My drive shaft slip cover -aka plastic / rubber boot has broken and slid back revealing the slip part of the drive shaft. My mechanic says he has seen this before on other JKs. Has anyone found a fix for this other than taking the whole drive shaft off?

 

Cut the rest of it off.

 

There is no fix beyond replacing the driveshaft. There are a ton of threads on this issue.

The good news is that you can likely drive months as it is without looking for a replacement stock shaft or getting an aftermarket shaft.

 

New driveline! They don't make repair kits for the drive line yet

 

you will be fine like this for a while but ultimately, the only real fix is to replace it with an aftermarket u-joint style shaft as others have stated.

 

I'd just replace it with an aftermarket one. Or look on CL for a stock one

 

I am guessing you have an auto transmission? I just found that I have the same problem. I changed mine because there is a chance the stock DS could damage the transmission pan. My new shaft was 500.00!.....for me it was the pay now or pay later program....I decided to pay now.

 

Yes, I have an auto. $500 is out of my price range for a repair/replace. The "OK for a few months" things sort of worries me. There has got to be a cheeper alternative. I hear they dont even sell the part. You have to buy the whole new drive shaft.

BTW - How do you like your RubiCrawler?

 

The 'cheaper' alternative is to buy a used stock shaft that someone took off after upgrading. But guess what? It is another stock shaft, and you will just tear that same boot again.

You need a narrower driveshaft.

As others have mentioned, that joint just allows the two halves of the driveshaft to slide in and out when you flex. Keep it greased as best you can, and you can continue driving on it. (this is assuming you are not flexing enough that the driveshaft is bashing in the side of your tranny pan!!)

The joint at the tcase end is the one you need to watch out for.

 

I really like the rubicrawler, it is very versatile and gives you the best of both world's. I also like to have a low range in 2 WD. I think you will be fine with your DS, keep it greased and limit extreme wheel travel to protect your transmission pan.