I installed my JE reel front replacement shaft yesterday. There is about 3 1/4inches of splines showing on the shaft when the jeep is just sitting still. Is this a normal amount of spline to be showing? The bottom part that the shaft slides in and out of is only about 6 inches. Just wondering who else on here has the same and if any probs with the shaft overextending and coming apart off-road.

 

Bump, c'mon guys, I know a bunch of you have this shaft.

 

Also, I have my caster set at 6degrees in the frt, but my pinion is not inline with the driveshaft, it is slightly down, but I'm not getting any vibes, this should be ok , right? I just don't wanna throw a brand new $500 DS!

 

I don't have near as much lift as you, but I'd estimate I have about 2" of splines showing. Absolutely no problems off road.

My caster is at 7.1 degrees and the pinion is pointing down a bit.
If it's smooth you're good I'd say!

 

Thanks Edwin! I'm thinkin it should be ok, just was wantin some back up. Seems like they woulda made the bottom part (the sleeve part)of that drive shaft a couple inches longer. Oh well, guess we'll see. I have the 4in Super lift which gave me 5 about in the frt. I also have a 1in bodylift and added 1 3/4 in spacer in the rear for the weight I carry daily, so that's where the 6inches of lift comes in. I told David at Northridge what lift I had on and he sent me the one for 4in lift. Again, I guess it'll be ok.

 

Hi MkJeep, well I changed my rear shaft (Tom Woods) , and I ask the techie what is the normal operation for a shat (I order a custom made for my diesel rig), he told me that the shaft shall have about 1''-1''1/4 of travel back and forth. So if you have these figure or at least if you jack your rig and let go down the axle you should be able to figure the shaft traveling.

 

Thanks, gonna check my travel tomorrow. I'm sure it's gonna be ok with swaybar links on , but disco'd.....

 

The pinion angle is not dependant on driveshaft angle. It's the "working angle" of the u-joint that's important. It has to have enough of an angle to make the caps rotate, but not so much to cause vibration. You can find the working angle by subtracting the pinion angle from the driveshaft angle. As for the splined area, I have no idea. Have you taken the driveshaft apart at the splines to see how long the splined area actually is? 3.25" SEEMS like a lot, but it might not be. Just hard to tell with the computer as the only median. That would be something worth going to the trouble of dropping the shaft, sliding it apart and taking a measurement. At least it would be wirth it for me. That's about all I got.

 

I haven't taken the shaft apart but I did leave question for David at Northridge on the sponsering vendor forum. I did realize that you should never take both lower control arms off without having the pinion and the frame fully supported Had to swap my new TF lowers around, had them installed wrong. The whole jeep squated and the pinion was, well ,pointed down alot. The DS was extended a good bit , but didn't come apart

 

As per Redneck and also David , I dropped the shaft and have 3inches of spline left inside the sleeve, am I good? Corrected measurement on what was out is 3inches, not 3.25, it was dark and my tape measure was crooked Haven't got an answer from david at northridge yet, and figured I'd bump it back to top.