Questions About Yukon Free Spin Kit

[FalloutMaster]

So I'm looking at installing a Yukon Free spin kit on my TJ to eliminate my front driveline vibes, specifically the YA WU-07 kit that will retain the stock bolt pattern. I am running a vanco big brake kit with 15" rotors on the front, so I'm wondering if I will need to get the rotors machined to work with this kit? Or should I use the rotors that are included? I've seen some people say the included ones are junk and to just toss them. I also have nitro gear and axle chromoly shafts on the front, which I believe use spicer 760x ujoints, will these stubs work or do I need to use the included stubs and u-joints?

I also have concerns based on the searching I've done on this forum with the quality of the kit...it seems like a lot of people have issues with parts missing or simply being wrong and Yukon does not offer support unless you buy from their overpriced website, so Im not sure if there is a certain place I can order the kit from that will be better? And sadly there really aren't any other free spin kits left on the market so I'm stuck with this one. I just want to get my jeep back on the road and I thought these kits were pretty much plug and play but after reading on here it seems like it might be a big headache. Just looking for advice from anyone running this kit. Thanks guys!

 

[jjvw]

Mine has the older Warn version small hub kit. The existing rotors need to be opened up to fit the new wheel bearing. The Vanco calipers also will need a small spacer to locate them to the new rotor position.

@mrblaine knows the specifics.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

See if you can't fix the vibration first, manual hubs are an expensive option to install. The first thing I'd do is remove the front driveshaft, or at least disconnect it up front and support it so it won't fall down, as a diagnostic to see if the vibration stays or goes away. Maybe it's just an out of balance front driveshaft.

 

[mrblaine]

So I'm looking at installing a Yukon Free spin kit on my TJ to eliminate my front driveline vibes, specifically the YA WU-07 kit that will retain the stock bolt pattern. I am running a vanco big brake kit with 15" rotors on the front, so I'm wondering if I will need to get the rotors machined to work with this kit? Or should I use the rotors that are included? I've seen some people say the included ones are junk and to just toss them. I also have nitro gear and axle chromoly shafts on the front, which I believe use spicer 760x ujoints, will these stubs work or do I need to use the included stubs and u-joints?

I also have concerns based on the searching I've done on this forum with the quality of the kit...it seems like a lot of people have issues with parts missing or simply being wrong and Yukon does not offer support unless you buy from their overpriced website, so Im not sure if there is a certain place I can order the kit from that will be better? And sadly there really aren't any other free spin kits left on the market so I'm stuck with this one. I just want to get my jeep back on the road and I thought these kits were pretty much plug and play but after reading on here it seems like it might be a big headache. Just looking for advice from anyone running this kit. Thanks guys!

We have all the issues solved so far with all of Yukon's quality control which means there is a path to being headache free. It comes at a price but at least we are not dependent upon Yukon any more. If you buy the kit from Quick Performance directly and tell them you are working with me, they will pull the bearing hubs and check them for run-out. The last 3-4 we have used had hubs with 5-8 thou run-out at the edge. That translates into way too much at the edge of the rotor. They trued them up since they have a machine shop. There is no charge for the work but you pay more upfront over what you can buy the same kit from them on Amazon for. You want less than .005 run-out at the edge of the rotor.

The kit is plug and play if you are stock up front. The rotor you have will need to be opened up and then the stud holes need to be checked for diameter to see which lug stud works. We do that quite often and can easily do it for you or get in touch and I'll walk you through all of it and help you get it correct. If we do it, there is no additional charge except for whatever the machine shop charges and we don't mark that up. If you want it all pressed together, bearing races, lug studs etc. we charge for an hour of press time.

You will keep the alloy inners you have and just swap in the generally included new Spicer u-joints.

 

[Sudo]

@mrblaine

YA WU-08​

Does the above apply for the
YA WU-08 spin free kit as well?

Any other details to share on specifics to get this larger kit to work more or less plug n play?

​

 

[mrblaine]

@mrblaine

YA WU-08​

Does the above apply for the
YA WU-08 spin free kit as well?

Any other details to share on specifics to get this larger kit to work more or less plug n play?

​

We have as many issues with the WU-08. We can help you figure all of them out. I don't get many of them from Quick we would have to wing it there. I do know that it took Yukon about 4 months to fix a set of bad bearing hubs we got if that helps. The other thing that may help is I keep a full kit of each here so I have spare parts to swap in when needed. Along with full sets of 5 different sizes of lug studs to fit their screwed up lug stud holes. But, I also have the reamers if needed to help with that. In other words, they haven't managed to stump us yet.

 

[FalloutMaster]

See if you can't fix the vibration first, manual hubs are an expensive option to install. The first thing I'd do is remove the front driveshaft, or at least disconnect it up front and support it so it won't fall down, as a diagnostic to see if the vibration stays or goes away. Maybe it's just an out of balance front driveshaft.

