Is my front driveshaft too short? pic attached

z06elmo · May 23, 2011

Hello All,

I have a 2001 XJ with ~6" lift Low Pinion Dana 30, NP231, 5-speed. I have some vibes on my driveshaft around 50-60mph. It could be out of balance, but i was thinking what if the driveshaft is over extended. Here is a pic of my front drive shaft as it sits with weight on the wheels and on the ground. how many more inches are there left for it to extend? Should i get a longer driveshaft?

twodoorXJ · May 23, 2011

Make sure all the u joints in the drivehshaft are tight, along with the centering ball, and the slip joint.

I would also check that the pinion is tight on the axle, and that the outout on the tcase is tight.

RCP Phx · May 24, 2011

It depends on your lift(you left out the major details).A short arm lift actually collapses the shaft when the suspension is at full droop.My 2000 w/ a LP D30 and LA's only see's 1/8" of yoke travel throughout its entire suspension cycle.

BlueCuda · May 24, 2011

Thats probably not tooo bad. I believe a shaft from an automatic will be a little longer. I at least know there is two different lengths out there. I borrowed one from a friend and it was barely long enough to reack the yoke on my jeep.

z06elmo · May 24, 2011

RCP Phx said:
It depends on your lift(you left out the major details).A short arm lift actually collapses the shaft when the suspension is at full droop.My 2000 w/ a LP D30 and LA's only see's 1/8" of yoke travel throughout its entire suspension cycle.

I'm sorry about that - normally pretty good.
It has a rough country long arm. running about 6" of lift at the moment. I'm how much more extension does it have? if it's currently fully extended, does that effect driveshaft balance?

old_man · May 24, 2011

Looking at the shiney area, it appears that you should not lengthen the shaft by more than about an inch, but it looks fine. I have seen the splines get loose and cause problems. I would pull the shaft and take it to a driveline shop and have them check it out for balance and runout. Personally I wouldn't lengthen it.

z06elmo · May 24, 2011

old_man said:
Looking at the shiney area, it appears that you should not lengthen the shaft by more than about an inch, but it looks fine. I have seen the splines get loose and cause problems. I would pull the shaft and take it to a driveline shop and have them check it out for balance and runout. Personally I wouldn't lengthen it.

Thanks for the response, that's pretty much what i wanted to hear. I'm planning on taking it to a shop over the long weekend.

Is my front driveshaft too short? pic attached

z06elmo

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BlueCuda

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