Messages

Wish I could be there, but we are doing the annual tradition of Thansgiving at the cabin up north. Hope everything goes well!

I may soon be among you.  :cry:  The Jeep has come to the point that it is no longer finacially viable to keep as a daily driver. I am spending more on gas than I am for my payment and insurance combined. I can't afford to keep it as Janine is going to need a new car as well soon so it may be moving on and I will be getting something more fuel effecient as a daily driver if I can work a decent trade.

HOWEVER, when it goes we will be keeping an eye out for CJ's, YJ's and older TJ's after Janine gets a new car that we can pick up cheap as a 3rd vehicle to wheel so it is not all bad. Besides, if I am not using a Jeep as my DD I am not as concerned about damaging it so I can wheel it harder. So I may be Jeepless for a while in the near future but it is not a permanent situation.  ::woot::

Would you happen to have a winch bumper on the front of that beast that you are willing to trade for a stock TJ bumper (with fog lights) and a little cash? I broke my current bumper in half (don't ask) and am looking for a DEAL-E-O on a replacement.

Nice write up - of all of the parts I have worn out/broken/mangled/used up on my Jeep over the last few years, the front driveshaft has never been on the list.  I have it on my winter "to-do" list, primarily because I have never even replaced the u-joints in the fron driveshaft.

Well, I had banged one of the rings that held the boot pretty good on a rock at the Mounds and bent it a little providing an opening for dust, sand, etc to get in. I didn't really notice it at the time, but after going to the Mounds, running up and down the dirt road that I live on, and getting some sand up in there at Silver Lake....it all kinda makes sense that I would have dried the grease up on that spline shaft pretty well.

No longer needed....problem solved, I think. Check out the Tech Talk posting about the solution here:

//whatliesbeyond.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1879

Wish I could join you guys, but I have to pick up Melissa at the airport.

So, as some of you had noticed and chimed in on, I was looking for a new front driveshaft for my Rubi. After a visit to the mounds and then a visit soon after to Silver Lake, I was getting an obnoxious rattling sound coming from the front of the Jeep. After a bit of diagnosis between myself and Mumbly's Offroad, we narrowed the issue down to the spline shaft within the front driveshaft. Thinking I was going to have to replace the entire shaft and fretting about the prices of even used driveshafts these days, I started looking online to find out if there was any type of replacement or rebuild kit type thingy for the inner spline shaft. Not so much! But I did find that this is a fairly common problem and actually has a name....Angry Sparrows. I guess, as it turns out this spline shaft is greaseable (although there are no actual grease fittings) and it really doesn't come greased very well from the factory. So I cut the rings on the dust boot and moved it the best I could (it gives about 1.5 inches on each end when you slide the boot), shoved my grease gun inside the boot and gave it a VERY healty dose of waterproof grease...being very careful not to rip or tear the boot itself (I did plan on using black gasket maker to repair any tears in the boot that I may have caused, but it turned out to be pretty durable when I started moving it around). Once the spline shaft was all greased up, I put the boot back in place and secured it with two zip ties on each end. And whaddya know....no more angry sparrows...well at least so far so good!!

So I thought I would post this up in case anyone else runs into this issue. Personally over the 14 years I have owned Jeeps, I had never heard of the Angry Sparrows, nor had I ever given that spline shaft and/or dust boot on the front driveshaft much thought. From what I understand, this is a non-serviceable part at the dealership and is easily remedied....and much cheaper than buying a new (or used) front driveshaft.

 ::Jeep::

Get ahold of Mitch (Longarm) I am pretty sure he has a Tom Woods driveshaft from his Rubi in his garage...

A front??

I know the rear driveshafts are different lengths for the LWB  (Mitch's Unlimited) as opposed to the SWB (my Rubi). I think the fronts shafts are the same length though, but not 100%

(4.0 litre)

Dude - you spent too much time over seas

You don't even know the half of it!  

I am looking for a functional front drive shaft (stock is fine) for a 2004 Rubicon (4.0 litre). If any has one lying around let me know....mine has about bit the dust!

Thanks!

I'd take you up on it, but Melissa and I are headed Up North this weekend.

Cool....was just wondering since I hadn't heard anything yet. Thanks!

I haven't really heard anything...when is the September meeting going to take place? This weekend is Labor Day and the following weekend (I think) is Drummond Island, right? Just wondering.

Thanks!

 ::Jeep::

Congrats!!   ::woot::

Loves pickles

Check your ground as well and the connections for your power to the CB. 90% of the time it was a bad/loose ground to the CB itself when I have experienced this. Try moving your ground to a new location on the body or frame and make sure you sand any paint/rust etc. away underneath where the ground connection touches. I have even used a self tapping screw to attached a gound when I couldn't find a close enough existing bolt to attach a ground to. Just a thought, but this usually solves this particular problem when I have run into it.