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longest lasting double cardon driveshaft

JEEPS

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Madison area, WI
Hi all,

I have been going through Tom Wood's driveshafts over the past couple years on a couple lifted XJs. I can't believe how fast the double cardon part with the needle bearings wear out. I heard from a guy that sells 4wd parts over the phone that those driveshafts don't last under high speeds or if you don't lube them all the time. This seems to be true with all the ones I have had so I wanted to ask if anyone here had any other brands that they could recommend. I called Tom Woods and they really didn't offer much for anything different and didn't have much to say about my issues with two different XJs.

Has anyone else had these experiences? Has anyone found a longer lasting driveshaft?

I am not saying their aren't issues with other components with my jeep that may cause these to wear faster, I just wanted to see if anyone has had issues with the driveshafts. I need to order a new one now and have to first start with a driveshaft. I hate to order another tom woods if others are having this problem. I am sure this isn't all that common since I don't see a lot of issues floating around with Tom Woods driveshafts. I do love their customer service but maybe for the 80 mph driving I do for hours at a time, their driveshafts might not be the best for me.


thanks for any help,

Jeeps
'00 4.0 5sp XJ 5" lift built for rocks
'01 4.0 5sp XH 5" lift built for smaller rocks
 
I had a Tom Woods shaft on my jeep for about two years. Now granted I ran it through a lot of mud, but I destroyed three centering balls in two years, compared to none on front driveshaft. Now the pin the centering ball rides on is so worn the shaft would slap around.

Also had problems with the splines binding up a lot even though I kept them very well greased (full length spline version). And I managed to tweak the cardigan housing so I swapped on a spicer one from an extra stock front shaft I had.

The one good thing about Tom Woods is his customer service, always sent me the parts I needed at usually half price, very quick responses too.

But I went with Adams Driveline when I did my axle swap, mostly because they're right here in Vegas and I was able to pick them up the day after I ordered them. They seem to be very well built, but give me a couple years to decide if I really like them. Already the one downside I see is they don't have the rubber boot over the splines like the Tom Woods did
 
I heard from a guy that sells 4wd parts over the phone that those driveshafts don't last under high speeds or if you don't lube them all the time.

i call BS on this one.

how many trucks are on the road with DC shafts? like a zillion. how many of those do you think get the driveshaft lubed on a regular basis, even if at all? barely any. and driveshafts exploding on the highway isnt common. many (most even) people 'round here have damn good luck with stock junkyard cherokee front driveshafts. hell, i had one of mine rebuilt by a shop for about 100 bucks and it started causing problems again after about a year, shoved a driveshaft i got from a friend for a beer he picked up from some junker XJ somewhere however long ago and it worked mint for over a year in my old jeep, and i just tossed it under my new XJ last weekend and its still mint.
 
i ran a tom woods shaft on two different tj's for about 4 years. i think i replaced the centering ball two or 3 times in those 4 years.

is the rear ds prone to being smashed on xj's. this will be my first xj i've wheeled. all my experience is with tj's
 
i run exclusively stock xj front shafts with 200k miles on them i find sitting in the mud at junkyards.

They run me $20 to $50 and If i dont break them they usually last me about 20 to 40k miles before either the double cardan wears out or the slip joint wears out.

and in that case i usually have a couple other shafts lying around and i'll put one with a good slip joint and bad DC together with one that has a bad slip joint and good DC and i'll get another 20 to 40k out of it
 
I've been running a stock spicer front shaft for almost 30K miles now, no issues. I drive my jeep on the highway also at higher speeds, it's held up just fine. I paid $15 for it at pull-a-part and it still has the stock centering ball that seems to be in good shape. I don't know man, you might need to track down the issues on your jeep that are wearing out the shafts so quickly. Just my $.02.
 
i call BS on this one.

how many trucks are on the road with DC shafts? like a zillion. how many of those do you think get the driveshaft lubed on a regular basis, even if at all? barely any. and driveshafts exploding on the highway isnt common. many (most even) people 'round here have damn good luck with stock junkyard cherokee front driveshafts. hell, i had one of mine rebuilt by a shop for about 100 bucks and it started causing problems again after about a year, shoved a driveshaft i got from a friend for a beer he picked up from some junker XJ somewhere however long ago and it worked mint for over a year in my old jeep, and i just tossed it under my new XJ last weekend and its still mint.

I am not saying that double cardon shafts are prone to this, I say that Tom Woods shafts seem to be. My factory front shafts last quite a while.

Jeeps
 
would it be more damaging if the rear axle isnt shimmed, or built to run a higher lift. not really experienced with this as im not that high yet, but im going to be when i return to the states. and i sure dont want this trouble either...
 
i've been running a Tom Woods on my 87 for about 4 years. i have not gernaded it but i have had to have the double Cardin rebuilt a couple of times. mine will vibrate over time. all my angles are correct. checked and double checked.a friend of mine who had a local driveline shop also built me one same thing. the center pin would wear and vibrate. i have a couple a junk yard stockers. just fine. no vibrations.
 
Hmmm... I have 100,000+ on my rear Tom Woods shaft and close to that on my front TW shaft. I've only replaced the u-joints at the axle pinnions but never the centering ball or the u-joints in the DC. Maybe mine last because I actually grease them, or maybe they just see easy miles?
 
Centering ball on my TW shaft wore out pretty quick. Don't think I greased it enough, but I really didn't have it on long enough to even think about it. Maybe 6 months?

Been running a stock front shaft from a '95 cherokee for about a year now and the only thing I've replaced on it is a few of the rear yoke u-joints. One of these days I'll rebuild the TW shaft and throw it back in, but for now it just sits as a spare.
 
I eat up rear shafts. I usually bang it on the rocks while wheeling. If your burning through centering balls, you may have a damaged or worn center pin. Measure it and call the driveline shop.
 
4+ years with Tom Woods shafts and if I replace the u-joints once a year I have no issues. I replace the u-joints just for good measure so I have about 6 usable good trail spares.
 
I've got something like 7 years on my woody, grease it regularly and replaced the u joints twice tops.
 
My tom woods shaft is on its third XJ. I think I have greased it twice? Probably 60k on it since I got it used.

Maybe you have other issues. Binding? Over compressing? Abuse?

Even the best parts are only as reliable as the person operating them.
 
So the trend I'm seeing here is people running mud in the midwest and eastcoast have problems with them like I did in Ohio, and people driving in the desert out west don't have an issue. Maybe there's a problem with the seal on the Tom Woods centering ball? I still have a stock shaft and my old Tom Woods shaft under my work bench, I'll check it out when I get back from work tonight. And it's not a greasing issue, when I had mine I was regreasing everything every time I got back from mudding, so about every three weeks.
 
I was thinking maybe Tom Woods might use a seal that doesn't work as well as it could. I know my TW driveshaft is bathed in salt water during the winter. Also, I am running manual transmissions on both of my XJs. :thumbup: I know that shocks the drivetrain a lot more and maybe that throws a bit more wear at it. I go through the rear u-joints as well. I am going to try some different brands of those since they are easy enough to get and change.

I ended up ordering another centering yoke, I will look into the seal a bit when I am rebuilding this one. For 65 bucks I thought I would at least have a usable driveshaft then and start running rear wheel drive again. I really need to grease this thing every couple of weeks I think. I am sure it will last forever of course, I just wondered if anyone had better luck with other brands.

Thanks to those who posted their experiences and gave good info. :D

Jeeps
'00 4.0 5sp XJ built for rocks
'01 4.0 5sp XJ built for smaller rocks
'98 5.9 ZJ
 
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