and pinion has 2 runs on it that's why I have some reservations about it. Still can't figure out the grease collar on the driveshaft and why it would be spinning
 
ring and pinion TOASTED after two weekends of wheeling...on 32's none the less oh well. Still am confused on the driveshaft though-is it normal?
 
The ring and pinion was done by a ASE master mechanic, Motive brand with a proper break in (actually had to drive it on the street some for the break in ha).

I ordered a new one up today-they asked that i send it in for a possible warranty. Dont know the likelihood of that happening but at least they want to look at it.

Now i have some more questions...First-ive read that i could remove the carrier, pull the ring gear and be able to drive it for the next week with the driveshaft removed. Would i be alright to do this?

Second question is how will i know if my tru trac is busted up on the inside or not? Obviously when i pull it all i should be able to tell-but i cant order parts until i know which would be another benefit to pulling the carrier and removing the ring gear.

Third is simply any ideas on how this happened? I have a ruffstuff cover which i thought would help with deflection and housing flex, i wasnt beating the absolute crap out of it? I was in reverse and when i reordered the gears they said the tru trac is weak in reverse...and my wheels were turned. If all those factors add up i could have just had a really unlucky break but i want to make sure i have all bases covered for the future. Once again im only running 32's
 
Yes, you can do that. You could also pull the driveshaft and the locker and be fine.
 
... good point. :dunce: I guess you could throw a stock carrier in, minus the ring gear. Really you just want something for the shafts to ride on so they aren't resting solely on the seals and chewing them up + leaking any remaining gear lube everywhere. Assuming you still have a stock carrier and the bearings set up for your housing it should probably be OK I would think.
 
You can pull your axle shafts and run some short side shafts or pull the short side shafts from you existing axles.
 
i will get some photos

im not overly concerned with driving it around while its not fully put back together-just sold my wifes car and havent found a new one for her yet so i want a way to get somewhere if i need to. Sounds like pulling the ring gear off will be the best option-it allows me to check the tru trac, axle shafts and everything while im in there.

What are my chances of being really close on the gear install if i use the same shim setup that it currently has? Thinking that i might get some help and try and tackle it myself since its just replacing-but i could be quickly advised not to.
 
i will get some photos

im not overly concerned with driving it around while its not fully put back together-just sold my wifes car and havent found a new one for her yet so i want a way to get somewhere if i need to. Sounds like pulling the ring gear off will be the best option-it allows me to check the tru trac, axle shafts and everything while im in there.

What are my chances of being really close on the gear install if i use the same shim setup that it currently has? Thinking that i might get some help and try and tackle it myself since its just replacing-but i could be quickly advised not to.
You might be O.K. with the original shims but make sure you get a good pattern and check that the backlash is correct. If they are not right then you basically have to do a full gear setup.
 
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