I think i’m going to have to change mine out tonight and I’m getting some funky noises from the front diff i think. I’ll have to check the fluid level at lunch but seeing as how it hasn’t leaked recently i’m think it probably pretty low (nope, just checked it and it looks level). so its on to either the driveshafts or the tranny 
come on driveshafts…
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driveshaft, ujoint or cv ball. maybe?
ya i think the drive shaft needs to be rebuilt but i think i’m ready to retire this one and buy a new one made for my rig. this one will get rebuilt and put on the shelf. I’ll throw the jeep up on a jack tomorrow to take a closer look, i hope the weather stays nice. Chris mentioned his axle shaft u-joint made the same noise so i’ll have to look at those as well.
yea, sounds like a dry joint
I use xj double carden front shafts, in both the front & rear of my cj,(rear is cut, front is lengthened/re-tubed) they hold up fine. no need to spend $400 on a tom woods, imho
i have a cut XJ shaft in the rear but the front is still stock. maybe i’ll just drop the front off to the shop and have them re-tube center section. The front has had some play at the slip so i think its about had it.
The youngest XJ is now 12 years old. Chances are those slip yoke are also at the end of life. Not to mention the center ball and u-joints would be questionable for DD duty. Just take your front drivehshaft to Cockcroft and tell them to fix it.
ok, off to the driveway. hopefully its just the axle shaft ujoint. i might try to install the locker compressor today while i’m at it. i’d love to try out the locker before i pull the front driveshaft to have it rebuilt.
well i ripped apart the front end and found nothing wrong. Chris came by and helped me track it down to the SYE/ Transfer Case. it sounds like the squeak is coming from right in the SYE tail housing. anybody have any experience with this?
The only thing inside the housing is the speedo gear and the output shaft bearing. Maybe something further inside such as the chain? Or the output shaft yoke is not fully torqued down? Mine has a tendency to loosen up.
when i rotate the output yoke at the rear driveshaft i can hear it coming from the back of the tcase. tomorrow i’ll pull the rear shaft and reinstall the front to see if there is any way it could be the double card but when i put my ear up to it, it sounds deeper.
no play in the rear shaft? or at the yoke?
no, everything felt tight and no visible problems with the ujoints. i just changed the centering bearing last year so i wouldn’t think its that.
odd. plenty of gear oil/fluid?
yup, all the fluids are full and look clean.
Off to brave the cold
well i pulled the rear driveshaft which was a bit of a pain because it’s FULLY compressed minus about 1/4" so i had to raise the rear end so the axle would droop a bit. i finally got it apart and noticed one of the zerks was busted off the top ujoint. i spun the yoke at the tcase and didnt hear anything weird so i’m guessing the ujoint is whats squeaking. I’m going to drop the front and rear driveshafts off at Cockcroft tomorrow morning and see if i can get them rebuilt. hopefully its that…
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Man, you have more patience than I with the wierd noise thing. I never have the time either… I usually go with the wait till it gets so loud it’s obvious what the sound is, or it goes bang. Whichever comes first. yeah… usually it’s bang. However, I do know what a caliper rubbing on the inside of the wheel because the caliper bolts broke/fell off sounds like. I carry spares of those now.
if its fully compressed, its too long
Yea, you might have them take a little off.
driveshafts are DONE!man, that was quick. cant complain about speed and just got a call telling me they didnt see a need to do extra work i was thinking might have to get done so they saved me money as far as that goes too. Going to pick everything up in a bit and test it out. hopefully this fixes the squeak and all.