How To: Change front driveshaft / change a driveshaft head

Go back to the first post in this thread. The original poster, Twack, has some good photos of the whole process and how the parts go together.

Great thread. Thanks all. I am getting a very loud grinding noise when moving 4wd even at slow speeds and in a straight line. It sure seems like the commonly reported issue in the rear CV joint of the front drive shaft so I am going to change it, probably the whole thing not just a CV kit.

I just removed the bolts for the front driveshaft to the front diff and to the transfer case. I'll provide my experience for others. I had the left front up and had to block that wheel so it would not spin when loosening the bolts. I had to use a slim 8mm 6 point socket with a 1.4 inch drive because the sockets that flare out to a 3/8 inch drive did not clear the boot and shaft so would not go straight on, slipping off one bolt each in front and back. The slim socket fit fine and did not take too much force to remove the bolts. I started them with the socket and ratchet, but then used a impact driver with a right angle adapter (https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-MAXFIT-Right-Angle-Magnetic-Attachment-DWARA60/308436444) because there was no way the impact driver would otherwise fit in directly. I loosened one when it was accessible, then rotated the front left tire to rotate the shaft and make the next bolt accessible.

Now I need to remove the drive shaft and joints from the vehicle. With just hand pressure, they are on tight, so I will try prying and banging.... Someone mentioned removing the center cross member to make it easier to bang on the transfer case side and separate it from the yoke. Someone else mentioned loosening the transfer case cable bracket. However the yoke has 3 protrusions so wouldn't one need to pry it away from the transfer case first to clear those?

My drive shaft measures 29.5" from the base of the transfer case yoke to the base past the 2" metal cylinder at the differential side, which is closest to the 29.3" 52111596aa at driveashaftparts but my label says 52111596ab which they don't list, but some sites show those numbers to be compatible, but the dimensions are all over the place.

I also wanted to test whether the front diff is open or limited slip. I have a Renegade with command trac and trac lock (limited slip). I found when I elevated the front, that when I spin either front wheel the other front wheel does not spin at all, but the drive shaft does, when the jeep is in 2wd. When I moved the lever to 4HI and then spin one front wheel, the other front wheel spins opposite, demonstrating that the front diff is open. This matches what I saw when I got stuck temporarily a while back. In 4LO and one front wheel up, that elevated front wheel spun while the other front wheel did nothing. One back wheel was spinning and the other back wheel was stuttering. I had previously tested LSD in back and felt one back wheel start to spin before the other back wheel engaged and drove.

Sadly they never fitted a factory front LSD to any of them. There is a current post on here about fitting one though.

DavidG91 said:

52111596aa at driveashaftparts but my label says 52111596ab which they don't list, but some sites show those numbers

Click to expand...

Those suffixes. Aa ab ac. If the main part number matches you are good to go. The 'a' suffixes are minor updates.

Pictures of the old, removed, front drive shaft and transfer case end joint and the new drive shaft. The old one still has a boot but 4wd mode makes a loud howl when driving now.
I did replace the transfer case fluid a few months ago but the noise continued. How can you tell whether the transfer case end CV joint is bad anyway? What does mine look like?

Removing the drive shaft was not too difficult. The front separated easily by hand, then I had to use a prybar as a lever from the front side of the transfer case end of the drive shaft.

If that boot is ripped up, the joint is bad. Usually, it is the tc end and not the front one, but when I do mine, both get changed. I am sure you found this already, but the ends are available separately from Driveshaftparts.com. I have a spare set in my parts bin. Did the 04 twice and the 06 needs it.

With the part you got, all the fun of convincing the old joint off and the new joint on is already done! Congrats!

I have done this fix for my 08 KK twice (now has 227,000 miles) and did my 07 Commander just last month (157,000 miles). The TC end of the front driveshaft seems like a wear item on just about every model of Jeep, unless it has an old fashioned U-joint there.

I have 180k miles on mine. I do drive sometimes in 4wd off road, but since the front driveshaft spins whenever the front wheels spin even in 2wd, I suspect that front shaft joint ages regardless of 2wd/4wd miles and since it is exposed to undercarriage objects, the boot can be damaged easily.

Success. Replacing the old front driveshaft with the torn TC boot and loud howl is done and there's no noise in 4wd mode. I did use the new allen head bolts and using a torque wrench, hoping they would not round off inside.

Those boots tend to deteriorate easily, so I stopped attaching a boot band to the shaft side and just fastened them loosely with a nylon band.
This will slightly reduce the precession load on the boots.
Grease moves outwards due to centrifugal force, so there has been no grease leakage for a year now.
If it's too loose, water will probably get in.