jcr931

Sounds like the best thing to do is to go ahead and get at least a front driveshaft if you have a 4 door?

RUBI67

When I installed my RE 3.5 superflex kits, the rubber boot on the front DS got chew up at the first real wheeling weekend.

I solved the problem by cutting away a small piece of the tranny skidplate at the point where the stock front DS hit the plate. Bend it into shape and I made about a good inch more room for the DS to come down when fully lowered. Half an hour work and 0 $ investment. It kept up real fine until now without rubbing at full flex.

wiredawg_mg

My front survived for about 10 months, twisted it in half the weekend before the Midwest Group run at Superlift last summer

Not sure how much was the lift vs the really poor OE shaft.

It is basically a ticking time bomb. If you do any hard wheeling it will fail. In my case I had to be winched and pulled out of Washita, took about 2 hours. No way to get out were I was at without 4WD.

renpia

I have a 4' Pro Comp and still have my front stock ds. I too am nervous about the boot tearing and ds failing but so far so good. I did a run last weekend, disconnected and flexed on the trail and it held up. The Woods ds is definitely on my list though just in case.

vogeljk

Tore the front boot up first time on the trail. I wasn't even disco'd. Took the jeep to a local drive line shop and had a new front put on for $325 out the door.

gripthor

Clayton 4.5 here, stock shaft's still after 30k, and I hit the trails often. However never disco'ed becuase I'm within mm of ripping the boot.

When I have the new shaft sitting in my garage I'll be more brave with the disco's.

JKRockStomper

Yes, you are correct. I am still running on stockers. I think I have over 13,000 miles on mine.

Thanks for agreeing with Spot, he also agrees that I am a crazy man.

RUBI67

You don't mean that you had the front boot replaced for 325$?
I cut off my boot 5000 miles ago and never put on a new one. No problems so far, TJ's or YJ don't even have a boot on their driveshafts!

Jeep_in

I have replaced my OE driveshaft with another OE driveshaft. I have contacted a custom boot company that is interested in selling me a prototype boot that will allow for 5-10" more of travel in the shaft. I am working on getting a better price. The nice option is that if the boot rips on the trail you just unbolt 4 bolts cut the old one off and slide the new one on and use two new stainless steel tie straps. From the majority of threads I have read the boots fail and then the mechanical failure sometime after due to a lack of the seal and grease. If you are able to keep the shaft greased and sealed this should not be a problem.

I am writing this to see if others are interested in this option other than me. I might put in a pre-order for more than one getting a discount from the supplier. Should I put up the voting option?

Thx to all for this thread and valuable feedback.