Loose axle components?

[NC Tom]

I have this clicking from the driver front wheel. You can see in the vid, the Y-shaped piece shifts a bit making a click. Clicking stops when banking or turning.

[Pete M]

sounds like your ujoint needs replacing.    grab the axle shaft and give it a shake.  The Plus Sign shaped item inside should feel nice and tight with no wiggles. 

[yxmj]

On a big screen you can see the cap on the u-joint is not seated correctly....FUBAR...........Like Pete says....time to replace......I think it will be a 1320 (?)

[87MJTIM]

That nice orange color is a give away of a bad u-joint 

[NC Tom]

On 5/29/2019 at 12:12 PM, Pete M said:

sounds like your ujoint needs replacing.    grab the axle shaft and give it a shake.  The Plus Sign shaped item inside should feel nice and tight with no wiggles. 

Thanks Pete. Do you think a novice could replace it, or should I leave it up to a mechanic?

[Pete M]

a complete novice?  maybe.  I screwed up my first but was good on the next 2.  you'll need a press, or a ball joint tool, or sockets and a big hammer (that one takes the most skill).  watch a video or 2 on them and see if you're up for it.    If not, it'll be way cheaper if you pull the shaft and take it to a shop rather than the whole truck.  I would do both sides and also check the condition of the driveshaft ujoints while you're at it. 

[JustEmptyEveryPocket]

My opinion: This is a great project to start with, if you want to work on your Comanche yourself. A basic socket set and a big hammer should be all that you need. Plus some PB Blaster or similar. Check out THIS video by BleepinJeep. Its a great walkthrough. THIS is another good video that will show you have to remove the front axle shafts.

 

So like Pete said, watch some videos and see what you think you are up for.

[yxmj]

You will need the 36 mm socket ( I don't know what the standard equivalent is 1 7/16?)

and a 12 point 13 mm comes in handy

[NC Tom]

17 hours ago, Pete M said:

a complete novice?  maybe.  I screwed up my first but was good on the next 2.  you'll need a press, or a ball joint tool, or sockets and a big hammer (that one takes the most skill).  watch a video or 2 on them and see if you're up for it.    If not, it'll be way cheaper if you pull the shaft and take it to a shop rather than the whole truck.  I would do both sides and also check the condition of the driveshaft ujoints while you're at it. 

 

Eh, not a "complete" novice. I just haven't done too much work on my Comanche's underside. Having watched some vids and read more about it, I'm pretty confident I can get it done.

 

Another question though. Is this particular U-joint one that will cause damage to other components over time or should I jump on this immediately. Full disclosure, it's been "clicking" for a while, I just recently tracked it down and posted the video.

 

[NC Tom]

2 hours ago, JustEmptyEveryPocket said:

My opinion: This is a great project to start with, if you want to work on your Comanche yourself. A basic socket set and a big hammer should be all that you need. Plus some PB Blaster or similar. Check out THIS video by BleepinJeep. Its a great walkthrough. THIS is another good video that will show you have to remove the front axle shafts.

 

So like Pete said, watch some videos and see what you think you are up for.

 

Thanks! Any helpful opinions appreciated!

[Pete M]

random suggestions:

 

go buy 6 12mmx90mm grade 10.9 bolts ahead of time.  you may end up trashing the old bolts in this process and new is always better anyways.

break the 36mm nut while the tire is still on the ground (it might take a LOT to pop)

put that nut flush with the end of the shaft and you can try hitting it (carefully) with a big hammer

depending on the level of corrosion on teh exposed ends of the 6 bolts, you may need to cut off the end.

once the bolts are out, if you're lucky you can hit the hub with that big hammer to free it.  once again, be careful what you hit so you're not replacing lugs too

if that doesn't work, you can try making a tool like you see below. 

If you get desperate, you can put something solid between the WMS flange and axle and use the steering of the Jeep to try and push it out

bottom line is do not try and pry it free with a crowbar.  either it will pop out easy with the hammer, or you'll need some serious physics on your side.  a simple lever is not going to do much more than get you hurt when it slips.  

and as always, when you're reassembling be sure to clean the mating surfaces and use anti-seize  

 

 

 

 

I would make 3 of these if you do it this way so you can just turn one at a time rather than resetting each time

[Pete M]

and now's a great time to contemplate new hubs since you'll be removing them anyways.   

[coolwind57]

I've got the exact same issue going on too.  Some noise and I certainly have the ol' tell-tale "dry-orange-discoloration-at-the-U-Joints" look.  I'm up for replacing my entire hubs, while I'm in there.

 

And if memory serves me correct, can't we upgrade to larger U-joints/yokes without replacing the shafts themselves, or not?  I can't remember what it looks like in there....

[Pete M]

the shafts are sized to those particular ujoints.  you'll need shafts that take the 297 joints in order to run them.  

[coolwind57]

1 hour ago, Pete M said:

the shafts are sized to those particular ujoints.  you'll need shafts that take the 297 joints in order to run them.  

 Well, after I typed that I kinda figured that the shafts determine the yoke size.  So, Pete should I assume that there is no direct drop-in CAD axles with more beef?  in other works, no beefing up without eliminating the original CAD system?  Later XJ and TJ bigger axle shaft/yokes are good only if you're going to eliminate CAD, correct?

[Pete M]

95 YJ axles are 297 CAD

 

remember that the drivers side can come from any of those non-CAD 297 Jeeps.  and technically you only need the outer half and stub for a 95 YJ so maybe you can get them new? 

