Driveshaft help

I was putting on a 4.5 " RE lift on my 98cherokee and i was letting the axle drop after i took off both leaf springs and i heard some nasty like grinding kind of noises and then a loud pop so i stopped to look to see what new thing i busted and I didnt see anything wrong. But that made me worry so i stopped it where it was. My question is can i drop the axle with the stock driveshaft connected or will that break something?

You should probably pull the shaft first. I'm guessing you didn't really hurt anything, probably got the shaft in a bind at the pinion end. The weight of the axle shouldn't break any thing. But I would check the the u-joints just to make sure.

And I will guess you're going to have problems with the stock drive shaft at 4.5 inches. I got my 99 managable with a t-case drop at 3.5 inches, but it still vibrates. Think SYE!

When you drop your axle it helps to have a second jack to support the pinion as you go up and down. Just try to keep the drive shaft and pinion in line. I know on my front axle when stress was put on the joint in the front drive shaft it spewed out its grease.

just remove the driveshaft.... its a whole 5 minutes more but it gets it out of your way and you can pull the axle out from under the rig to make room to fight with the springs....

MontanaXJ said:

When you drop your axle it helps to have a second jack to support the pinion as you go up and down. Just try to keep the drive shaft and pinion in line. I know on my front axle when stress was put on the joint in the front drive shaft it spewed out its grease.

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My front did the same thing (spewed out the grease) when I was putting my new springs on. I regreased it once i got everything back together.

1) Did this do any damage?

2) Do the driveshafts require any type of special grease?

ecrogers said:

My front did the same thing (spewed out the grease) when I was putting my new springs on. I regreased it once i got everything back together.

1) Did this do any damage?

2) Do the driveshafts require any type of special grease?

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Just GP grease.

No, you didn't hurt it. It was just spitting out the grease that it had no room for. At ride height, refill it till grease just comes out the weep hole.