Drive shafts and control arms
 

What's up everybody. I recently discovered that I need to run aftermarket drive shafts with my setup (yes I did tear my front driveshaft boot). I have a few questions....first is the usual "what do you recommend?" This Jeep is not my daily driver, however, I will be maiking trips to Arizona and that is where most of my off roading will be done. I plan on doing the usual crawling but also enjoy some runs down washes. Is there a certain type of DS I sould look for for this type of use? Right now I have an 07 x with a 3.5in Rubicon Express standard lift. Will I also need to invest in some adjustable control arms in order to run the drive shaft? Thanks in advance for the info.

Youll rarely NEED adj. control arms. Is it a better option if you want to recenter your axle? YES. It will help in recentering your wheels with-in the wheel well and for adjusting your caster angle. My advice is look around for some used ones, you might get lucky. If not, just pony up the bucks and buy some. Since youre doing the drive to AZ, its best to still have your rig as safe as possible for any 'on-road' conditions.

As for as the drive shaft goes, there are a few good brands out there. Here too, you'll just have to cut a check and buy one before your current one breaks while your hours from home. Check the sponsers page for names and maybe a forum discount.

it looks like my rear drift shaft is going to go soon. im going to either buy a tom woods.. or a coast.. and i plan on getting JKS adjustable control arms.

Control arms will help you dial in your pinion and ds angle. This will help keep vibrations down and possible transfer case issues. As far as ds brands, there a many good options. I think I'm going with Coast when I replace mine in a few weeks.

It seems the way to go if you want control arms is to just start out with lower fronts and upper rears. I've been doing some research on it myself.

there is some really bad information that gets posted on this forum so please hear what i have to say. being that we are talking about your FRONT drive shaft, you DO NOT need adjustable control arms when installing a new u-joint style double cardan drive shaft. assuming you are running 35" tires or there abouts, i would recommend getting a 1310 shaft from a company like coast as they use spicer u-joints as opposed to crappy chinese joints. if you choose to get a shaft of a different make, just make sure to ask for spicer joints - trust me on this.

now, being that you have a 2-door, you will need to get a new REAR drive shaft as well sooner than later as the steep angle your factory shaft is sitting at will fail at the CV boots. again, a 1310 shaft is what you want and, in order to install it, YOU WILL NEED adjustable upper control arms so that you can set your pinion angle. again, this is only for the REAR.

Which components came with the lift? You may have longer 'Fixed' front lowers and adjustable uppers already?

Coast, Tom Woods, JE Reel, Tatton, Teraflex, etc. Just do a little research to see which looks good to you. And regardless of which one you choose, spend a little time on Woods website, lots of good reading in the Tech Info area.

Thanks for the advice everybody....lots of info so far

Thanks for the info...I'll be sure to look into a Coast drive shaft. Would a 1350 be worth the extra cash or is a 1310 good enough? I saw the threads about transfer cases exploding. Is there anything I can do to help prevent this from happening?

You touched on my other question.....if I do buy control arms and keep the components from my current lift, would I need to buy any other suspension components before installing the control arms?

Here is a list of what my lift comes with: The new RE7122/RE7142 Standard lift system provides 3.5 inches of added tire clearance for JK Wranglers. Featuring an adjustable front track bar, front and rear replacement coil springs, front and rear cam bolts for caster and pinion adjustment, bump stops, rear track bar bracket, brake line relocation brackets, and rear extended sway bar end links. The factory control arms and other components are retained.

I know that I will have to take out the cam bolts and fix the holes that were drilled for them.

unless you are running big 37's or bigger and play really hard, 1350 is more than you need and i'd say, save your money. so long as your drive shaft is balanced well and your caster is set at about factory (+4.2°), you should be fine. if you are running 5.13 gears, it is really important that you retain factory caster or just a tad less as your drive shaft will be spinning very fast and that can cause vibrations - what ultimately breaks t-cases.


all you will need to do is remove the cam bolts and fix the slots so that they are square or round holes again. you will not need any other suspension components to run adjustable control arms.

thanks for all of the help....now I just have to research what kind of drive shafts and control arms I want to go with.