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driveshaft problems HELP PLEASE

Silverstreak01

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Hometown, NE PA
i have a 2001 cherokee . 3inch skyjacker 2inch shackels. i recently put a SYE and woods shaft in it. well i didnt tork the rear yoke properly and the rear bearings went. so in goes a new 8.25. i drove it about 600miles and the rear shaft came completly out of were it goes into the rear yoke. sheered 2 of the bolts off. my drive shaft is at like no angle i dont know why im having so much trouble? it was running fine no vibration AT all . any advise beside junk it? haha thanks guys
 
Sounds like the u-joint wasn't seated properly in the pinion yoke, and the imbalance threw it out. What two bolts sheared? On the pinion yoke, on the drivshaft, or what?

I wouldn't call this "so much trouble" since you know the source of the first problem. I'm just having a hard time visualizing exactly what the second one is though.
 
the rear of the drive shaft there were 2 little metal kinda u-shaped brackets that bolts went threw into the yoke that held it on. theres 4 2 sheered right off then the shaft just came completely out
 
You need to call and talk to Tom or Troy. They will be able to give you some ideas of what might have happened. These guys will take care of you.
 
Big Bear said:
You need to call and talk to Tom or Troy. They will be able to give you some ideas of what might have happened. These guys will take care of you.

I agree with Mike, Woody and Troy will help you, but......... using your description of what happened (making some assumptions here), it really sounds to me like the pinion yoke u-joint straps weren't installed properly, or that they'ed stretched to the point of allowing play in the ujoint yoke which caused it to wiggle free and break the bolts. It is recommended that these straps are replaced with new ones everytime they are removed, due to stretching.

A better solution is to replace the cheezy stamped sheetmetal strap with a stronger U-bolt style strap, sometimes this requires a new pinion yoke depending on the model of the rearend, but often one can just drill the holes larger, eliminating the threads so that the ubolt style will slide through the holes. I've performed this mod on Dana rears, not sure about the 8.25 setup.
 
I replaced my front axle in September and had to put a new"Woody" DS in. Apparently I didn't get the ujoint bolted down to the yoke on the tcase and the whole thing fell out on Cliffhanger in Moab. I really thought I had torqued it down well. BUT, you have to rotate the shaft and tighten down the strap bolts a little at a time or you really don't get it down properly. It will work off if you don't. Live and learn!
 
Loctite is your friend:laugh3:
 
thanks for the ideas guys. im probably going to have to drill the sheered off bolts anyway so i should just go a little bigger and use bigger bolts and loctite?. .. they dont make anything stronger then the stamped little metal clips>? thanks for all your help you guys always make it seam not so bad/ its happend to me.
 
Silverstreak01 said:
.. they dont make anything stronger then the stamped little metal clips>? thanks for all your help you guys always make it seam not so bad/ its happend to me.
Yeah they do, those are the yoke straps mentioned earlier. You've got a C8.25, and can drill the threads out of the pinion yoke to use the stronger yoke straps.

You had this type:
p6687.jpg


You want this type:
p6688.jpg

These come in several sizes so you have to match it up to the one that fits your application; I don't have the part numbers with me on that one anymore. The yokes are available through many sources including the "Help!" section at most auto parts stores.
 
Okay, I dug one out of the back of the Jeep. www.motormite.com is friggin' slow so I can't get a part number yet, but here's the measurements:
Center-center across the ends is 1.375"
Inner diameter 1.125"
Height is 2"
0.5" nuts

As mentioned in PMs, the threads need to be drilled out parallel to the existing holes; you only want to clean the threads out without wallowing the holes out too far. Hope that helps.
 
Take the yoke off the Jeep, if you haven't already. Then drill from the back to the front, with a slightly smaller bit than the bolt. With luck the broken bolts will turn out of the yoke. (This is easier than getting a flat spot to use a reverse cutting drill bit coming from the front side.) If your really lucky, or good, you can do this without even damaging the treads in the yoke, so you can either go back to the straps, or drill the holes out more and use the u-bolts.

For the d35 rear I used U-bolts from a company called Precision Universal Joint. Part number 534-10

Sorry I'm not sure if they are the right ones for the 8.25

Edit: a drill press makes keeping everything lined up much easier.

Daryl

Everything I say is full substantiated by my own opinion.
 
I had the same problem. I broke those shaty little parts twice. The part # your looking for is 9458, it is a spicer part. I used a 5/16 bit (if I rember right)to drill out the yoke. You also have to do some grinding on the back of the yoke to make the nuts fit flush with the yoke. I looked in the help section and could not find anything as big that fit. This works great, and I have yet to break it. I think this is the first mod anyone should do to a 8.25. Hope this helps

I posted this after the last few posts were up, and forgot to mention about the drill press. Pretty much a must.
 
Junkxj - availability in the Help section varies; I know I got mine there but they're not always there. As noted above, there are other sources as well though.
 
I am sure it does. The help section at Advance had 3 diffrent yoke ubolt kits, and they were all to small. The parts guy was no help with the sizes, so I opened all 3 in front of him. None of them fit, and I told him if he had helped me in the first place I wouldn't of had to open them. Plus they didn't seem to be as well made as the spicer parts.
 
I have a great relationship with my parts store. When I found mine I had them get me a set of the straps for my XJ, then we got out all the u-bolts they had for u-joints and looked for a u-bolt that fit into the straps. then I took a u-joint and put in the yoke and checked to make sure the u-bolts were long enough to go thru.

But I'm sure most places wouldn't let you open that many boxes and look thru the shelves yourself. :lecture: But it pays to be a loyal custom, especially of a "mom and pop" style of store. :soapbox:

Well it's getting late, I'm worried that I'm not making sense.

Daryl
 
great guys. after all that. How do i torq the rear yoke enough? i dont want to go through another rear because it wasnt torqd properly. i heard jack up the back and torq it till the tires spin? thanks guys

keith
 
No, thats not the right way to do it. If you put a big breaker bar on the pinion nut you can make the tires spin with all the xjs weight on it. It needs to be tourqed to spec. I think it is 150-180. Use a BIG pipe wrench on the yoke to keep to keep it from turning.Good luck man
 
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