CV & Intermediate Shaft

Changed out the intermediate shaft today. The new one still has a slight amount of play in it but its nothing like the old one. Not driven it yet as I had a question. Was curious if anyone had noticed this before. It seems as if the boot on the diff side has a little pressure on it causing it to push over on the clip that holds the boot on. May wear a hole in the boot. Thought the air may slowly leak out now that Ive got it installed so Im waiting to see. Also noticed the boots on the Napa remaned shafts are much softer then the stock boots. The stock boots were a hard plastic where these are a rubber. Not sure if they will hold up like the stockers.





Couldnt get the shaft out of the stock cv so I just returned the whole thing as a core. Wanted to see what the splines looked like but o well.







These are with both ball joints in the knuckle and with the Jeeps weight on it.

Looks like the boot was clamped in the wrong spot or the aftermarket boot is to long for the joint.

Ugh I have to do this same exact job this week sometime... And yes that boot does look "off"...

Those rotors look nasty there jeepjeepsterpoke.gif.

Nice job Blake. I would have liked to see the splines on the intermediate shaft too. I need to replace these shafts on mine very soon.

Why did you need to replace these shafts? Vibration/Growling noise from the front? Or was there a lot of rotational play at the CV/Intermediate shaft joint?

I was afraid that the rubber cv boots were that soft,easily torn type of boot.

Oh yeah, where did you get the intermediate shaft....Eric?

kj924 said:

Nice job Blake. I would have liked to see the splines on the intermediate shaft too. I need to replace these shafts on mine very soon.

Why did you need to replace these shafts? Vibration/Growling noise from the front? Or was there a lot of rotational play at the CV/Intermediate shaft joint?

I was afraid that the rubber cv boots were that soft,easily torn type of boot.

Oh yeah, where did you get the intermediate shaft....Eric?

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I had the same thing on my Jeep. There was a loud rumble at 60mph and above. You could hear it at lower speeds, but it was not real noticeable. Once you hit 60 you knew something was wrong. I am used to CV joints "clicking", but apparently the Liberty's don't do that. The Jeep tech took me in to take a look. He lifted the Jeep just off the ground, put it in 4wd and in gear. You could see that the CV joint was wobbling even at an idle. The passenger side half axle and intermediate shaft were rusted together. They had to drive it out as an assembly from the other side. You could see the rust around the junction of the half axle and diff before he took it out.

I still have a rumble, but not as bad as before. I think it is time for a front drive shaft. Oh well... it's still a lot of fun to drive and we are headed to Montana and beyond this summer.

At first I thought it was clamped in the wrong place also but when I squeezed the boot it ballooned up. Definitely had some pressure in it and I could see the groove around the shaft where it should of been clamped and it was. Either way, I wedged a screw driver under the big clamp to let some air out and all is well now.



Yup, got the shaft from Eric. He had it shipped in exactly two days. Ive not driven it yet so we'll see if this fixed the problem. I had a rumble at all speeds. Sometimes a vibration and at low speeds it even thumped(I could feel the thump). Sometimes it went away for a few days then it would come back. Front drive shaft and rear drive shaft(U joints) are fine so if this didnt fix it Ill drive it till something blows up.. Ive checked all I can check. When I turned the wheel by hand it did move around a little. I thought about lifting it up and putting it in 4wd and letting it idle but that seemed a little dangerous to do in the driveway. In all I only spent $130, not bad I dont think.

Yeah, those rotors are starting to get rusty. I keep everything sprayed off as best I can but they will be replaced when the pads are.. With the way they're looking that may be awhile. Probably a little over half worn at 48,164 miles. May just replace them so I can try some new pads out.

JeepJeepster said:

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I had a rumble at all speeds. Sometimes a vibration and at low speeds it even thumped(I could feel the thump). Sometimes it went away for a few days then it would come back.

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Yeah, that's what I have happening...rumble at all speeds. Too bad Eric doesn't have any more shafts in stock, and he doesn't have any idea when he will.

autoboy454 said:

Ugh I have to do this same exact job this week sometime... And yes that boot does look "off"...

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Its not a bad job at all. Ive had my suspension apart probably half a dozen times so thats no issue. If I would of had the new cv laying beside of me and didnt mess around with the old one trying to get it apart I could of had it done it around an an hour and a half or so.

kj924 said:

Yeah, that's what I have happening...rumble at all speeds. Too bad Eric doesn't have any more shafts in stock, and he doesn't have any idea when he will.

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Well that sure *****. I had no idea he was almost out of them or I would of ordered this a long time ago. Just ordered it last week and the only time I had to replace it was this week.

Ohh and it had a decent amount of play in it also. Probably a half inch to a inch of play if I pushed up on the end of the cv cup right where the boot clamps on.

Haha, you must have got one of the last ones. He told me last week that he had none left.

Hey JJ, If your concerned about the boot. You can get some Rockford CV boots for it. They are made of thermoplastic. Some say neoprene others say thermosplastic which last a ton longer at higher degrees. If you want the info I can find it for ya and lead you the right direction.

Just wanted to add that this took care of all of the Vibrations, Growling, moaning, clunking, etc. The vibration was mostly when I was off the gas which confused me and still has me puzzled. That joint should not have any torque on it in 2wd no matter if Im on or off the gas but it no longer vibrates while coasting.

For $130 and a few hours or working.. Im pretty happy that took care of it.

Are the Rockford boots the best ones available for our Liberty's?

infernicus said:

Are the Rockford boots the best ones available for our Liberty's?

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Rockford nothing is the best, but probably the only ones you'll find.

How do they rate against Mopar?

Just to fill you in. I went through 2 inner passenger CV Boots. Both blew out. I would recommend staying with Mopar CV boots. I just replaced it for the fourth time back to Mopar. The Rockford CV boots wer crap, at least with my expierience. Once you have them uin your hand and a new Mopar CV boot in your hand and compare them, you will see the difference. The Mopar are made much better and not soft like the RCV.


Just my 2 cents.

Thanks! I guess Mopar it is.

Thats just my opinion. The RCV ones ar around $25. and the Mopar are around $40. If you hold them side by side you can feel and see a major difference.

But do you know for certain that the Rockford boots were the problem? You had the same problem before didn't you before going to the Rockfords

No. My stock boot smade it to 116,000mi. Then I went through RCV boots 2 times before going back to Mopar. I only wheeled once and only got to do daily driving, so they didn't see much wear. Now this last time (Mopar) was a pressure issue that blew the clamp off. I got a warranty replacement this last time due to a defect in the clamp and haven't had any issues since. It is entirely possible that when the first one was installed, that the lower part of the front strut accidently hit the boot and I didn't notice it, but the second one was for sure crap. After the first one, I actually purchased 3 more boots. I still have one. I put the second one on and then it blew. So when I went to the dealer and got the Mopar boot ($$) and brought it back, you could feel the difference. The RCV boot was softer and more pliable. The mopar boot was built stronger and felt slightly more rigid.

Like I was saying though, it could all be the time the were manufactured or possibly just a fluke I got two bad ones. I am just letting people know my expierience with RCV. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE THOUGH!

If you have the money, get both. That way you can see for yourself the difference and use one for a back up.