Axle Help Needed!

[BIG BAD JON]

Well, Im in the process of doing SOA now. I pulled my front wheels off, and was checking my U-joints for play(dont know why I decided to do it now), and noticed that my inner axle flops around in the housing.There is nothing there to keep it in place. What is wrong? Was there a bearing there? :confused:

[Crazy_Jeepman]

There is no bearing in the axle tube, but there is a bearing in the spindle that supports the outer axle. The U-Joint should keep the inner axle aligned and tight, if the inner axle is flopping around then the U-joint is bad or the bearing in the back of the spindle is bad.

[BIG BAD JON]

Okay. Just the U-joint then...THANK THE JEEP GODS!!! :D

[blt2krl]

You say the inner axle is flopping around? There is an inner axle seal that may be tore. It shouldn't cause the axle shaft to flop around though.

[Bombadier]

yeah, when you put the axle back in the tube, be gentle (because of the inner seal), but push it firmly into the housing, and the spindle holds it in there.

i found that it's easy to keep the axle and u-joint in position and seated by fitting the spindle over the axleshaft, and sticking a large pry-bar through the u-joint and holding it so the axleshaft doesn't slip out while i'm fitting the spindle back onto the knuckle.
I also took off the differential cover and had an observer look to see if the inner axleshaft was seating fully.

[tomd]

Jon, like i said last night, it sounds like a u-joint to me, but if its flopping around, the seal probably isn't in real good shape either.