I have about five inches of lift on my 99 cherokee, and am in need of new u joints for my front drive shaft. I know u joints are not a big deal to do, but is it worth doing or should I just upgrade my front drive shaft to something else considering how big the lift is? Any suggestions on what to do or what yall have done in the past would be helpful.

 

I'd just rebuild it, it'll cost around $75 & a hour of your time if you do it yourself. You will be fine at that height. I have about 5 inches of lift, long arms & 35s.

 

Fair enough, thanks for your input, that is what I will do.

 

I went to Tom Woods........$325 to my door IIRC.

Real DS.........not a ujoint on a stick.

 

Rebuilt mine also just use good joints, I'm at 4 1/2"'s and on 35's for off road.

 

Glad you have that much cash to throw in your XJ. I'll keep my stock driveshafts for a while since I have $25 in my 2 spares. The front shaft is protected pretty well since it's a hp. The rear is another story. I run a front shaft in the rear.

If you have a driveline shop in your area you can see if they can make you a thick walled shaft.
A few years ago I checked on one & it was $75. I would start there.

 

Not a matter of throwing cash around........

I got a quote from Furgeson DS for parts to rebuild my OEM shaft with Spicer parts. Furgeson is the only Spicer dealer/builder near me. Quote was $165 which included centering ball/yoke.

For twice the money......$325.......I decided to get a TWs DS. and I got twice the shaft and twice the value.

When I had my rear shaft built by Furgeson.......he said to me......"build it right the first time and install it and forget about it". IOWs his point was that his shaft will outlive my truck.

TWs Gold Seal ujoints come with a lifetime guarantee, if one fails, I send it to them, they repair or replace the entire shaft if failure is do to joint or the shaft itself.

As long as I don't damage the shaft......it will outlive my MJ.


Pay once and forget it. Money well spent.


BTW, the new shaft resolved my vibes after lift, perfectly balanced, smooth, and entirely new.

 

Some places are a waste of money spent like David said the rear is where the most problems happen and there I have a custom made shaft also. The front a built stock unit with spares for both, same for axles I run stock and if something breaks that is where I want it to break, the shear pin so to speak for the gears.


For an all out purpose built Crawler yeah the best driveshaft's I could buy but for my XJ this works fine for me.

 

 

It is a Jeep!