Xjriding

I have a 98 xj 4.0, my slip yoke has some play in it and it's causing it to clunk for about 2 seconds ever time I accelerate from a complete stop only, then the noise goes away. It's almost like once it gets enough speed it aligns it self or something. I replaced the bad U-joints and greased the slip yoke and still making the clunk noise when taking off. I removed the front drive shaft to replace the front U-joint and when I put it back the slip yoke became loose, but before this it wasn't making any noises. I believe it's a Spicer driveshaft with the double cardan and slip yoke eliminator. Any ideas on how to fix it? Can I just replace the front yoke or do I have to replace the whole drive shaft? Here's a link to a video of a driveshaft that's has the same problem as mine but mine has less play. Hopefully I can just replace the front joke since money is tight. I was thinking of sliding off completely the front yoke and making some kind of o-ring to keep the yoke tight, since it's not too bad yet it where it's causing vibrations. Any suggestions would be appreciated thanks. Link
https://youtu.be/7vcyjThL_Ao

andrewmp6

Do you have any kinda lift on the jeep ?

Xjriding

I bought it already lifted but I think it's about a 4 inch lift, I'll try to post some pics soon. Even thot he driveshaft angels don't look so bad, I'm gonna do a 1 inch TC drop this week to see it if helps. I noticed that when the yoke is alil more extended out it has no play at all, I'm wondering if I can somehow make it stretch out alil more and give it a try.

4.3L XJ

A lift on a 98 will move the yoke out too far on the tail shaft of the tcase. Thus, they can and usually do get a wobble. The only real cure is to change over to a slip yoke eliminator.

Cane

unless i didn't understand correctly he either already has a SYE and uses a front driveshaft or he's talking about his front driveshaft and the slip yoke he refers to is probably the slip joint.

i've had a similar play in my front driveshaft, I simply got another one from the junkyard, cleaned it, made sure it had no play at the slip joint and swapped it under the jeep. it's 8 8mm bolts to unscrew and 30$ at the yard, not really an expensive or labour intensive job, so I wouldn't start trying to fix your driveshaft.

once the slip joint has a play, usually it's toast (or at least one of the two parts of your driveshaft is) what you can do is disassemble it and try to match another piece of a driveshaft to see if it fixes it, but you'd have to get a driveshaft for that anyway, so might aswell save the work and swap the whole thing. here's a pic of what it looks like when you take it apart

Xjriding

The transfer case would be on the left side of the pic, this is the front driveshaft and yes it already has a sye.

Xjriding

I believe I found the problem, I think it's the slip yoke seal that is bad. In the pic you can see on the bottom part of the seal where some of the rubber seal is coming out. What do you guys think? Here is the seal I believe I need replace

Cane

the seal does what a seal is built for, keeping the grease in an dirt out. it doesn't affect whether or not there is play.

i already explained what you should do.

Xjriding

@cane my bad I did not see ur post I guess I got too excited when I thought I had found the problem. So I took off the front driveshaft and drove it without it and it's still making the clunk noise when I start accelerating then goes away. I found some play where the TC connects to the front driveshaft. It separates about 1-2 mili meters from TC, it spins fine with no noises. It has a 28 mil nut in the middle of the yoke should I try to tighten it or is this play normal? Sorry I'm learning as I go and thanks for your guys input.

Cane

no problem, i was in the same boat not long ago. i also have a little play at the transfer case front output, my mechanic told me it was somewhat normal and would not cause the issue. replacing the drive shaft did fix it in the end and I stopped worrying about the transfer case.

that being said if it's a big play you have it might be a different story. I think it's the pilot bearing in the rear of the case that might be a little loose, but it doesn't cause any problem.

Xjriding

So i fixed my problem, all I did was drop the transmission 1 inch and everything is running smooth again. The play in the front slip yoke is gone and no more clunk noises. I’m not sure how this fixed it but I been driving it to work for a week and it’s running smooth, all I hear now is the laud *** wind noise the mechanical fan makes lol