smittycm

Sorry if this has been covered. I did a search and only found my question answered with regards to the front shaft on another forum.

Installed front and rear Adam's drive shafts (1310) yesterday. Great quality, fast shipping, and a free t-shirt. Very happy so far.

Front shaft has about 3.5" of slip joint showing, which according to what I read on another forum is good (3" to 3.5" is good to go). The rear shaft only has about 1.75" of slip joint showing. Does anyone know how much slip joint should be showing on a rear aftermarket drive shaft? I emailed James at Adam's Drive Shafts, but being Easter I don't expect to hear from him until tomorrow.

2012 Jeep JKU Sport
Auto Transmission
RK 2.5" Max Travel Lift
Front/rear LCA's installed... Rear upper arms will be here tomorrow.

Here are some pics...

Rear Shaft


Front Shaft


Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. Kind of hard to get a pic while holding the tape measure. Happy Easter everyone!

Tonka_yellow

How's the rear pinion angle. Also does the rear end need to be pushed back?

Mschneid

This is my front drive shaft. I too was concerned about how close and lack of movement in the slip yoke but I was assured by 4WD.com that this was okay and I only needed a 1/2" or so of movement.

smittycm

The rear pinion angle actually looks pretty good just eyeballing it. I don't get the rear uppers until tomorrow, but I honestly can't imagine it taking more than a half inch longer than stock if anything at all. Haven't road tested it yet to see if there are any driveline vibes. I'll do that later this morning when I head to Harbor Freight to pick up an angle finder.

I can't imagine the little bit of adjustment that I might make with the rear uppers really changing the amount of slip joint showing on the rear shaft. I suppose I could move the entire axle back a little bit (1" or less) with my adjustable control arms (not sure how adjustment I really have), but I read elsewhere that I may run into other issues like track bar or sway bar making contact with other components like the bump stops or sway bar links. I didn't plan on moving the entire axle back and dealing with those potential issues until I needed to, which is when I go 37's and need a little more room at the pinch seam.

smittycm

Oh wow... that looks like way too little play if you ask me, but then again I have no idea what I'm talking about hence the reason I started this thread. Have you had it off road and flexed out? If so, no issues that you could tell?

smittycm

Well I'm super pleased with my purchase and especially with James at Adam's Driveshaft and Offroad. He actually replied to my emails already, which wouldn't be too surprising if it wasn't Easter Sunday. Below are his email replies, but in a nutshell both driveshafts are perfect.

With regards to the front shaft...

"Hi Sir, the driveshaft is perfect. The stub is 7" long and the blue goes almost the intire stub. You can have as much as 2" showing with no problem. Most JK driveshafts only travel no more than 1 3/4". The blue is called a special compound that is fused to the stub and lets the stub slide free with grease. If the neopreme was not on the stub then two hard pieces of metal would rib causing the stub to wear out premature. Please e-mail me back if you have any more questions, Thanks James Adams."

and with regards to the rear shaft...

"Hi Sir, it is good also. It has a different style of stub on the rear due to the driveshaft is longer and does not travel in as much as the front. The shorter the driveshaft the more the angle the more it travels. Just curious did you just install this lift the same time as the driveshafts, or have you had this lift on for a while. Thanks James."

I just finished taking the Jeep for a test drive and I have zero vibrations. Was only able to get it up to 65 due to traffic, but I'm pretty sure I would have felt something already if there was an imbalance. I haven't even installed the rear uppers yet. Not sure I really need to either. The angle looks fine using my specially calibrated eyeball, and like I said I didn't have any vibrations. I'll pick up an angle finder today just to check the angle and be sure, but I think I may pass on installing the upper arms for now.

Thanks for the replies guys. Hopefully this info helps others who may be wondering the same information.

*** Edit: Forgot to plug Chris at Jeepadons.com. Picked up both shafts from him for $655 shipped. Ordered on Monday afternoon and the shafts were on my doorstep on Friday morning. Awesome deal and awesome product!