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Is my driveshaft supposed to do this?

J98cherokee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Carolina
Is the front driveshaft supposed to turn a little bit back and forth when the engines off and the jeeps in park? im talkin like half and inch back and forth. The rear doesnt move at all.
 
that usually indicates a worn chain, of course there's a lot more questions I have.
What year and transfer case?
Are you trying to move the front D-Shaft with the t-case in 4wd or 2wd?
in 2wd the front d-shaft isn't hooked up to anything in the t-case, and the diff would let it move about that much. if you're moving it in 4wd then I would take a look at the chain in the t-case, sounds like it may be stretched a bit.
 
langer1 said:
Lets say this a new front diff should be .005" to .008" so .500" is a little loose.

um... that seems like flawed logic. When rotating the driveshaft you stack-up all the tolerences in the axle (backlash, spider gears, axle splines) and all this gets multiplied by the gear ratio. Anyway, that may be a little more than, say a new axle but I don't think it's that excessive especially if it's got some miles on it and/or low gears.

For those that say it's too much, go out and try yours you might be surprised.

My front shaft has probably twice that much slack, but it has a lockright (which adds a lot of slop) and low gears.
 
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