Topic: CV front drive shaft?

[jfrabat]

OK, for those of you not following my upgrades, let me sumarize: I installed alloy axles and ARB lockers in the D30 and as a result of the solid axle, the front DS now rotates constantly.  I currently have the front DS removed to avoid damage by any possible vibrations until I get it balanced.  I am still getting some vibrations from the rear DS, and since I installed a brand new woody shaft some time ago, I called them to ask if the could point me in the direction of the cause.  They said that it is normal to have some more vibrations when you go to higher numerical diff ratios, as the axle now turns at higher speeds.  But they also recommended that I go with a CV shaft up front to correct for poor drive line angles; now my question to you is, is this so?

As far as I understand I cannot rotate the front axle because caster and camber issues, so the angles will be off for a front CV DS.  What do you guys think?  Tom Woods has a reputation for being straight, so this really confussed me...

Felipe

[oldjeep]

As far as the front it sounds like BS, especially in a 2.5L where the front shaft is a mile long.   In a TJ the angle would be worse because of the low pinion.

You might  want to get your front driveshaft balanced - stock YJ fronts are not balanced from the factory

Question - have you got your front axle perches shimmed correctly so that your driveshaft angles are the same at the tcase and pinion?

[jfrabat]

As far as the front it sounds like BS, especially in a 2.5L where the front shaft is a mile long.   In a TJ the angle would be worse because of the low pinion.

Those were my thoughts exactly....

You might  want to get your front driveshaft balanced - stock YJ fronts are not balanced from the factory

Yeah, I currently have the front DS in the Jeep to take it to get balanced.

Question - have you got your front axle perches shimmed correctly so that your driveshaft angles are the same at the tcase and pinion?

I have not measured, but I have not changed the angles of either the TC or the axle.   I did install the 4" lift, but as far as I could tell at that time, this did not change the angles.

[Bounty Hunter]

My YJ front shaft was balanced from the factory, had the weights on it to prove it.

You can't realistically run a CV front shaft in the front of a YJ.  The pinion and TC output are parallel by design which requires 2 ujoints operating at equal angles.  Adding a 3rd ujoint as in a CV driveshaft would require pointing the pinion upward, which, as you mentioned, would ruin caster.

Tom Woods should know better.  The only way to do it would be to cut the inner C's and rotate them to point the pinion at the transfer case while allowing proper caster.

With no front shaft, you should not be getting vibes from the rear, I don't care how low of a gearset you use.  Something is wrong and needs corrected.  A second BS answer by Tom Woods.  Sure a lower gearset will amplify or show a vibe at lower speeds than a higher gearset, but there SHOULDN'T be vibes.