how common are bent rear axle shafts/flanges?

[Jeepin Jason]

My driver's side rear wheel is wobbling. At first I thought it was the rim, but then I noticed that the drum wobbles right along with the wheel. So, I replaced the drum, and that didn't do any good, so now I'm thinking/afraid I've somehow bend a D44 shaft/flange??? :-?

The crazy thing is, I think the same thing happened to my last set of axle shafts, and they were alloys from Dutchman Motorsports. It was the driver's side shaft then too. At the time I thought maybe Dutchman had just messed up when they made the shaft or something, and it hadn't been straight to start out with.

The current shafts are standard Spicer parts from Drivetrain Direct, and they've been in for about 2 years now.

Assuming both shafts were bent AFTER they'd been installed, could there be something wrong with my housing (stock '87 XJ D44) that could be causing it? I'm running a Detroit with 4.56 gears, and that has all be in there nearly 4 years now with no issues that I'm aware of. Never changed the bearings after having the locker/gears installed. It just seems REALLY unlikely that I'd bent two shafts on the same side wheelin'.

 

[Beej]

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago on my 8.25. In my case, it turns out that I had slightly bent the axle housing/tube on the driver's side. It cost me a small fortune to have that side's tube cut off and replaced. Would have been less just to replace the whole axle! I don't know if its what your problem is, but how you describe the wobbling and stuff fits exactly with what happened to mine.
Beej.

 

[Kejtar]

I bent my axle shaft during a rollover: I dragged the wheel and damged the rim as well as bent the axle between the bearing and the flange. Pull the shaft out and measure it: put it on an even surface and so that the flange is resting against something at a right angle to the shaft. Then rotate the shaft and see if there are any changes in distance between either the flange and right angle surface or the shaft and whatever it was next to. Kind of hard to explain but once you start playing with it you should figure it out.

 

[Goatman]

I bent the flange on a Dutchman D44 shaft. I wasn't too happy that I had to order a new one. The symptom was that my wheel has a slight wobble to it. You can easily check it by removing the brakes and holding something up to the flange as you turn the axle. It will be easy to see if it's bent.

 

[Paul S]

I bent a flange on my Currie 9. I took it down to Currie & talked to John about it, according to him it's not very common.
A bent flange will cause the wheel to wobble, a bent housing will not cause the wheel to wobble, it will be seen as +/- camber.
Paul

 

[Jeepin Jason]

well, the shaft is definitely bent. I pulled the wheel and drum and ran the axle and you could see the whole end of the shaft wobble as it spun. greaaat.... everything feels tight though, there's no play or slop in the bearings or anything that I can feel. I may try and swap in my old Dutchman shaft to compare the current one too, but it's a real PITA because Dutchman didn't put the handy retainer bolt access holes in the shaft flanges.

btw, which side is the shorter shaft?

 

[XJJPR]

Jason,

If you would stop JUMPING the thing your axles might last!

Don't know what side is shorter but my guess is driverside!

hinkley

 

[Jeepin Jason]

shut yer cake hole! btw, you still local? haven't seen hide ner hair of ya in a while...

I didn't even have the D44 rear back then... ynaaa!

 

[Kejtar]

Don't know what side is shorter but my guess is driverside!

yup

 

[fatwreck]

I had that happen to my 9". In fact, it's still happening.

I've got stock shafts and one day someone behind me on the way to the trail said, "Dude, your passenger rear tire is wobbling". Damn, that's why my disc brake is making noise.

Alright, so I'll swap that shaft with another one that I bought used from a local guy.

Well, that one has the same thing. So, WTF?

What are the chances of having two bent flanges? I agree that the housing shouldn't matter. I guess I'll try the other shaft that I bought from that guy.....or I'll just live with it. :eye:

 

[XJJPR]

shut yer cake hole! btw, you still local? haven't seen hide ner hair of ya in a while...

I didn't even have the D44 rear back then... ynaaa!

Yea, still here.

Been working on the shop and pool. Not enough on the jeep.

Soon to be done and jeeping more.

Been on CT forum a bit. So I'm probably a bad guy now.

hinkley