In the process of rebuilding my rear drive shaft, and noticed a couple of things odd, and had a couple of questions.
First, I'm working on an 03 Rubicon, and from Denny's Driveshaft, it looks like the rear DS was calling for a qty of two 5-795x (double u-joint at TC side), and a single 5-793x at the diff side. Or at least, that's how I read it. I ordered the parts, and the 5-793x fit perfect, but the 2 u-joints at transfer case appear to be both too big, and have internal c-clips instead of the traditional spring clips. After pulling the old ones out of the trash, the old ones have the characters "SPR 529" on it. Looking into those, they appear to be Spicer 5-1310x u-joints when typing that into google. Weren''t the 1310's used on non-rubicon models?
Second question. With regards to that same double carden joint on the rear DS, the flange (rubi's don't have a yoke on the TC end) that bolts onto the transfer case has a centering ball on it. However, when getting the u-joints apart, I noticed there was no spring between the ball and the post that goes into the ball. Additionally, the ball appeared to be pretty dry and a little loose, which I'm sure was contributing to the noise I as hearing previously, as well as the leaky output shaft seal needing to be replaced. Can that be rebuilt or replaced with readily accessible part numbers? My assumption is that if that flange needs to be replaced (if it even can be separately from the rest of the driveshaft), it'll force me to have the DS rebalanced, at which point, the cost savings melt away.
All in all, I know getting a TW or Adams driveshaft would be the way to go long term and it's on my list for when I've got more $$$, but if I can get it back on the road by this weekend (got a trip planned) with readily available parts, that would be preferable in the short term. Trying to get a family member out on the trails this weekend, so hoping for a rebuild option...
First, I'm working on an 03 Rubicon, and from Denny's Driveshaft, it looks like the rear DS was calling for a qty of two 5-795x (double u-joint at TC side), and a single 5-793x at the diff side. Or at least, that's how I read it. I ordered the parts, and the 5-793x fit perfect, but the 2 u-joints at transfer case appear to be both too big, and have internal c-clips instead of the traditional spring clips. After pulling the old ones out of the trash, the old ones have the characters "SPR 529" on it. Looking into those, they appear to be Spicer 5-1310x u-joints when typing that into google. Weren''t the 1310's used on non-rubicon models?
Second question. With regards to that same double carden joint on the rear DS, the flange (rubi's don't have a yoke on the TC end) that bolts onto the transfer case has a centering ball on it. However, when getting the u-joints apart, I noticed there was no spring between the ball and the post that goes into the ball. Additionally, the ball appeared to be pretty dry and a little loose, which I'm sure was contributing to the noise I as hearing previously, as well as the leaky output shaft seal needing to be replaced. Can that be rebuilt or replaced with readily accessible part numbers? My assumption is that if that flange needs to be replaced (if it even can be separately from the rest of the driveshaft), it'll force me to have the DS rebalanced, at which point, the cost savings melt away.
All in all, I know getting a TW or Adams driveshaft would be the way to go long term and it's on my list for when I've got more $$$, but if I can get it back on the road by this weekend (got a trip planned) with readily available parts, that would be preferable in the short term. Trying to get a family member out on the trails this weekend, so hoping for a rebuild option...
So, that's a huge win for me being that a replacement flange/reassembly/balancing will cost roughly about $100 as the labor is free due to it being their product.