[Jeep Driver]

[gogmorgo]

For those asking if any other components would be in jeopardy if you leave it for a bit, if the ujoint fails it's very likely the axle yokes will destroy themselves knocking against each other. Even if there's just a small amount of distortion in the yoke, there's a chance it will never hold a ujoint cap properly again. There's also a pretty good chance of shredding the axle seal if a bad ujoint allows the shaft to wobble around. 

 

This was one of the first larger repairs I ever did on my MJ. The hardest part was definitely undoing the axle nut. I broke a bunch of admittedly cheap tools, borrowed impact wrenches, and eventually ended up cutting it off. When I had to do the one on the other side, I just undid the hub bolts, and slid the whole shaft out and tossed it and put in all new components. I was working illicitly in the tractor testing lab at my university at the time, and the amount of time and mess saved doing that was worth the cost of the new parts. 

One other obstacle I ran into was because I ordered parts online and had to wait for them to ship, I drove around for a week or so whigh destroyed the shaft anyhow. But with it banging around and smacking the diff carrier's cross-pin it managed to roll itself a lip over the end of the splines, so I could get the shaft out until I got in there with a die grinder and got rid of the lip. May as well get new carrier bearings and axle seals at that point, because you're going to fill at least the one bearing with iron filings, and you have to pull the carrier and bearings to clean them out.

 

So yeah. There's not a huge amount of stress on the steering ujoints in 2wd, but it can get into a pretty deep rabbit hole if things get worse than just a bit of play in the ujoint. 

[NC Tom]

On 5/31/2019 at 11:10 PM, gogmorgo said:

So yeah. There's not a huge amount of stress on the steering ujoints in 2wd, but it can get into a pretty deep rabbit hole if things get worse than just a bit of play in the ujoint. 

 

Well, thanks for the reply, even though it's bad news. It's been clicking for a while. Have the new joints, but broke my torque wrench and my breaker bar trying to get that f'ing axle nut off today. I'm totally frustrated! I have no other tools to attempt this again. I've been reading that to have a garage replace both joints would be around $1000 bucks. Is that right?

 

What/how did you "cut off" exactly? Nevermind.

 

I reread you post and saw the "I just undid the hub bolts, and slid the whole shaft out and tossed it and put in all new components." part.

Can you provide a list of parts so I can look into doing it the same way?

Edited June 15, 2019 by NC Tom
Updated info.

[gogmorgo]

Axle shafts on both sides and unit bearings. I used the SurTrack CV shafts and Timken bearings, picked them up from rockauto in a close out sale. 

I'm not 100% on whether or not the earlier knuckle/brake/hub combo is completely the same in setup as my later style... I know the parts aren't interchangeable between them, but I haven't spent much time with Renix-era stuff. 

 

The first one I did I got a junkyard shaft, and the yard cut out the knuckle for me, and I used copious heat to undo that one's nut. The nut on my truck I used a cutoff wheel in a grinder and made a slot down the end of the shaft far enough it released enough tension I could get the nut off. If the tip of an uncut shaft looks like a big O from the end, my slot made it look like this: Ø. Fair warning, I did cut out a bit of the shoulder of the hub, where the wheel mounts, trying to get all the way down to the base of the nut, so you might want to minimize that if you do go that route. 

 

I also broke several tools trying to undo the axle nut the first time before finally saying @#$% it and cutting it off.

[DirtyComanche]

On 5/31/2019 at 4:16 PM, Jeep Driver said:

 

I'd do that.

[NC Tom]

On 6/15/2019 at 8:31 PM, gogmorgo said:

Axle shafts on both sides and unit bearings. I used the SurTrack CV shafts and Timken bearings, picked them up from rockauto in a close out sale. 

I'm not 100% on whether or not the earlier knuckle/brake/hub combo is completely the same in setup as my later style... I know the parts aren't interchangeable between them, but I haven't spent much time with Renix-era stuff. 

 

The first one I did I got a junkyard shaft, and the yard cut out the knuckle for me, and I used copious heat to undo that one's nut. The nut on my truck I used a cutoff wheel in a grinder and made a slot down the end of the shaft far enough it released enough tension I could get the nut off. If the tip of an uncut shaft looks like a big O from the end, my slot made it look like this: Ø. Fair warning, I did cut out a bit of the shoulder of the hub, where the wheel mounts, trying to get all the way down to the base of the nut, so you might want to minimize that if you do go that route. 

 

I also broke several tools trying to undo the axle nut the first time before finally saying @#$% it and cutting it off.

 

Axle shafts and unit bearings. I'm assuming I need new axle nuts as well?

[DirtyComanche]

9 minutes ago, NC Tom said:

 

Axle shafts and unit bearings. I'm assuming I need new axle nuts as well?

 

Nuts are supposed to be 1 time use and new shafts almost always come with them.

 

I say "supposed to" because people reuse them all the time with no ill effect.

[gogmorgo]

Yeah, they're distorted thread nuts, so in theory when you reuse them it stretches the threads out, and they quit grabbing quite so hard. In reality you can use them a few times before it's a serious problem. The other concern is that the worn threads will lead to more preload on the wheel bearing at the same torque. 

 

I don't think I've seen a new shaft either that doesn't come with a nut.

[NC Tom]

On 6/18/2019 at 10:08 PM, gogmorgo said:

Yeah, they're distorted thread nuts, so in theory when you reuse them it stretches the threads out, and they quit grabbing quite so hard. In reality you can use them a few times before it's a serious problem. The other concern is that the worn threads will lead to more preload on the wheel bearing at the same torque. 

 

I don't think I've seen a new shaft either that doesn't come with a nut.

 

Forgive my ignorance. The SurTrack CV shafts look totally different from what's there now. I'm assuming that the U-joint is in the boot and I won't need the Spicer joints I already have?