I bought a 2016 with a 2.5" lift last year. The jeep spends most of its time on the road, with an occasional trip through a pasture to a fishing hole. No rock climbing, mudding, or anything flexing the suspension significantly.

Last weekend, while driving down the interstate at about 75 mph, the front driveshaft pulled out of the CV at the transfer case. I don't think I've ever seen a CV fail like this.

This is my first jeep, and I read through the newbie Q/A pinned in this thread, and it sounds like the general recommendation is for a lift 3" or more I should get a driveshaft with a double cardin u-joint at the transfer case. I have spent more time with cars, and my experience is that CVs tend to run smoother at highway speeds, and are more forgiving of pinion angle. But I'm not sure if that is true here or not.

I have three questions:

• Do I need a driveshaft with cardin joints at the T-case if I am only running a 2.5" lift and spend most of my time on the road.
• Any recommendations on where to get a driveshaft and which manufacturers I should be looking at?
• Has anyone else seen this before? The driveshaft just pulled out of the CV. I'm not sure how the shaft is typically retained in the joint, but I guess I would have expected a catastrophic failure of some kind. Aside from a torn boot, I wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

 

I've seen this 1 time, but not while in motion. The situation I saw it was due to ripped boot over the splines, things got little rusty, had to compress the DS to get it off the pinion to regear and when got it all hooked back up right as putting it in gear the DS fell right out of the CV joint. It was defeating due to the time of night but really funny at the same time.

Anyhow, most aftermarket DS you will find out there for your jeep with be double cardan. It never makes much sense to me cuz a single u-joint driveshafts seem to be what logic would say is best in our application due to the built in caster dealing with on the factory axle. Regardless, most are running a DC shaft. You can also do the high-angle CV that Teraflex sells. That might be the option you like best given your use.

Sometimes driveshafts are cheaper at a local gear & axle shop, sometimes cheaper to buy online. Certainly nothing special about them. If you go with a new shaft, I'd just get one that mates to your existing pinion flange rather than replacing that with a yoke.

 

I found Tom Woods and Adams Driveshafts online. Are either of those recommended? My son will be using this Jeep as his daily, so while I don't want to spend money unnecessarily, I also don't want to worry about it leaving him on the side of the road like it did me.

 

Adams would be perfectly fine for that use. Tom Woods is a great company but typically going to be bit more expensive. Adams will offer a model that bolts up to the factory pinion flange, and that is what I would get. There is really no reason to have to open the can of worms with replacing that for a yoke. Installing the yoke on the TC side is no big deal, but installing a yoke on the diff side certainly leaves that door cracked since you're removing and re-installing the pinion nut to do so.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback. I will give Adams a call, today.

I appreciate the info!

 

Just to expand on what Resharp says there is one thing to consider is the existing yoke and adpter to U-joint type shaft will leave the yoke out further away from the diff housing than replacing the yoke with a u-joint style which makes the u-joint closer to the diff housing and exerts less twisting forces - not a big deal though with the V6 or low 355HP V8 like mine. I removed the pinion nut and yoke, replaced the seal and torqued it back up to 115lbs/ft2 so as not to crush the sleeve any further (big problem if you do) and used blue loctite left overnight to dry and no issues over 2 years later. I also staked the locking edge of the pinion nut with a center punch in a couple of places.

 

it could be 6 one way half a dozen the other. I'm not going to disagree at all that the u-joint is a bit further back if you mount right to the pinion flange, but could also argue that the pinion flange is stronger than a yoke AND you're not having to mess with the pinion nut......and getting the pinion nut not tight enough is just as much of a problem as getting it too tight. it's a pick your poison thing. People change to yokes everyday, and also replace pinion seals, so it's not a big deal, though I can tell you from experience that anytime you remove that pinion nut there is opportunity for something to not be ideal. I've removed a pinion nut before only to realize a few threads on the pinion were boogered up by whoever did the regear. No freagin clue how that happened but try fixing that problem easily.