Sinking Creek 4WD Association

I have a really annoying squeaking somewhere in the front end of the jeep. I'm thinking it might be the u joints or maybe the CV joint on my front drive shaft. How would I pull the front driveshaft, and if the sounds stops after I do that what all is involved in rebuilding it?

Its easy to pull. 4 bolts at the axle end to take the straps off the yoke and 4 (8mm maybe) bolts up at the t-case on the backside of the yoke. You would do well to have either a small 1/4" drive ratchet or a ratcheting wrench for them, otherwise you may need to drop the skid plate to get at them.

Rebuilding a cv driveshaft is a PITA but not that hard. Some of us would be happy to walk you through it if you want to (and if that proves to be the problem). If its u-joints in the axle (i.e. if the sound doesn't stop when you pull the shaft) they are significantly easier and cheaper.

I will be around my house later on today working on my shit and will be happy to show you what needs to be done to drop the driveshaft out if you want to stop by, just shoot me a text.

Alright awesome. I really appreciate it. How dangerous is it to drive with the squeaking? I really don't want my centering ball to seize and tear open my tcase like I've seen happen to 2 other people.

InvertChaos wrote:Alright awesome. I really appreciate it. How dangerous is it to drive with the squeaking? I really don't want my centering ball to seize and tear open my tcase like I've seen happen to 2 other people.

I would do this sooner rather than later. Like within a week if you can, just try not to drive on it too much, and not above 40mph

Jay12 wrote:

InvertChaos wrote:Alright awesome. I really appreciate it. How dangerous is it to drive with the squeaking? I really don't want my centering ball to seize and tear open my tcase like I've seen happen to 2 other people.

I would do this sooner rather than later. Like within a week if you can, just try not to drive on it too much, and not above 40mph

Yeah I don't really want to rip my tcase open like you did. Will and I are pulling the ds tomorrow.

Did pulling the front shaft do anything?

Yeah I drove around pretty hard yesterday an the squeak never ccame back confirming it's the front driveshaft. So that means it's either the CV joint or the u joint. I guess there is no way to tell which one it is without replacing one is there?

InvertChaos wrote:Yeah I drove around pretty hard yesterday an the squeak never ccame back confirming it's the front driveshaft. So that means it's either the CV joint or the u joint. I guess there is no way to tell which one it is without replacing one is there?

u- joints are cheap if you want to replace those first
http://www.northerndrivetrain.com/produ ... -785X.html

Jake picked up some Moog 1310 U-Joints from and those looked to be pretty nice. Around 15 a piece. It could be the single u-joint at the axle but I would put more money on the CV on the t-case being an issue. What is the mileage?

It just rolled past 81000 mi the other day. I guess it's about time for things to wear out.

Take the CV double carden apart, clean, inspect, re-lubricate the parts, replace the 3 ujoints, and reinstall the shaft. If the CV parts are not damaged, you will be good to go. My Bronco had a CV rear shaft and I had one break on me. I got another from a pick and pull that was in rough shape, I rebuilt it, and got 20,000 problem free miles from it before I parked the truck.

Got a new u joint to see if that's the issue first before I mess with the CV joint. Would anyone be willing to teach me how to swap it out? I'd really like to have 4wd before Potts

You probably should be able to determine which u-joint is bad by articulating the shaft to see if an of the caps are seized or sticky. Also, if you are careful, you can inspect the needle bearings in two of the caps of the axle end. If you bring it to the meeting tomorrow, I can help you out with it. We can do a tech session or I'll help you after the meeting.

BadAssEddie wrote:You probably should be able to determine which u-joint is bad by articulating the shaft to see if an of the caps are seized or sticky. Also, if you are careful, you can inspect the needle bearings in two of the caps of the axle end. If you bring it to the meeting tomorrow, I can help you out with it. We can do a tech session or I'll help you after the meeting.

Just saw this, I'm completely swamped with work today so I can't make it to the meeting. Wish I would have saw this earlier so I could make time!