Baystate Jeepers

Jeep has been giving me grief for the last month or so, chasing one thing after another.

Basically, I had death wobble @ 75 mph so I decided I needed to figure it out. With the combination of slightly bent steering, out of alignment, loose track bar, bad steering dampener and out of balance tires, I decided to replace the entire steering system with stock TJ draglink with V8 ZJ Tie Rod, new dampener. I also sourced a rough country adjustable trackbar in good condition.

After acquiring the necessary hardware for installation of the track bar, and installing it, I discovered that the axle, instead of being shifted off the drivers side is now shifted off the passenger side, even after adjusting it all the way down. This wasn't thought to be an issue until the driveshaft decided to clearance the downpipe under heavy braking or large bumps. This caused issues in the driveshaft that also wasn't properly maintained by me. Upon driving on the highway @ 60-75 mph, vibrations were noticed and upon inspection, play was found in the splines on the driveshaft. Driveshaft removed, and vibrations were gone. So, what i hear is that when you've got play in the splines of a driveshaft, the driveshaft is now done, and nothing can be done to remedy it. Great. Well, luckily, this was a Tom Woods shaft I had installed because of the angry sparrows in the OEM shaft when i first received the jeep. I still have that shaft, and I think i could swap the CV head from the TW shaft onto the OEM shaft and run the OEM shaft no issues. Driveshaft problem fixed, but I still have the clearance issues with the driveshaft and downpipe.

The trackbar needs to be adjusted shorter, but its already adjusted as short as it can go. Upon inspection, the treaded portion of the trackbar has 3-4" of adjustability, and the heim joint only has 2.5" of threads. I believe I can cut the trackbar 1" shorter and that would allow the trackbar to be the proper length for my use. In talking to a friend, he recommend I use a bandsaw to do the cutting as it wouldn't heat the bar and loose the tempering inherent within the bar currently and maintain all strength.

Does anyone have a band saw I could use?

I don't have one..
How about using a hack saw. Tedious but will keep the metal cool.

-Ish,
Dan Noyes has what you are looking for, a liquid cooled horizontal bandsaw.



I'm probably heading up there on Friday. If you get it to me all marked for the cut you need (wrap a hose clamp where you want the cut), I'll get it back to you on Sunday.

That sounds awesome! I'll pull it sometime this week and arrange to get it to you.

OK, let me know. I'll be around the house on Tuesday and some of Wednesday too. I'll be working on Thursday. Let me know where/when you want to meet.

Modeler wrote:OK, let me know. I'll be around the house on Tuesday and some of Wednesday too. I'll be working on Thursday. Let me know where/when you want to meet.

I'll try to get it pulled tonight. Depends on level of precipitation falling when I get home. I'll PM you for details on drop off.

Sounds good.

I ordered a set of non-greasable ujoints to rebuild the old driveshaft. Non-greasable for the "long life" "maintenance free" aspect. Because of my bellyup skid plate, I won't have easy access to the shaft bolts to remove it and grease the joints periodically. This way, it should last longer then the non-maintained tom woods shaft i just pulled out did. Thats my thought process anyways.

Front driveshaft has all new joints, the rear shaft should be delivered any day now, and the track bar has been graciously cut down by Modeler and friend! I'm hoping that's the last of the maintenance for the year, I'll find out during inspection later this month....

Driveshafts are in, belly up skid plate is in, still have tolerance issues on the rear double cardon joint. The angle is still to sharp. The pinion is currently pointed too low, and I'm hoping installing the adjustable uppers will bring it back up enough to correct the pinion angle and lessen the angle at the double cardon. Does that sound right?

You mean lowers? Or you already have adj lowers? I set my angle with the lowers but I'll let smarter people weigh in on the best way to do it. I still have adj uppers to put in. Maybe I'll do that after I weld the two pieces of the front lower back together


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Adjusting your rear pinion angle UP will help with the rear double cardan joint angle.
You want the driveshaft and the pinion to look like this when done.

Actually you want the pinion down about 2* from parallel to the driveshaft. The 2* is to compensate for the slight axle wrap when the axle is under load and the pinion swings up.

Is the double cardan binding or does it just look close?

Carl McFly wrote:You mean lowers? Or you already have adj lowers? I set my angle with the lowers but I'll let smarter people weigh in on the best way to do it. I still have adj uppers to put in. Maybe I'll do that after I weld the two pieces of the front lower back together


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I have uppers ready to go in. I believe the adjustment can be done with either no problem, with uppers your wheelbase will increase very minimally, and with lowers it will decrease very minimally.

Kurt wrote:Adjusting your rear pinion angle UP will help with the rear double cardan joint angle.
You want the driveshaft and the pinion to look like this when done.

Actually you want the pinion down about 2* from parallel to the driveshaft. The 2* is to compensate for the slight axle wrap when the axle is under load and the pinion swings up.

Is the double cardan binding or does it just look close?

It is definitely binding. When I rolled it back and forward in gear at idle, I felt it. I also felt it with the clutch in.

I had an epiphany, transfer case drop. Drops the skid 1" and the issue could be completely gone. I've gained about 3" and smoothed out the skid with the belly up, so I can afford dropping the skid 1" and still have great gains overall. The pinion may not NEED to be adjusted yet, and rausch creek should be still do-able.

To verify it's binding you can disconnect it from the pinion, put the tcase in neutral and then spin and gradually lower the pinion end of the driveshaft until you feel it bind. See if this is near your present pinion height or well below it.
If the dc joint is binding you may be able to hog out a bit of the metal in the joint to increase it's max working angle.
Is it a 1330 dc joint?

A motor mount lift will improve the angle as well a dropping the tcase.

It's definitely binding, I can't fit a piece of paper between the yokes on the dc.

It is a 1330 do joint, greasable.

I've got a 1" MML installed.