bonmot

Hi. This is my first post here because I'm at a loss. I did a rebuild on my front drive shaft (aka propeller shaft) and as it is now noisier and shakier than before I want to rule out (I hope) the possibility that I screwed up when I reinstalled the shaft. Both ends are secured by six 8mm bolts. On one end the rubber boot is built into the metal disk/shield. On the other end the boot is a stand-alone part and is also the end that can be compressed. Which of these ends should be at the front when reinstalled? Thanks so much for helping out DIY mechanic who means well!

4.3L XJ

Year and model of Jeep, and a pic would be nice. It would help us out a lot and get you a quick answer

bonmot

Sorry about that. 2007 GC Laredo 3.7 gas six cylinder. Below is a picture of the rebuild kit used. Is this for the front of the shaft or the back of the shaft?
Hope this helps and Thanks!

dave1123

IF your driveshaft is like the one on my 2000 WJ, the one with the exposed rubber boot that has a length change feature is the axle end and the one that looks like it goes into a funnel shaped shield is the t/case end.

bonmot

Thanks Dave. I think you've described exactly what I feared. I'm pretty sure I installed it backwards.
I'm an idiot. When I initially removed the shaft I placed it carefully in the correct orientation so this wouldn't happen. I should have snapped a photo
at this point to refer to later but I didn't account for a couple of snags in the assembly of the new joint and an unrelated distraction along the way. By
the time I was ready to reinstall I had lost track of the correct position. I even called the supplier to see if they could confirm the correct placement.
When they said the new part was "for the front", I'm pretty sure they meant it was for the front shaft rather than for the front of the front shaft. A series
of unfortunate events that all could have been averted if I'd just taken 3 seconds to photograph the correct position. Lesson learned.
I'll undo tomorrow morning and update the results here.

Thanks for the help!

bonmot

So I flipped the shaft around. The original noise I was trying to address is still there but the nasty vibration that was caused by the shaft being in backwards is gone.
So now I move on to investigate wheel bearings, axles, etc. But no harm. The CV joint needed the rebuild. The boot was split and the grease was gone so it was ready.

Thanks for the help getting this sorted out.

97grand4.0

Jack up each front wheel and leave the tire on, Spin with a lug wrench. Listen and feel for any clunking or clicking. First suspect is the hub bearing. I had an airplane howl on my xj last week, did this...could hear clicking passenger side, replaced hub, it improved a lot to where I can drive it, but still feel the click on the right wheel.....so now I suspect carrier bearings on the D30. Am also going to look at the front shaft. You should grease the splines on the shaft if it's set up that way, can't recall.

SlikkNikk

Having a bad vibration in my 2002 WJ at 60-80 mph. Do you think the rebuild was worth it or better to buy an entire new Front Drive Shaft. Is your vibration constant or only at speed?

dave1123

It may be out of balance if it's ever been removed. Try removing all the bolts and turning the shaft 2 bolt holes and putting them back in, both ends. You may also have assembled the front axle CV in a different orientation so it's out of balance. Don't overlook the rear shaft as the culprit either. If you've ever gone off-road, check for a bent shaft. It doesn't take much.

bonmot

The rebuild was definitely worth it. $35 parts and even though it didn't solve all my noise issues, it was obviously needed due to cracked boot and
no grease.
Others with more knowledge/experience may weigh in here, but I wouldn't change the shaft unless there was something wrong with it. Mine was okay
except for the joint so I just changed the joint. If a new shaft was inexpensive I might say, "Sure. Why not?" But a new shaft is $300 or more.
The vibration I spoke of was only present when the shaft was installed reversed. The noise I'm still left with might be one or more wheel bearings
OR brake rotors. For the cost of these parts I'm likely going to just replace both. This will save on my labor and it's very likely both are ready.

I followed 97Grand's advice and got a clicking sound on the driver side and a scraping sound on the passenger. Also the passenger side doesn't
spin as freely so I suspect a brake issue here.