Front drive shaft

[TexasAg2012]

I had a leaking output shaft seal one time that looked just like that. Like MikeXM said, clean it all up with some degreaser and keep an eye on it. If it keeps leaking, probably time to take it in and have it looked at.

 

[Lary0071]

Mine has some grease splattered in a pattern. Is this concerning?View attachment 7453
View attachment 7454

The joint is bad. When your slinging grease, you are short on time. The rzeppa joint is slinging the greas out of the CV boot and going dry.
Do you have a lift? That is super common on 2008+ Jeep Wrangler JK / JKU that use the exact same joint. We replace them with old school U-joints when lifting over 2" on Jeeps. Teraflex makes high angle Rzeppa joints for the JK, not sure if any exist for the Ram truck.... I doubt it.

 

[jupp0r]

The joint is bad. When your slinging grease, you are short on time. The rzeppa joint is slinging the greas out of the CV boot and going dry.
Do you have a lift? That is super common on 2008+ Jeep Wrangler JK / JKU that use the exact same joint. We replace them with old school U-joints when lifting over 2" on Jeeps. Teraflex makes high angle Rzeppa joints for the JK, not sure if any exist for the Ram truck.... I doubt it.

No lift, stock suspension. I’m at the dealer right now and hopefully they’ll just replace it under warranty. What could happen if I keep driving it until the part is ordered?

 

[Lary0071]

No lift, stock suspension. I’m at the dealer right now and hopefully they’ll just replace it under warranty. What could happen if I keep driving it until the part is ordered?

If it goes dry, they tell you by vibrating before they deconstruct themselves.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[TheRAMadaINN]

No lift, stock suspension. I’m at the dealer right now and hopefully they’ll just replace it under warranty. What could happen if I keep driving it until the part is ordered?

Did they end up making repairs? I'm seeing grease slinging out of my cv boot also. I also have a clunk which I'm suspecting is the CV.

 

[jupp0r]

Did they end up making repairs? I'm seeing grease slinging out of my cv boot also. I also have a clunk which I'm suspecting is the CV.

Yeah I went to a different dealership, they ordered a new shaft (took 2 months) and replaced it under warranty. I put ~3k miles on the semi-dry one (including some 100 miles in 4wd) and it was making uncomfortable noises in the end. I'm still unsure what caused the leak in the first place, the boot seemed ok. I forgot to ask for the broken drive shaft, should have probably gotten a steel one made as a trail spare.

 

[TheRAMadaINN]

Yeah I went to a different dealership, they ordered a new shaft (took 2 months) and replaced it under warranty. I put ~3k miles on the semi-dry one (including some 100 miles in 4wd) and it was making uncomfortable noises in the end. I'm still unsure what caused the leak in the first place, the boot seemed ok. I forgot to ask for the broken drive shaft, should have probably gotten a steel one made as a trail spare.

Thanks. Did the first dealership not want to fix things?

I would presume driving in 2wd is no big deal as the front drive shaft shouldn't be spinning. 4wd may depend on condition of joint and how much grease...

And with the new front shaft, are the noises gone? What were you hearing, grinding/clunking/whining?

 

[jupp0r]

Thanks. Did the first dealership not want to fix things?

Yeah they couldn't find a problem. No idea how they didn't see the huge splash of grease. They were unfriendly enough for me to just walk away.

I would presume driving in 2wd is no big deal as the front drive shaft shouldn't be spinning. 4wd may depend on condition of joint and how much grease...

It's spinning. The hubs are locked, the diff is engaged. There is no load on it as the transfer case is not engaged but there was a loud droning/humming noise at freeway speeds with slight vibration. I checked it regularly and would have taken it out if it had shown signs of disintegrating.

The noises went away after they replaced it. I didn't really notice how bad it was until afterwards. My MT tires are kind of loud on the freeway too.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Yeah they couldn't find a problem. No idea how they didn't see the huge splash of grease. They were unfriendly enough for me to just walk away.


It's spinning. The hubs are locked, the diff is engaged. There is no load on it as the transfer case is not engaged but there was a loud droning/humming noise at freeway speeds with slight vibration. I checked it regularly and would have taken it out if it had shown signs of disintegrating.

The noises went away after they replaced it. I didn't really notice how bad it was until afterwards. My MT tires are kind of loud on the freeway too.

Shouldn’t be spinning in 2wd, the front axle disconnects.

Maybe that’s why your shaft went bad.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Shouldn’t be spinning in 2wd, the front axle disconnects.

Maybe that’s why your shaft went bad.

That's not how CAD works.

Only the passenger side axle is disconnected from the rest of the driveline.

The driver side (was opposite on early years) still turns the dif gears and driveshaft.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

That's not how CAD works.

