Moochie

I heard a popping noise under my JK and look what I found. My front passenger side axle u joint had lost a cap and damaged the yoke. I'm running 35's. I'll take it to the dealership on Monday, hopefully the warranty will take care of it. ( I think I'll have it towed before it self-destruct's)

Torrin

Good luck trying to get that covered, it almost certainly is related to running larger tires.

mmccurdy

I've had this happen twice to me on the trail and a couple more times to people I was running with. From the pics you'll need a new stub shaft and u-joint. Chrysler sells the whole thing assembled (inner, u-joint, outer) for not much more, or look in the for sale section for take offs. It's not a hard job to do yourself, and I highly doubt your warranty will cover it.

If you pull the axle shaft entirely and plug the tube so the diff oil doesn't leak out, you can drive just fine without the shaft. May be preferable to having it towed. Just be thankful it didn't happen 7 miles in to the Rubicon....

backwoodjk

I lost a cap about two weeks ago pulling out of a gas station...

I didn't even try the warranty, the u-joint cost less than $30, and I caught it before it destroyed the yoke. As soon as the new u-joint was in I pulled out the welder and tacked the caps.

I should have listened better to advice on the forum and tacked the caps long ago.

I highly recommend tack welding the caps to everyone.

mmccurdy

x2, definitely going to be doing this before I lose a third.

Yamaha90

last summer my front end was really wobbly when i was straightening out after a turn. After i had the dealer check it out, he said i had a bad ujoint and had my try to turn the whole assembly on both sides, and that was definately what it was. I have never had a cap pop off like that before though, Anyway - the dealership replaced both front u-joints under warranty, and i have been running 34's for 3-ish years now. Maybe i just got lucky

Moochie

Once you tack weld the caps on how difficult is it to remove the u joint if necessary?

CA-JK

It becomes one piece and hard to replace. Send me a PM if you need any help replacing it, if you get the axle I've got everything else to swap it out!

wayoflife

hey moochie, like i said earlier, if you need one, i've got a spare chromoly shaft that you can have. just let me know.

adamisadam

can someone explain perhaps with pics, abouting welding the caps, pros & cons, and what happens if it breaks on the trail. I'm very mechanical but don't know what everything is related to the fron axle assembly.

TIA