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2014 Cherokee Trailhawk with 101k miles. I just had the rear drive shaft replaced last week as one of the support bearings failed. That remedied the scraping noise at low speeds and whenever the 4wd kicked in. But I still have what sounds like a bad wheel bearing with some vibration. I jacked up all the wheels and spun them by hand and they sound normal. Both rear wheel bearings feel okay although they have some play in them, same on both sides.
However, I noticed the left rear half-shaft has a lot on play where it goes into the differential (what chrysler calls the rear drive unit). I can move the CV can up and down about 3/8". How hard is this bearing to replace? Anyone dealt with this?
After starting at diagrams and wiggling it some more, I'm wondering the same thing. There is a about 1/8" in-out play that's not present on the other side, but no side-side play. Looking at the diagrams, there is a really short splined shaft that sticks out of the drive unit case as opposed to the CV shaft inserting into the case. Looking at the design, I'm not surprised there is some angular play there. Is it excessive though? Still hoping that noise is just a wheel bearing or CV as they're fairly easy to replace.
I found the noise and vibration. It completely went away when I swapped on the winter wheels. The summer tires have slight cupping on the outside edges. Probably doesn't help that the front passenger strut looks like it's puked all of its oil. The up-down slop I was feeling in the rear tires was from the suspension, and probably the reason the rear tires have a bit more wear on the inside edge.
So I'm planning to replace front struts, maybe do rear and/or front suspension bushings, then get an alignment.
If you had 1k less miles (the factory powertrain warranty is 5 years/100k miles), I'd say take it in to the Jeep dealer to be looked at/fixed. Although if you just had the driveshaft replaced, I'm sure the work has some sort of warranty to it, so I'd take it back in to wherever you had the work done and have them look at it again.
If you had 1k less miles (the factory powertrain warranty is 5 years/100k miles), I'd say take it in to the Jeep dealer to be looked at/fixed. Although if you just had the driveshaft replaced, I'm sure the work has some sort of warranty to it, so I'd take it back in to wherever you had the work done and have them look at it again.
Dealer wouldn't cover the drive shaft, as I was 700 miles and 5-months outside of warranty. They appealed to Chrylser who refused, claiming their goodwill policy generally doesn't apply unless you were the original owner and a frequent customer. Although I'm not sure the first dealer even called it in, given how much difficulty I had even getting them to call me back. Second dealer was great, price matching the shaft and an hour labor to install.
This is the output of the rear drive unit to the left wheel, so not really related to the driveshaft issue.
05-26-2019, 07:24 PM
Bad rear differential
