Front drive shaft question

[Kderski]

Ive got a question I was hoping someone would be able to answer for me on these boards. I have a 99 JGC Laredo with about 92k miles on it. Recently after driving for a period of time, I started noticing a horrible ticking noise coming from underneath, if I drive past a wall or parked car, I can hear a metal on metal noise. I took it into my mechanic tonight and we had it up on the rack and he showed me that the noise was comming from the front drive shaft. He preceded to explain that that model you cant get inside of the shaft to replace any of the joints etc like you could on the older models and that the entire front shaft will neeed to be replaced at a cost of about $570 dollars including labor.

Ultimately my question is this, is it in fact true that once somethings bad in the shaft the entire thing needs replaced? or could this just be a case of him not really knowing what he is talking about and maybe it just needs some of the parts inside replaced? Thanks in advance!

[oljeeptek]

Originally Posted by Kderski

Ive got a question I was hoping someone would be able to answer for me on these boards. I have a 99 JGC Laredo with about 92k miles on it. Recently after driving for a period of time, I started noticing a horrible ticking noise coming from underneath, if I drive past a wall or parked car, I can hear a metal on metal noise. I took it into my mechanic tonight and we had it up on the rack and he showed me that the noise was comming from the front drive shaft. He preceded to explain that that model you cant get inside of the shaft to replace any of the joints etc like you could on the older models and that the entire front shaft will neeed to be replaced at a cost of about $570 dollars including labor.

Ultimately my question is this, is it in fact true that once somethings bad in the shaft the entire thing needs replaced? or could this just be a case of him not really knowing what he is talking about and maybe it just needs some of the parts inside replaced? Thanks in advance!

The facory may not sell parts for repairing the shaft, but you should be able to have most repaired at a custom driveline shop, such as Driveline Specialties etc. Look in your local phonebook for offroad suppliers. They can sometimes build you a complete repairable shaft for less than a new unit. They aren't hard to R & R either.

[Ray H]

Originally Posted by Kderski

Ive got a question I was hoping someone would be able to answer for me on these boards. I have a 99 JGC Laredo with about 92k miles on it. Recently after driving for a period of time, I started noticing a horrible ticking noise coming from underneath, if I drive past a wall or parked car, I can hear a metal on metal noise. I took it into my mechanic tonight and we had it up on the rack and he showed me that the noise was comming from the front drive shaft. He preceded to explain that that model you cant get inside of the shaft to replace any of the joints etc like you could on the older models and that the entire front shaft will neeed to be replaced at a cost of about $570 dollars including labor.

Ultimately my question is this, is it in fact true that once somethings bad in the shaft the entire thing needs replaced? or could this just be a case of him not really knowing what he is talking about and maybe it just needs some of the parts inside replaced? Thanks in advance!

Im not sure what kind of driveshaft youve got on that year GC but for nearly $600, I can have a gold one made for you. As oljeeptek said, you can have one built or remaned at a driveline or spring shop for about half that if you are willing to drop the shaft and take it to them. Another option that people have had good luck with is http://www.4xshaft.com/
If its like the driveshaft on Cherokees and Wranglers, if the CV joint on the front shaft starts going (generally indicated by high pitched squeak) and you take it to a Jeep dealer, they will replace the whole shaft and charge you for it. BUT the CV can actually be taken apart, cleaned and relubed, new u-joints put in and be good as new for a fraction of replacing the whole shaft. That being said, I dont know what kind of shaft is on a 99GC. I have a feeling its got the rubber boot and a different yoke at the top, maybe even another CV at the pinion. Non the less, a shop or TOM WOODS can make one for you for less than $350 if you want to do the labor.

[Kderski]

Thanks for the replies, I figured that it sounded a bit off and just wanted to know for sure before I had them do anything, ill have to weigh my options from here on out, thanks again!

[SteveB05]

Are we talking drive shaft or axle shaft? Drive shaft u-joints are replaceable. The axle shafts (half shafts) are repairable also, but for about $90 you can get a reman from Checker / Autozone or most other parts houses.