Went under the Jeep after hearing a clicking noise upon acceleration from a stand still. Grabbed the front custom driveshaft and it found that it would rotate, back or forth, about a quarter turn when I twisted it by hand. The Jeep was in 2 wheel drive when I tested it.

Is this normal?

 

nope, not unless the front wheel were jacked up. The connection to the wheels through the front diff is permanent, if it spun with the wheels grounded than thats not good.

 

I just checked my stock shaft and turns maybe about 1/16 of a turn - 2WD also.

 

. Have you had gears done recently?do you have a front auto locker? That amount of Play is only normal if you have an auto locker, Aka Aussie, Lockright, etc.

 

I totally missed the quarter turn part, I thought you were suggesting it was freely spinning.....


I have no idea how much tolerance there is to them normally though, checking mine now.....

 

Mine doesn't spin much at all, less than a quarter inch....in 2wd

 

I see you have 5:13's installed.
The lower the gears (numerically higher) the more apparent the total backlash will be.
With the tranny in neutral, parking brake on, see how it compares with the rear drive shaft. The rear will probably be a lot less.

My hunch is, the 1/4 turn on the front is too much.

 

Hmmm...it is a new custom shaft, but I will have some buddies check it out and get their thoughts also. Maybe what I think is a quarter turn may be much less.

Gears have been in for 1/2 year. Maybe I will move stuff around in the rear of the Jeep. I have the OEM locker. Will try ronjenx idea in the morning.

Maybe the sound I am hearing are tools or the HiLift moving as I accelerate.

 

Being accurate when describing symptoms is essential.

 

Mine moves about 1/4 inch either direction. 5.13 gears. Did the same thing when stock.