[sdlemaster]

Hello all,

I was driving into work today and i heard really bad noises when accelerating in 1st and 2nd gear. all of a sudden i take off from a stop light and i'm not moving anymore. I put it into 4wd and started creeping along so i looked underneath the Jeep and seen my rear driveshaft hanging there.

So I got it off and it broke where it connects to the rear axle. the ujoint must be on the road somewhere. problem is, when the ujoint fell out it gouged a piece of the driveshaft out. It doesn't look safe to keep using this. Has anybody had this type of issue on a TW shaft and what kind of customer service did you expect/get? Thanks.

[vector6]

have you been greasing it regularly? call tom wood, they will take care of you..

[Jerry Bransford]

Give Tom a call at 877-497-4238 and expect outstanding customer service. I've known Tom Wood for 7-8 years and he's one of the true gentlemen in the industry. I'm not sure if yours is new enough to be fully covered under warranty but at the very least, they'll take excellent care of you. Please tell Tom I said hello, he's a really good guy and answers the phone himself when he can. Two thumbsup for Tom Wood and his driveshafts so far as I am concerned.

[BYuen]

This happened to me two years ago, except my driveshaft cv joint exploded and it ripped off where it connected to the TC. I would call Tom Woods and see what they can do for you.

As far as reusing the driveshaft, it depends on how bad and where it is gouged. Can you post a picture? If it's out of the ears you'll most likely need a new driveshaft.

[sdlemaster]

yes. i grease it every time i do my oil changes along with greasing my RE control arms. this is about every 6,000 miles. maybe i should do it more often?

[BYuen]

Originally Posted by sdlemaster

yes. i grease it every time i do my oil changes along with greasing my RE control arms. this is about every 6,000 miles. maybe i should do it more often?

That should be plenty. Seems to me the u-joint just gave out whether it was damaged or out of grease.

[Zachs]

I just picked up another Ujoint (napa) after a premature failure with my TW driveshaft. I might give him a call for the ujoint, but maybe not...not really a huge issue for me.

[sdlemaster]

Talked to Mr. Woods and looks like I need a new slip yoke, about $60 and a new ujoint, about $20. Not sure if this happened due to lack of grease or if my ujoint was binding due to a bad angle. This happened after about 20,000 miles and don't want it to happen again in another 20,000 after i fix it. I can't imagine how it could be a bad angle though since the driveshaft is made for the high angle and it retracts in and out for more extension.

[BlackBellamy]

Mine blew out a month past my warranty and I called them and they told me to send it to them. All I paid was shipping to get it there and they replaced the joints (not just the one that broke), cleaned up the shaft and rebalanced it and sent it back to me. Outstanding customer service.

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally Posted by sdlemaster

I can't imagine how it could be a bad angle though since the driveshaft is made for the high angle and it retracts in and out for more extension.

It's far easier to have a bad angle than you might realize. If the rear pinion angle isn't set up properly, DS problems can result. What is your rear axle's pinion angle set to, is it the exact same or perhaps 1-2 degrees under the DS's angle? The pinion angle can never be higher than the DS's angle due to a small of axle wrap (pinion angle lift during acceleration) that even the TJ experiences.

[sundevilkid]

x2 on TW being a good company to deal with. The first time I called one of their guys said it probably was due to a lack of maintenance, but I emailed pictures in and they told me to send it in. A couple of weeks later I had a brand new shaft on the Jeep. The CV joint got hosed somehow. I hadn't even taken it offroad yet. So things do happen, but his product has been awesome otherwise. You can check out my gallery for pics of it.

Sounds like yours was at the opposite end. I know lifted TJ's have more severe pinion angles than my lifted XJ, so if your pinion wasn't pointed directly at the transfercase this could have caused the u joint to fail prematurely.