Front Driveshaft Rebuild

[Jrama]

Little background information, this shaft is only about a year old...yes mud happens, I don't goin search of it but if its an obstacle on the trail I'll do it.

I have been hearing the familiar sounds of  a squakin  front driveshaft, So sure enough i pull the frontshaft and the the jeep is quite once again. So i decide I'll take the shaft apart and have look.
 


I get everything apart and it looks great as far as I can tell, The U joints all have tons of grease, and the CV ball itself is not dry , still real smooth . So My dilema now is pin pointing exactly what is it in the shaft that causing the noise refferd to as "Angry Sparrows". I understand that usually it is the CV part of the shaft that loses its lubrication. Any suggestions here before I bring the shaft into a shop?

Right now my best guess, its to just replace the CVball unit with a new one, I was looking over this http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/driveshaft/driveshaft-5.htm write up and my CVsection looks very similar to the one he replaced

[Elsifer]

Typically (at least on my jeep), the u-joint at the front diff yoke gets the most angry. I have changed that ujoint up to three times before the cv needed attention.

But check your front pinion bearing too. Mine squeaked before it started to go, and I thought it was the ujoint.

But in 4low, going downhill, I hear a whacka-whacka-whacka, more like a squirrel getting the snort beat out of it by a baseball bat. And that is my pinion bearing.

Your mileage may vary. But Pats Driveline will sort you out real good.

[Jrama]

Yup, I'd be there right now, except that Pat's and every other shop I can think of are closed on weekends. The U joint at the front diff was in great shape as they all were. The CV section however, is where I have no experience. The centre ball thing in the middle of the ball centering assembly  was greased, but around  the perimater sides around it etc was black grimey, certainly not greased as well as the other parts It definately has come in contact with some debris, but there are no real signs of wear other than the grease being thicker and dirty. As for the pinion bearing I will look into that as a possibility