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front DS slip, loose?

L

little red cheroke

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Nashville TN
the slip in my front DS has a pretty good ammount of play. is this normal?

i have 3" coils and 2"spacers up front. with bumper and time (sag) they net about 4.5". is my DS just to short now? is there something inside the DS that needs fixin? is it something i could do myself or do i need a DS shop to fix it.

sorry i know this has proly been coverd before but im going on a trip next week and need to get this fixed ASAP.

thanks
 
Mine did the same thing...and when I pulled the shaft off the Jeep the splines were 'stuck'. It wobbled back and forth but wouldn't slide together. Was wondering why the front end was getting 'loud' at about 40mph. Replaced it with a decent one from a wrecking yard and all is well. Yes, I maintained that shaft and kept it lubricated. Best I can figure is that I twisted the splines a little, causing it to bind inside the slip. $12 for the shaft, $14 for a new ujoint on the axle end. Oh, and I'd assume your shaft should be long enough for your amount of lift. I've not heard of one being too short unless a guy had arms that were adjusted so long it moved the axle forward.
 
What year jeep do you have? If you have a low pinion dana 30 (years 00-01), check your pinion angle. If you pinion angle is off by more than a few degrees, it will eat through drive shafts. Just a thought.
 
Ben H said:
What year jeep do you have? If you have a low pinion dana 30 (years 00-01), check your pinion angle. If you pinion angle is off by more than a few degrees, it will eat through drive shafts. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that too. :)

Post vehicle specs when asking tech questions. :)
 
Then that is most likely the reason for the drive shaft play. Get the pinion angle correct before you put a new shaft on. At that height it is going to be a real pain to get the castor and pinion angle to be decent. At 4.5" of lift you will more than likely have to sacrifice one or the other. I would sacrifice pinion angle for now and get a couple driveshafts at the junk yard. The only way around this is dropping in a HP dana 30 or turning the knuckles on your current dana 30 (or upgrading to a dana 60 :D ). If you sacrifice your castor angle to get a better pinion angle, it may drive good for a few months. But eventually if not immediately your steering and components will start to wear out and become really loosy goosy.
 
Ben H said:
Then that is most likely the reason for the drive shaft play. Get the pinion angle correct before you put a new shaft on. At that height it is going to be a real pain to get the castor and pinion angle to be decent. At 4.5" of lift you will more than likely have to sacrifice one or the other. I would sacrifice pinion angle for now and get a couple driveshafts at the junk yard. The only way around this is dropping in a HP dana 30 or turning the knuckles on your current dana 30 (or upgrading to a dana 60 :D ). If you sacrifice your castor angle to get a better pinion angle, it may drive good for a few months. But eventually if not immediately your steering and components will start to wear out and become really loosy goosy.
Click to expand...


why is that?

what year/model did the HP come with 3.55 gear?
 
Low pinions came in 2000 and 2001 xjs (maybe some late 1999s not sure). Before that all dana 30s in xjs were High Pinion...(early models had the disconnect axles). If it had the 4.0 and and automatic it will more than likely have 3.55 gears. You can find these cheap for around $100 if you look in your local craigslist or on one of the jeep forums. Check out you local junk yards there is surely a HP dana 30 around. Try to get the non disco with larger u joints.

Loose steering applies to all stock and any after market with tie rod ends. It will eventually cause premature wear on you tie rod ends. It will also cause shi*ty steering immediatley if your caster angle is below 4 degrees.

The control arm tab from rusty's wont fix your caster. Turning your knuckles is the only way to really fix it (but it would be a lot cheaper and less effort to find a HP dana 30 to replace your LP).

This is not an emergency fix, it can be lived with (I did for a year, I had good castor, but went through 3 driveshafts). Just choose your battle, caster or driveshaft angles
 
Last edited:
No. You have a standard rotation unit. The HP is a reverse rotation. Different gears all together.
 
The ring and pinion are different, the shafts will swap. I put a '92 HP 30 on my 2000 when I installed 4.11 gears, true trac and WJ outer ends. The later model shafts are the best stockers anyway.

Angus
 
Ben H said:
Low pinions came in 2000 and 2001 xjs (maybe some late 1999s not sure). Before that all dana 30s in xjs were High Pinion...(early models had the disconnect axles). If it had the 4.0 and and automatic it will more than likely have 3.55 gears. You can find these cheap for around $100 if you look in your local craigslist or on one of the jeep forums. Check out you local junk yards there is surely a HP dana 30 around. Try to get the non disco with larger u joints.

Loose steering applies to all stock and any after market with tie rod ends. It will eventually cause premature wear on you tie rod ends. It will also cause shi*ty steering immediatley if your caster angle is below 4 degrees.

The control arm tab from rusty's wont fix your caster. Turning your knuckles is the only way to really fix it (but it would be a lot cheaper and less effort to find a HP dana 30 to replace your LP).

This is not an emergency fix, it can be lived with (I did for a year, I had good castor, but went through 3 driveshafts). Just choose your battle, caster or driveshaft angles
Click to expand...


will all the non disconects have the larger u-joints?
 
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