The only way I can drive it right now is to disconnect the front shaft from the front diff and zip tie it to the frame, drives great with the front shaft disconnected, and then I reconnect it at the trail. Anything beyond 50mph with front shaft connected and it gets a really bad oscillating vibration and it handles really poorly. I dont think it's out of balance, the shaft is pretty new, I had both front and rear made from Adam's Driveshaft a couple years ago. The vibes started after installing a UCF aluminum belly skid, I think it threw my drive-line angle out of whack. I've tried adjusting the front pinion angle several times and it barely improved. So unfortunately I'm pretty sure I do need the spin free kit. Quite frankly I prefer selectable hubs to unit bearings anyway but I understand why Chrysler/Jeep used unit bearings, lack of maintenance was pretty nice until I starting modifying things

We have all the issues solved so far with all of Yukon's quality control which means there is a path to being headache free. It comes at a price but at least we are not dependent upon Yukon any more. If you buy the kit from Quick Performance directly and tell them you are working with me, they will pull the bearing hubs and check them for run-out. The last 3-4 we have used had hubs with 5-8 thou run-out at the edge. That translates into way too much at the edge of the rotor. They trued them up since they have a machine shop. There is no charge for the work but you pay more upfront over what you can buy the same kit from them on Amazon for. You want less than .005 run-out at the edge of the rotor.

The kit is plug and play if you are stock up front. The rotor you have will need to be opened up and then the stud holes need to be checked for diameter to see which lug stud works. We do that quite often and can easily do it for you or get in touch and I'll walk you through all of it and help you get it correct. If we do it, there is no additional charge except for whatever the machine shop charges and we don't mark that up. If you want it all pressed together, bearing races, lug studs etc. we charge for an hour of press time.

You will keep the alloy inners you have and just swap in the generally included new Spicer u-joints.

Thanks for the reply Blaine. I was actually going to order the kit through quick performance anyway since I don't really trust amazon with big purchases like this. So I should shoot them an email after ordering and ask them to check the runout on the hubs/bearings? And regarding the rotors, would I be shipping them to you with the hubs? I am in Phoenix so if there is a machine shop here you recommend I can do that as well. I do have access to a harbor freight 20 ton press so it shouldn't be too hard for me to press the wheel studs in.

 

[mrblaine]

The only way I can drive it right now is to disconnect the front shaft from the front diff and zip tie it to the frame, drives great with the front shaft disconnected, and then I reconnect it at the trail. Anything beyond 50mph with front shaft connected and it gets a really bad oscillating vibration and it handles really poorly. I dont think it's out of balance, the shaft is pretty new, I had both front and rear made from Adam's Driveshaft a couple years ago. The vibes started after installing a UCF aluminum belly skid, I think it threw my drive-line angle out of whack. I've tried adjusting the front pinion angle several times and it barely improved. So unfortunately I'm pretty sure I do need the spin free kit. Quite frankly I prefer selectable hubs to unit bearings anyway but I understand why Chrysler/Jeep used unit bearings, lack of maintenance was pretty nice until I starting modifying things

One of these days, Jerry will actually get to work with someone who has one with the oscillating vibes that can't be dialed out without sacrificing good steering or at all and then he'll finally believe why so many of them exist. I've dealt with far more than I ever want to and they continually astound me with just how much of a royal pain in ass they are.

Thanks for the reply Blaine. I was actually going to order the kit through quick performance anyway since I don't really trust amazon with big purchases like this. So I should shoot them an email after ordering and ask them to check the runout on the hubs/bearings? And regarding the rotors, would I be shipping them to you with the hubs? I am in Phoenix so if there is a machine shop here you recommend I can do that as well. I do have access to a harbor freight 20 ton press so it shouldn't be too hard for me to press the wheel studs in.

QP is usually the seller on Amazon if you look closer. Get in touch via email on the website and I'll send you the info for the guy I order from at QP and explain what to tell him. At the same time, I'll send you a list of parts I need. Lots of folks just drop ship the whole kit to me, I'd rather just get the parts I need from you.

 

[FalloutMaster]

One of these days, Jerry will actually get to work with someone who has one with the oscillating vibes that can't be dialed out without sacrificing good steering or at all and then he'll finally believe why so many of them exist. I've dealt with far more than I ever want to and they continually astound me with just how much of a royal pain in ass they are.

QP is usually the seller on Amazon if you look closer. Get in touch via email on the website and I'll send you the info for the guy I order from at QP and explain what to tell him. At the same time, I'll send you a list of parts I need. Lots of folks just drop ship the whole kit to me, I'd rather just get the parts I need from you.

Sweet, yeah please DM me all the info and I'll reach out to them. I probably wont hear back until Monday since its the weekend. Thanks for the help!

 

[Andy-WhiteTJ]

QP is usually the seller on Amazon if you look closer. Get in touch via email on the website and I'll send you the info for the guy I order from at QP and explain what to tell him. At the same time, I'll send you a list of parts I need. Lots of folks just drop ship the whole kit to me, I'd rather just get the parts I need from you.

Are they coming with the Warn hubs or AVMs?

 

[mrblaine]

Are they coming with the Warn hubs or AVMs?

Per posts on here, whatever stock Yukon had of the out of production Warn hubs is long depleted. They have been shipping with the AVM hubs for quite awhile now.

 

[williambmac]

How is QP so much cheaper than every other supplier selling these kits?