Only the passenger side axle is disconnected from the rest of the driveline.

The driver side (was opposite on early years) still turns the dif gears and driveshaft.

Yea, it is how it works.

The driver side turns the open diff and the open diff turns the stub shaft because it is significantly less rotational mass than the driveshaft is.

if what you are saying we’re the case, you wouldn’t be able to turn the front driveshaft by hand with your truck in 2wd, front tires on the ground. But you can. You’re just turning the stub shaft and the open diff.

kinda the opposite thing that happens if your axle disconnect stops working. Your driveshaft just turns the open diff and all the power goes into the stub shaft, Not the driver side front tire.

put an open diff vehicle in park on jack stands. Turn the tire. The driveshaft doesn’t turn, the other tire turns backwards.

the whole reason for axle disconnect is to make the driveshaft quit turning

 

[el_barto]

Mine has some grease splattered in a pattern. Is this concerning?View attachment 7453
View attachment 7454

boot is torn. Happened to mine in first 7k miles. Driveshaft was replaced under warranty.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Yea, it is how it works.

The driver side turns the open diff and the open diff turns the stub shaft because it is significantly less rotational mass than the driveshaft is.

if what you are saying we’re the case, you wouldn’t be able to turn the front driveshaft by hand with your truck in 2wd, front tires on the ground. But you can. You’re just turning the stub shaft and the open diff.

kinda the opposite thing that happens if your axle disconnect stops working. Your driveshaft just turns the open diff and all the power goes into the stub shaft, Not the driver side front tire.

put an open diff vehicle in park on jack stands. Turn the tire. The driveshaft doesn’t turn, the other tire turns backwards.

the whole reason for axle disconnect is to make the driveshaft quit turning

You do get some slight residual spin but you are correct

 

[TheRAMadaINN]

Yea, it is how it works.

The driver side turns the open diff and the open diff turns the stub shaft because it is significantly less rotational mass than the driveshaft is.

if what you are saying we’re the case, you wouldn’t be able to turn the front driveshaft by hand with your truck in 2wd, front tires on the ground. But you can. You’re just turning the stub shaft and the open diff.

kinda the opposite thing that happens if your axle disconnect stops working. Your driveshaft just turns the open diff and all the power goes into the stub shaft, Not the driver side front tire.

put an open diff vehicle in park on jack stands. Turn the tire. The driveshaft doesn’t turn, the other tire turns backwards.

the whole reason for axle disconnect is to make the driveshaft quit turning

That's my understanding also.

I dropped off the truck at the dealership today. Hope they don't give me a hard time for all the stuff I've done to the truck.

I hope they verify the integrity of the CV and replace the boot, or as some suggested, which is even better, just replace the entire driveshaft. Mine prob happened around 7500 miles.

 

[Jackb60]

Ok so I’m not going crazy

I checked on my 19 Laramie and found nothing. I’ve seen the videos but couldn’t find anything.

 

[TheRAMadaINN]

So the dealer took 3 days to look at my truck but they agreed to replace the front drive shaft. They only gave me a little trouble about my truck and left themselves an out to not repair it if they could point the cause to what I've done to the truck. I was able to take the truck home as the driveshaft was backordered. It only took a few days to get so I bring it back saturday for the replacement. I'm happy, just hope it doesn't become a reoccurring issue.

 

[lighthawk]

I have a 2021 3500 hemi and just found a bunch of grease has been thrown off the CV joint.
Less than 2k on the truck, with 10% in 4wd.

 

[Eatonpcat]

So the dealer took 3 days to look at my truck but they agreed to replace the front drive shaft. They only gave me a little trouble about my truck and left themselves an out to not repair it if they could point the cause to what I've done to the truck. I was able to take the truck home as the driveshaft was backordered. It only took a few days to get so I bring it back saturday for the replacement. I'm happy, just hope it doesn't become a reoccurring issue.

View attachment 13113

Damn...Nice truck!

 

[Lary0071]

I have a 2021 3500 hemi and just found a bunch of grease has been thrown off the CV joint.
Less than 2k on the truck, with 10% in 4wd.

View attachment 22803

Thats a bad one for sure. If you want to fix it for good... do what us lifted Jeep guys do and toss them in the trash and have a local driveshaft shop make you a new shaft and sell you the yokes. Then your done playing with this preschool garbage.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

I have a 2021 3500 hemi and just found a bunch of grease has been thrown off the CV joint.
Less than 2k on the truck, with 10% in 4wd.

View attachment 22803

Why the hell did you drive 200 miles in four-wheel-drive? Lol

Does the shaft have any play in it? Sling Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s junk, could have been over greased