Powertrain Industries Jeep JK front drive shaft

[Timmy]

Well, I was hoping to post a write-up here, but... URGH!!!! All the work to take the old driveshaft off and put the new one on, and amazingly, the new one is too long by maybe an inch, and of course, Powertrain Industries isn't open on the weekends. I have triple checked that I ordered the right part, part #3194-2125, front drive shaft for Auto & Manual trans for a 2012-2014 Jeep JK 2 or 4 door https://www.powertrainindustries.com/search.htm?search_catalog_for=jk+wrangler&search_by=all

Hopefully once I get this worked out, I'll post write-ups. Until then, just two words of warnings to everyone. 1) This part number is not fitting my Jeep. 2) You NEED to replace your stock front drive shaft after you lift 3" or more. My boot on my stock drive shaft at the transfer case was torn from the sharp angle and has been splattering grease all over the underside. Jeep only had 7k miles on it, probably only 5k with a lift. The stock front drive shaft is for sure getting trashed and I wanted to replace it before it failed or did damage to something more expensive.

So, now I'm just a rear wheel drive Jeep. Makes me feel like I was just neutered ;-(

Here's a pick at the front diff. This is with the shaft FULLY COMPRESSED! As you can see, TOO LONG!
847

Look at all the grease that has been whipped up by the old driveshafts torn boot. Made it a little more difficult to work and get bolts out as everything was pretty slippery!
848

[JeepLab]

SNARF!

you are above 3 inches with the mc lift... How's your boot looking?

Timmy, great catch on the size issue, I cannot imagine having the jeep in pieces without a possible resolution before Monday.

[Snarf77]

My boot is ROUGHHHH. I do need to figure out a shaft solution pretty soon. At least sooner than later. I wheeled pretty hard this weekend and its not looking good. I honestly expected a failure this weekend giving me a 50/50 shot. Let us know how it goes with the shaft issue you're having. I'm in the market and want to hear about each of these companies before making a decision.

Timmy..liberal application of brake parts cleaner over a drip tray! That should fix your grease problem. Oh..wear safety glasses of course!

[Timmy]

Got in contact with Eric @ Powertrain Industries. He was surprised the length was too long. He said they run these in batches of 10 at a time, so if they messed up, he would have expected 9 other calls given that the build date shows sometime last year. He's thinking that maybe one of the shafts got miss-labeled, or that possibly the wrong yoke was attached on for shipment. Either way, he sent me a pre-paid label and said they will fix it and send it back. He indicated the yoke should have to be extended at least 1 1/4" in order to even be bolted up.

I'm really hoping this issue was just a miss-labeled part or wrong yoke attached and not poor quality control on the build side of things. The bummer is, now I have to go swap their yoke out with the factory on the Jeep so I can ship them the yoke. The swap won't take too long and I'll just stay neutered for a while longer, I just didn't want to have to get under again until I had the right shaft ;-(

[Rexx19]

I would have had them send a new one, trusting you to return the incorrect one. The way you trusted them to send the correct gear in the first place.

[Timmy]

I would have had them send a new one, trusting you to return the incorrect one. The way you trusted them to send the correct gear in the first place.

I would like to, but that is not an option. I purchased the drive shaft from a company that has gone out of business, that apparently purchased it from an authorized re-seller of theirs. As such, there is no real paper trail on this so they won't just do a swap. Now don't get me wrong, they COULD swap it, but they won't without the paper trail so they are offering to "fix" it. I pushed pretty hard for the swap but I couldn't get them to budget, so I'm taking what I can get.

[Yoinkers]

I would like to, but that is not an option. I purchased the drive shaft from a company that has gone out of business, that apparently purchased it from an authorized re-seller of theirs. As such, there is no real paper trail on this so they won't just do a swap. Now don't get me wrong, they COULD swap it, but they won't without the paper trail so they are offering to "fix" it. I pushed pretty hard for the swap but I couldn't get them to budget, so I'm taking what I can get.

How can you be sure they will send it back "fixed"? ugly situation. My heart goes out to you. nothing worse than having your rig on the shelf in prime wheeling season.

[JeepLab]

How can you be sure they will send it back "fixed"? ugly situation. My heart goes out to you. nothing worse than having your rig on the shelf in prime wheeling season.

They would be crazy not to send back the corrected shaft. It would be the end of their business.

As far as drive shafts overall, has anyone done anything any other company? We all have lifts, but it doesnt seem that we all have upgraded drive shafts.

[Timmy]

Just got word back from Powertrain Industries. They received my drive shaft and after examining it, it appears it is not their standard front drive shaft. The customer (ie. reseller) that ordered this, ordered it as a full spline vs. partial spline. I guess this provides for more travel (extension) over the partial spline. I guess that rock crawlers that build crazy articulating rigs like the full spline for this extra extension. All this being said, he did indicate that somehow the shaft was built exactly 1" too long.

Long story short, because it is a full spline shaft, he said it would be in my best interest to let Powertrain shorten the shaft, re-balance and re-paint it vs. shipping out another in stock. He said if I ever sold my Jeep to someone that was going to rock crawl, they'd spot the difference and they would prefer it over a partial spline. For my type of driving and lift, partial or full spline just won't make a difference as I'll never stretch the shaft enough to begin with.

[Timmy]

Just a quick update. Got the shaft back, took about 30 minutes to get it installed and I'm back on my way, not longer a neutered little Jeep. Test it out in 4high and 4low and all seems good.

The shafts can be expensive, ranging from $300 to $700, but the install is cake and much better than watching your old shaft get torn to pieces with just regular driving (remember, that sucker spins even if your in 2wheel, so your stock one is getting trashed even just running around town if you have a 3"-4"+ lift.)

[Yoinkers]

Have you wheeled the new shaft yet? any chance of some finished pics?