I just posted a thread about replacing my pinion ring because my gear oil is leaking bad out of it, but I went outside and got under my Jeep and my driveshaft can be moved by hand up and down. Here's a video of it I just took to try to help clarify. Ummm wtf am I supposed to do about this?

 

Wow. Looks like the pinion yoke is way loose. I am thinking that is your front axle? You would need to take if off to replace your pinion seal anyway. How long has it been like that? I wonder if there is any damage to bearings and races if ran like that for very long.

Other thoughts ?

 

Yeah, that's my front axle. I have no idea how long it's been like that, I didn't even think to see if it was loose until tonight.

 

Yeah, but I don't think the driveshaft should be moving around like that. I can move it by hand up and down and turn it. I tried to undo those four bolts and the damn thing kept turning and the bolts wouldn't ever pop loose

 

Pinion nut not torqued correctly, or loosened up?

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...ation-write-up

 

In step 4, I couldn't remove the bolts because the driveshaft kept turning

 

mine was doing exactly what yours is doing in that video. Just had this fixed today, and boy was it expensive. They had to replace all the bearings, new crush sleeve, seals.

What had happened in my case was my front drive shaft was frozen, meaning the two half's were not sliding in and out as the axle moved up and down. because of this the drive shaft pounded into the pinion every time the axle needed the drive shaft to collapse and shorten, but because it could not it ended up over crushing the crush sleeve around the pinion and that's what allowed for the play and the damaging of the bearings and seal.

i have also heard that if left unchecked for to long there is a chance that the housing itself can be damaged and then the entire axle would need to be replaced.

if your jeep is lifted it really needs aftermarket shafts that have the correct length to compensate for the lift height. otherwise you'll just cook through your factory drive shaft and end up damaging your pinion.

 

Well that freaking sucks. I'm taking the Jeep to a shop in the morning. Hopefully it's not expensive. I'm keeping my fingers crossed


Katelyn

 

Pull the driveshaft until you get it looked at? The flange will still be spinning, but at least the driveshaft and tcase won't be in the loop.

 

When my Jeep is in 4lo it's been making some weird sound. Maybe these two problems have something to do with each other?