And not to sidetrack the whole hub thing, wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to just swap to a hp30? Think about it, you're installing a lift and 35" tires.
You're going to be doing a regear anyway. A hp30 housing can be had cheap. It should eliminate the vibes all together.
This is assuming said jeep has a lp30 in it.

 

[mrblaine]

How is QP so much cheaper than every other supplier selling these kits?

And not to sidetrack the whole hub thing, wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to just swap to a hp30? Think about it, you're installing a lift and 35" tires.
You're going to be doing a regear anyway. A hp30 housing can be had cheap. It should eliminate the vibes all together.
This is assuming said jeep has a lp30 in it.

Doesn't matter, the axle isn't the problem. The 42, 241, and the 4.0 are the problem. Get those all in a line and they can make your life miserable.

 

[psrivats]

See if you can't fix the vibration first, manual hubs are an expensive option to install. The first thing I'd do is remove the front driveshaft, or at least disconnect it up front and support it so it won't fall down, as a diagnostic to see if the vibration stays or goes away. Maybe it's just an out of balance front driveshaft.

Every time this comes up, you keep repeating the same advice. Given the cost and complexity, folks don't consider a hub kit unless they have exhausted checking all the other stuff. You really don't realize how terrible a problem the persistent harmonic vibes are.

I understand your intent, but please accept the reality that some of these jeeps have this very real problem that's only addressed with the hub kit. I have mentioned this several times and you only seem to ignore it or forget it.

 

[psrivats]

Sweet, yeah please DM me all the info and I'll reach out to them. I probably wont hear back until Monday since its the weekend. Thanks for the help!

I don't think you quite understand what Blaine said. You have to reach out to him (he's very busy) since it's has easier for him that way. Since you have too few posts to send him a private message here, send him a note at the email address listed on the Black Magic Brakes website for him to help you.

 

[williambmac]

Doesn't matter, the axle isn't the problem. The 42, 241, and the 4.0 are the problem. Get those all in a line and they can make your life miserable.

Could you please explain. I thought we were talking about driveline vibrations brought on by excessive angles. Thank you.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Every time this comes up, you keep repeating the same advice.

I could have sworn my advice to him was simply to "See if you can't fix the vibration first" before plunging into manual hubs. What was wrong with that advice??? I'll continue recommending trying to find the vibrations first before deciding to install manual hubs. If the vibrations persist, great, install manual hubs. If the vibrations were, say, only caused by a bent front driveshaft, then he saved a bunch of coin.

The bottom line is that not all front-end vibrations need manual hubs to cure.

 

[mrblaine]

Could you please explain. I thought we were talking about driveline vibrations brought on by excessive angles. Thank you.

Nope, you can dial the caster down to steering like complete crap and the vibes are still present no matter what angle you set the driveline to. We deal with them a fair bit. The procedure is always the same, remove the front shaft and start adjusting rear. The problem rigs start with vibes around 55 and on those, it becomes a compromise to just see how much highway speed you can get with tiny and repetitive adjustments. You keep moving it until you get to the max MPH and when that starts going down, move it back and that's it. We are talking 1/4 turn and less adjustments on DA uppers with a test drive and do it again for hours and hours.

Only when you get that as high as you can do you install the front. I can almost 100% guarantee on those rigs, no front angle will ever work even zero. I've gone from zero up to 3-4 degrees high, shit for caster and that still wouldn't get it close to acceptable. It isn't angle, it is that combination.

Oddly, the 42 doesn't like a high load from under gearing. We sent one out for gears in the middle of trying to dial it in and knocked 80% right out of the vibes with no other change. It still wasn't good enough but the difference in vibes between 3.73's and 5.13's was pretty crazy.

 

[mrblaine]

The bottom line is that not all front-end vibrations need manual hubs to cure.

You have stated your position on this well enough and often enough that you are soft pedaling it a tad with that statement. You've pretty much stated repeatedly that you don't really believe there are the problem rigs that are stupidly difficult to dial out vibes on.

 

[Jamison C]

Nope, you can dial the caster down to steering like complete crap and the vibes are still present no matter what angle you set the driveline to. We deal with them a fair bit. The procedure is always the same, remove the front shaft and start adjusting rear. The problem rigs start with vibes around 55 and on those, it becomes a compromise to just see how much highway speed you can get with tiny and repetitive adjustments. You keep moving it until you get to the max MPH and when that starts going down, move it back and that's it. We are talking 1/4 turn and less adjustments on DA uppers with a test drive and do it again for hours and hours.

Only when you get that as high as you can do you install the front. I can almost 100% guarantee on those rigs, no front angle will ever work even zero. I've gone from zero up to 3-4 degrees high, shit for caster and that still wouldn't get it close to acceptable. It isn't angle, it is that combination.

Oddly, the 42 doesn't like a high load from under gearing. We sent one out for gears in the middle of trying to dial it in and knocked 80% right out of the vibes with no other change. It still wasn't good enough but the difference in vibes between 3.73's and 5.13's was pretty crazy.

Irrelevant to this conversation but curious. Do you see this problem with LJs as well? Or just TJs with the 4.0, 42, 241?

After doing my auto swap, I’m pretty certain my 05 is one of the cursed rigs.