What would you do? Driveshaft swap

[stretch-bsn]

So I’m wrapping up my rubicon axle swap in my sport S this weekend.

I bought a rubicon XR suspension as one of my first mods. When I did the guy I bought it off gave me the driveshaft. I’m not %100 sure it’s off the XR but I think it is…

the guy I bought it off of bought it off of someone else however I do trust him I’ve chatted with him several times and we text randomly still so it wasn’t a one and done deal.

Anyway…it’s the front driveshaft. If I remember right it has under 30k miles on it. My current driveshaft has almost 60k on it.

So besides it being shorter it seems exactly the same. Any difference known besides that? With it being shorter would that help the angle coming off my cv at the transfer case?

Long story longer….what would you do? Keep the stock driveshaft that has double the miles in it or replace it with the XR driveshaft with unknown history but looks to be in good order.

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[19 JLUR Bright Whit3]

Not sure the driveshafts are different. Is the one you got with the suspension just not extended? I would keep it as a spare.

 

[stretch-bsn]

Not sure the driveshafts are different. Is the one you got with the suspension just not extended? I would keep it as a spare.

Yeah that’s why I’ve kept it. I thought it was shorter…I pushed down to compress it and the XR one seemed to compress about 2” (I’m guessing) more than my sport one. Maybe I just wasn’t pushing hard enough? I thought they were shorter.

 

[Deleted member 107602]

Do you have a measurement before and after for the distance from the axle to the transfer case? Or at a minimum I would be curious if the distance from the center line of the axle to the outlet of the diff housing is any different.
Bear in mind a shorter distance from the yoke to yoke worsens the driveshaft angle condition considerably on the front (if all other variables are held constant)
I am sure someone here is more familiar with the axle you had but I would certainly check that distance. Are you changing anything else at the same time? (Lift, control arm length, drop brackets, tire size?)

 

[stretch-bsn]

Do you have a measurement before and after for the distance from the axle to the transfer case? Or at a minimum I would be curious if the distance from the center line of the axle to the outlet of the diff housing is any different.
Bear in mind a shorter distance from the yoke to yoke worsens the driveshaft angle condition considerably on the front (if all other variables are held constant)
I am sure someone here is more familiar with the axle you had but I would certainly check that distance. Are you changing anything else at the same time? (Lift, control arm length, drop brackets, tire size?)

Got it

So I’m not changing anything else however I do have the longer mopar LCA and I do have 2” tereflex spacers in the front since I put about 200lbs of bumper and winch up there. It sits very level now maybe 1/4” taller in the front.

I never measured the original length from stock axle to transfer case and I already have the rubicon axle in so unfortunately I can’t check that now. Good point about a shorter driveshaft…I think that would be my biggest concern so maybe what I should do is keep the shorter one (if it is shorter) for an emergency and stick with stock.

 

[Deleted member 107602]

Do you still have the old axle?

 

[stretch-bsn]

Do you still have the old axle?

Yep…still got it….looking to sell a complete set if you know anyone

 

[Terrymo]

So I’m wrapping up my rubicon axle swap in my sport S this weekend.

I bought a rubicon XR suspension as one of my first mods. When I did the guy I bought it off gave me the driveshaft. I’m not %100 sure it’s off the XR but I think it is…

the guy I bought it off of bought it off of someone else however I do trust him I’ve chatted with him several times and we text randomly still so it wasn’t a one and done deal.

Anyway…it’s the front driveshaft. If I remember right it has under 30k miles on it. My current driveshaft has almost 60k on it.

So besides it being shorter it seems exactly the same. Any difference known besides that? With it being shorter would that help the angle coming off my cv at the transfer case?

Long story longer….what would you do? Keep the stock driveshaft that has double the miles in it or replace it with the XR driveshaft with unknown history but looks to be in good order.

I recently replaced the front driveshaft on a 23 JLU Rubicon XR. Here’s some pics of the OEM front driveshaft compressed to as short as I could make it. The part numbers for the front driveshafts for the Dana 30 and Dana 44 appear to be different.

 

[stretch-bsn]

I recently replaced the front driveshaft on a 23 JLU Rubicon XR. Here’s some pics of the OEM front driveshaft compressed to as short as I could make it. The part numbers for the front driveshafts for the Dana 30 and Dana 44 appear to be different.

So then it’s definitely off an XR

 

[stretch-bsn]

This is my stock one…

 

[Deleted member 107602]

Here was my stock XR POS driveshaft
Sorry I’m still a little pissy about the whole situation.

 

[stretch-bsn]

Here was my stock XR POS driveshaft
Sorry I’m still a little pissy about the whole situation.

Why are you pissy? What happened?

 

[Fleeclan]

So I’m wrapping up my rubicon axle swap in my sport S this weekend.

I bought a rubicon XR suspension as one of my first mods. When I did the guy I bought it off gave me the driveshaft. I’m not %100 sure it’s off the XR but I think it is…

the guy I bought it off of bought it off of someone else however I do trust him I’ve chatted with him several times and we text randomly still so it wasn’t a one and done deal.

Anyway…it’s the front driveshaft. If I remember right it has under 30k miles on it. My current driveshaft has almost 60k on it.

So besides it being shorter it seems exactly the same. Any difference known besides that? With it being shorter would that help the angle coming off my cv at the transfer case?

Long story longer….what would you do? Keep the stock driveshaft that has double the miles in it or replace it with the XR driveshaft with unknown history but looks to be in good order.

The suspension you’re installing should have given you some lift which should in turn make the distance from the transfer case to the diff slightly longer. That being said, if the drive shaft you acquired is in deed shorter then that would be a reason not to use it. If you think you need a different drive shaft, go with a Tom Woods (or equivalent) and be done with it. It’s money well spent anyway.

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