Front Drive Shaft Update

[agcheck]

So there is a solution, which is highly likely not to "fail" catastrophically, but it isn't perfect, so it's not worth pursuing?

FWIW my Grenadier has slight driveline vibrations (and is unmodified). I chalk it up to being a quirk of the overall design and I put up with it as a tradeoff for the other design benefits.

 

[Dokatd]

No, when I say outer rim anywhere, I mean outer rim of the entire assembly anywhere until you see rubber. It appears too deep.

Yeah, it doesn't touch the visible metal rim. It contacts metal inside the boot assembly. You can't see the contact location without removing the whole boot assembly.

Don't stretch the boot. It will eventually tear at the point it's crimped.

That would be the only way to gain clearance. The entire mouth will open when you work over the internal portion of the metal collar. Not much but a little for sure. It's a terrible design period. These joints were made for ideal drive line angles with only occasional extreme operation.

 

[Dokatd]

Did my best to reconstruct for you guys. The black arrow points to where the boot pinches. The pinch happens there and possibly just out onto the outer lip a bit. It would take two mandrels, one on each side to open this up a touch. But then you are still limited to stock travel. No chance for a bit more articulation.

 

[Zimm]

hm. its folding in on itself there and in that case there would be rubber on rubber. do you ever see the rubber up against the metal with the arrow fail, or just the rubber on the shaft side... I haven't seen a pic of the rubber against the arrow that was torn.

 

[TCMColorado]

View attachment 7919813View attachment 7919814Did my best to reconstruct for you guys. The black arrow points to where the boot pinches. The pinch happens there and possibly just out onto the outer lip a bit. It would take two mandrels, one on each side to open this up a touch. But then you are still limited to stock travel. No chance for a bit more articulation.

If this would work for stock travel that would still be a big improvement! It just means not using shocks that are longer than the OEM spec.

It does beg the question, could Ineos work with Dana to produce a boot/flange assembly with more clearance? The real upside to this would be the ability to retro fit it to existing vehicles and not be a solution only applicable to future Grenadier production. Yes the real solution is a modification of the axle/pinion housing but even a halfway solution, in the form of a boot flange update, would a big win for current owners.

 

[Dokatd]

hm. its folding in on itself there and in that case there would be rubber on rubber. do you ever see the rubber up against the metal with the arrow fail, or just the rubber on the shaft side... I haven't seen a pic of the rubber against the arrow that was torn.

It's just rubber folded over itself and pinched between two metal objects. That's why it's not instantly catastrophic. You have lots of compliant rubber to squeeze. The pressure is probably high enough to deflect the metal boot flange a bit too.

 

[C-Mack]

In terms of making a retroactive fix could IA redesign the transfer case flange so it had built-in studs and you mount the cv-joint on with locking nuts? Doing so you could make the bell mouth of the boot flange much wider at the opening as you wouldn’t need to keep it inside the diameter of the bolt holes for installation clearance. You would just need enough clearance to get a wrench on the nuts at the base of the metal boot flange.

 

[Dokatd]

If this would work for stock travel that would still be a big improvement! It just means not using shocks that are longer than the OEM spec.

It does beg the question, could Ineos work with Dana to produce a boot/flange assembly with more clearance? The real upside to this would be the ability to retro fit it to existing vehicles and not be a solution only applicable to future Grenadier production. Yes the real solution is a modification of the axle/pinion housing but even a halfway solution, in the form of a boot flange update, would a big win for current owners.

Yes it could change the game, but it very possibly could just defer failure of the rubber by stretching it too much. I dont know. My current objective is to eliminate the rubber boot situation all together at the t-case. If I can't make that work then I will work on the boot mod.

 

[Dokatd]

In terms of making a retroactive fix could IA redesign the transfer case flange so it had built-in studs and you mount the cv-joint on with locking nuts? Doing so you could make the bell mouth of the boot flange much wider as you wouldn’t need to keep it inside the diameter of the bolt holes for installation clearance.

Yes, and Inhave bought a couple other boots I thought might do that. Some are shorter as well. But nothing seems to be truly an option off the shelf.

 

[C-Mack]

Yes, and Inhave bought a couple other boots I thought might do that. Some are shorter as well. But nothing seems to be truly an option off the shelf.

Bugger, this is where I wish companies liked Agile would put their energy into DIY kit with a flange and revised boot like this. Surely, with their resources they could pull it off rather than wasting time on teeth rattling u-joint driveshaft.

 

[Guvnor]

In terms of making a retroactive fix could IA redesign the transfer case flange so it had built-in studs and you mount the cv-joint on with locking nuts? Doing so you could make the bell mouth of the boot flange much wider at the opening as you wouldn’t need to keep it inside the diameter of the bolt holes for installation clearance. You would just need enough clearance to get a wrench on the nuts at the base of the metal boot flange.

Having followed this thread since inception & heard all the arguments I came up with the same idea/solution.?
Have a much wider bell mouth with studs on the TC so you could slide the joint on partially & get nuts on once you had a couple of threads to engage. Then tighten fully.

KISS.

 

[C-Mack]

Having followed this thread since inception & heard all the arguments I came up with the same idea/solution.?
Have a much wider bell mouth with studs on the TC so you could slide the joint on partially & get nuts on once you had a couple of threads to engage. Then tighten fully.

KISS.

To everyone who has had the same idea then… “Great minds think alike”.