When does it make sense to upgrade the front driveshaft?

[jazngab]

So I still have a stock front driveshaft, hasn't been rebuilt or anything, all original. 98k on the jeep. Obviously upgraded the rear shaft to a Tom Woods driveshaft when i did the SYE. What does replacing the front driveshaft improve? What symptoms would bad driveshaft u-joints exhibit? Better to rebuild the drive shaft for cheaper or just upgrade to a Tom Woods/Adams shaft? If no issues, leave it alone? Not my daily driver, just my part time driver. Just thinking what to replace next that hasn't been upgraded or modded for my winter project. TIA

 

[Jerry Bransford]

With that many miles there's one good potential reason to replace it or at least get its CV joint replaced. If its CV joint seizes it can literally cause the transfer case to break in half.

 

[MikenMel]

If there is a lift on the Jeep and the front DS is stock, it will run fine that way for some time, but due to it being constantly over extended, will eventually wear out part of the splines on the slip joint. That happened to us and I started to feel a vibration coming from beneath the driver's seat at speeds over 50 mph. Crawling underneath, I could grab the front DS at the slip joint and move it about 1/8" up and down. Once we removed and dis-assembled the shaft, there was an obvious gouge ring in the splines. We had our local driveline shop that does work for 4WD vehicles build us a new, proper length DS and it works great. No more vibrations.

 

[jazngab]

If there is a lift on the Jeep and the front DS is stock, it will run fine that way for some time, but due to it being constantly over extended, will eventually wear out part of the splines on the slip joint. That happened to us and I started to feel a vibration coming from beneath the driver's seat at speeds over 50 mph. Crawling underneath, I could grab the front DS at the slip joint and move it about 1/8" up and down. Once we removed and dis-assembled the shaft, there was an obvious gouge ring in the splines. We had our local driveline shop that does work for 4WD vehicles build us a new, proper length DS and it works great. No more vibrations.

Good info. Thanks.

 

[Apparition]

Mine got replaced after:

going from 30 to a 44 front axle
3.5” lift
MML lift
Savvy UA tuck

at that point I measured and got a Woody.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I rebuilt mine at 110k with a 3 new u-joints and new centering ball for the CV. It took about half an hour since it was already out (I did it at the same time as an SYE).

At 4" lift mine doesn't seem to be overextended at all, but I do have a HP front axle so my front pinion is probably barely below stock height in relationship to the transfer case.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

With that many miles there's one good potential reason to replace it or at least get its CV joint replaced. If its CV joint seizes it can literally cause the transfer case to break in half.

If one of the joints in the CV fails, it will take out the transmission case too... or at least they did in the full-size jeeps...

 

[JDS123]

I had originally planned to keep my stock front driveshaft when going to a 3 inch lift from stock, but found it had some problems a few weeks before doing the lift and decided to go with an all new shaft instead of rebuilding it (191k miles).

If the shaft isn't giving you problems, I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to replace it. It can't hurt to get an aftermarket shaft from someone like TW and keep the stock one as a spare, but I wouldn't think it'd be completely necessary.