drive shaft rebuild

[65fj40]

I tried to find some info on rebuilding drive shafts but no luck on here, can anyone point me in the right direction,also how long can you drive with the u-joints bad, can they just fall apart while driving?

 

[fourwd1]

You can drive a while with a bad u-joint, bad it can get to the point it'll self destruct and that end of the DS will fall out

 

[Curse]

I noticed the rear of my Tcase started leaking onto the driveshaft today, which is odd because the truck hasn't driven for about 2 months now.

I did have a slight wobble around 42-45 MPH, could it have been that u-joint and hence the slight damage to the t-case?

 

[yarosig]

I drove on a worn out U joint on my Jeep and it caused me alot of trouble, bam on the highway. I had to drive home in fwd and take out my rear driveshaft( That I later found out got warped yokes because of the u joint. The point is, don't do it, they cost 15 bucks at your local auto parts, dont cheap out on it.

 

[teapot]

To answer you ?'s, it would help to know where you live. fourwd1 is right and driving it that long can also create damage to t-case as it happened to Curse. yarosig waited way to long to replace his on his jeep and look what happened. I would go to the parts dealer and buy a new u-joint and replace it, it takes about 20 min. Good luck

 

[LeftCoast]

Best of luck to you if the front of the rear shaft falls at high speed...

 

[yarosig]

It was actually my third day after it started squeaking.

 

[beatdown83fj60]

I know this sounds like a joke but if the front of the rear shaft falls apart it can catapult a vehicle. If you've been driving with a bad ujoint for a while it could have very well wasted the rear output bearing in the t-case. Just because it started vibing a few days ago doesn't mean that it hasn't been bad for quite some time if you haven't checked it. I'd replace them immediately, the cost of a u-joint is nothing compared to one coming apart on the highway. It can trash your gas tank, catapult you, or potentially fly out from behind the vehicle and hit another motorist. Then you'll need a new driveshaft, ujoints, and probably a lot of other things.......

 

[65fj40]

all points well taken, and thank you for all the input,, as I just put in a SYE kit in my X-CASE. I never checked my DS. anyways i pulled it out and tried to take it apart...OMG!! APITA !!!... so my buddy who has a press is ganna takle it. my question is there is some sort of ball,joint thing in the middle of the CV joint. what is this and where can I get a new one, I know my DS is from 79-85...but dont know exactly. so is there a diff in those years?