hey- my 16yr old brother was just driving his 92 cherokee w/ a 3.5" suspension lift- he was going about 20, and went off a drop-off , bottomed out the suspension, and broke the U-joint of the Drive shaft at the rear axle- (did he over-extend the DS?) and gave me a call- sweet. can he put it in 4x to get power to the front end, and drive the 1 mile uphill to the house? or is he SOL until moring to get a flatbed?

heres a generic pic- but he broke the right u-bracket that holds that center core in place
http://dodgeram.org/tech/repair/U_joint/marks12.jpg

 

im 250 miles away- lol

 

I went 15 miles back home in 4wd in my old cherokee when it threw a rear ujoint.... Just slid the rear drive shaft out of the trans, locked it in 4wd and awaaaaay I went...... Sure it wasn;t good on it, but I drove it 2 years after that and didn;t have any problems that I could blame on doing it.

 

so the DS is dragging on the ground, its not connected to the rear diff any more sorry i keep laughing and thanking that i wasn't driving it- so if he straps up the ds to the undercarriage so its no longer dragging, he should be okay? should he still slide the shaft out?

 

The drive shaft will still be turning...If he's enough of an Einstein to have broken it this well, I'm not sure he should be trusted to try and do anything besides call a tow truck.

 

 

1 mile should be no problem. I did 10 miles on my '79 F150 with just the front wheels turning. This was after I twisted the yoke off in the rear. Just check the driveline to ensure that nothing's left connected that could be flopping around under the truck.

Grim

 

The key is whether or not he can slide the driveshaft out of the t-case without the t-case peeing all over the road. I can't speak for the Cherokees, but for the F-150, the t-case uses a positive displacement fluid pump to lube the rear bearing on the output shaft. If you slip the output shaft out, you need to somehow keep the fluid in the t-case. I know a guy that taco'd his driveshaft at the sand dunes (after the axle lift block shattered). We pulled the shaft, then used some silicone, a water bottle, and some duct tape to fashion a cap for the rear of the case. He limped it home 175 miles that way (after bolting the rear axle back down on the factory blocks).

-Joe

 

thanks guys for the heads up- im sure he thanks you-

Haahahhhaaa! i swear- that used to me my Jeep before I bought this truck- sure I beat the crap out of it daily, but I took care of it, wasn't stupid with it...like Kevin. he lifted it a month after he bought it from me- it creaks like a ****- didn't replace any of the poly bushings anywhere in the front suspension- so three months ago, the bushings for the sway bar give-haha- then a month ago he blows the ORIGINAL clutch...they take it apart and replace the master cylinder, but then look over at the clutch plate, and he's somehow broken an arm off the plate- WTF. and now this.