Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

Slip Joint Eliminator After Drive Shaft Mishap!

2K views 10 replies 2 participants last post by  marshall1225 
#1 ·
So, my son was driving the '92 and it was making noise that would slow when the jeep slowed and speed up when the going fast. He ignored it. The drive shaft dropped in the rear and after a few revolutions hitting the muffler at least twice the shaft came off of the slip joint and destroyed the slip joint housing in the process and bent the output shaft of the transfer case.

What to do...what to do. I decided that I would upgrade with a slip joint eliminator and cv shaft. And the further I get into this the further I've had to go. I'm not an experienced mechanic by any stretch. It is the first time that I've had a transfer case open. Not only is it open now it is also fully disassembled. Once the case was opened, the insides were fully coated with black greasy grimy buildup. The fluid that I drained was brownish colored. I am suspecting that road contaminant had made it to the inside of the case somehow. I just spent the last two days scrubbing down all of the pieces parts. All of the parts inside appear to be original. The input and output bearings have enough play in them that I ordered a complete rebuild kit containing all of the bearings for replacement. I also ordered a rear differential yoke because it was the one that failed and a front output yoke because of a previous experience with that part that made me want to replace it. All universals will be new after the rebuild. New ones came with the drive shaft and rear yoke. I got one more so that I could replace both front universal joints.

So, I figure that this is enough for the first post. I have to get the pictures out of the camera and post some of that up here.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Here is a couple of pictures that show the coating on the inside of the transfer case.

Auto part


Footwear Fashion accessory
 
#3 ·
I have several pilot bearing pullers but none big enough to pull the one in the rear case that holds the back side of the front drive output shaft. Taking it to a local auto parts shop tomorrow morning that has a machine shop as part of their business to have the bearing pulled and the new one pressed in. The next time I have to pull a pilot bearing that size, I'll have the puller for it. Tonight I pressed the first few bearings in and hopefully finish sometime tomorrow. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow as it goes back together.
 
#4 ·
Transfer case is sealed back up. The slip joint eliminator kit has been installed. The scariest thing that I had to do was to cut the mode fork rod so that it would fit the new rear output housing that came with the slip joint eliminator kit. Used a cutoff grinder and made quick work of it. Had to cut if back from 10.2 inches to 9.38 inches. Extreme terrain sold me the wrong front output yoke and so I'm currently haggling with them because the purchase was in February and I waited until now to do the job. I used their experts to get all of the parts, but they are insisting that I had it for to long so they won't exchange it for the right part.
 
#5 ·
Extreme Terrain did the right thing and the correct part is on the way. Changed out the two front universal joints and I'm now officially waiting on the last few parts to finish up on this project.
 
#6 ·
In case anybody is wondering how I went about rebuilding the transfer case and adding the slip joint eliminator kit I used the procedure in the factory documentation and combined that with the kit instructions. I purchased the rugged ridge slip joint eliminator kit and a complete rebuild kit from Extreme Terrain. The only issues with the complete rebuild kit is that it didn't have all of the parts needed in it to do a rebuild. Yes, all of the parts on the interior for the rebuild were supplied. Also in the kit was the speedometer o-ring. But the o-ring for the detente plunger cap and the nylon bushing and o-ring for the mode selector shaft were not included in the kit. I ended up having to go to the dealership for these miscellaneous parts and this has delayed the end of the project.
 
#7 ·
Replaced the two universal joints on the front drive shaft yesterday. I pressed them out and put them back in with a shop press.
 
#8 ·
Bolted the transfer case back up and then discovered the drive shaft is about 3 inches too short. Hope there is no hassle about returning it for the right one especially because the right one is $150.00 more than the one that I have.
 
#9 ·
Not on the road yet because I'm in the process of replacing all of the flex lines and flushing the brake fluid. But the major work is done. I've taken some pictures of the drive shaft and slip joint eliminator mounted on the Jeep.

Auto part

Auto part Engine

Auto part Vehicle Engine Car
 
#10 ·
Road tested it. Drive train seems solid. Only issue is that the front of the rear differential housing is getting very warm. Wondering if I over torqued the yoke when I replaced it with a u-bolt type yoke.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top