Wranled13

Tried a search, couldn't find what I was looking for. The gears in my rear end of my 09 JK Unlimited are starting the clunk around. Took off the cover and metal chunks fell out. Looks like I need all new gears. My question is, while they are on order, it it OK to drop the rear shaft (as to not screw up anything else in there) and run it in 4wd? How long is that safe to do, if it is safe? I don't want to do it wrong, but if i am going to upgrade gears, I might as well do the front as well, but around the holidays, money is a little tight.

Thanks in advance!

Wranled13

Forgot to mention I am running 35's. Nothing else affecting the drive train.

SiliconTi

The biggest issue is wear and tear on the front axle on pavement. If only a short trip to the repair facility, it should be OK, but I'd not use it as a daily driver that way. I look at it as a last resort solution.

rob_engineer

I agree with this. Back in the 80's my brother had a full size Chevy Blazer with 38" tires. We broke a rear drive shaft U-joint while wheeling. Drove it about 30 miles to get home, but didn't try to go any further than that.

Joe_B

Pulling the driveshaft won't help. Your tires will still be spinning and therefore your shafts & ring gear will be spinning. Either park it or pull your ring gear & drive it around in 4H. Depending on the damage it could get worse & lock up completely destroying the rear.

There's no quick fix for this.

karls10jk

Your front axle is fine to drive around daily, there are no limits in the manual that says you can't drive around all day in 4wd so there's no reason you can't do the same with the exception of the rear shaft pulled.

The previous poster nailed it though- you MUST take the guts out of your rear diff otherwise pulling that driveshaft isn't helping you at all.