JE Reel

jeeeep

Hooked
hmmm did anyone notice how the 2 guys that have supposed issues with their JE Reels have recently joined :thinking:

OP, if it were me, I'd find another shop....
 

10frank9

Web Wheeler
hmmm did anyone notice how the 2 guys that have supposed issues with their JE Reels have recently joined :thinking:

OP, if it were me, I'd find another shop....

Yeah folks want to chime in against what we recommend here on Wayalife. And I sure as heck didn't see them recommend an alternative. Just here to badmouth Reel.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I had a JE Reel front drive shaft 1310. The slip failed on me. Had a bad vibration at 100 km/h. Had a new one made at a local shop. Nice thing about using a local shop you don't have to ship it back to get it fixed(I live in Canada too). If it's close in price I'd do it local. Why not support them. Just make sure they use quality parts. My JE Reel shaft is not fixed but is now my spare.

Funny, you never mentioned how much caster you have set. Not like that would ever cause any vibrations.

I have front and rear 1350 shafts built by Reel on our 10 JKUR and unfortunately have a vibration in the rear shaft. Reel tried to fix it but gave up. Occurs between 55 and 65 mph which is troubling. Going to look into using the Rzepa joint on a new shaft. Some of out club members have done this with good results.
Rick

Welcome to WAYALIFE. What adjustable rear upper control arms are you running to set your pinion angle? Got any pics of what it looks like?
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
This has been talked about a lot I know but i have sort of a different question...

A local 4x4 shop i went to for a drive shaft is pushing for me to get a custom one made by them they have a local drive shaft shop they will warrenty it and balance it with fluid or something inside...

I told them i was just going to buy a JE Reel shaft from northridge and they highly advice against JE Reel, Tom woods and coast because they ehar many guys have horrible vibrations, unbalaced, bad ujoints and so on...


How many of you guys who use your jeeps a lot and have a lot of miles on your shafts have problems? is this true or are they just trying to make a sale?

Cheers

First off, your shop is full of it and as others have mentioned, is just trying to get you to by their shaft. Having said that, IF they use Neapco or Spicer u-joints and can build you a well balanced shaft for about the same price as a JE Reel, it might be worth considering. Why? Because dealing with a local shop will make it cheaper and easier for you to get it rebalanced or serviced.
 

rickca55

New member
Wow. So that's the way for profit forums work? Can't tell the truth about any sponsors products or you get flamed? Great.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Wow. So that's the way for profit forums work? Can't tell the truth about any sponsors products or you get flamed? Great.

Wow. So that's the way a first time poster like you trolls a forum? I asked a legitimate question and the best you could do is accuse me of being a "for profit forum" that will flame you for telling what you call the truth. By the way, since you seemed to have missed it, JE Reel is NOT an advertiser of this forum AND, I even went so far as to recommend that the OP consider his local shop for a drive shaft. You my friend are a tool. :naw:

Why do you do us all a favor and go back to whatever other forum you came from.
 
So basically everyone agrees if the shop can build the shaft for the same price as a JE REEL (canadian dollars) which is like 560$ for a 1310 and 880$ for a 1350 then it would be a safe bet plus warrenty work is easier to get done... otherwise just buy off the shelf JE REEL or coast or what every brand you prefer...
 

10frank9

Web Wheeler
So basically everyone agrees if the shop can build the shaft for the same price as a JE REEL (canadian dollars) which is like 560$ for a 1310 and 880$ for a 1350 then it would be a safe bet plus warrenty work is easier to get done... otherwise just buy off the shelf JE REEL or coast or what every brand you prefer...

Be sure you get Neapco or Spicer u-joints. Those are the key along with the warranty.
 
Yeah he only ever uses Spicer on everything they build, and he said it will be made with .188 wall tube and made so that it fits my lift size perfectly so not much of the slip joint spline is showing for maximum strength and droop... just want a deffinate price before i say go ahead and make one
 

olram30

Not That Kind of Engineer
Doesn't a drive shaft get shorter at full droop? Just curious myself since this is a drive shaft thread.
 

jhires

Member
Doesn't a drive shaft get shorter at full droop? Just curious myself since this is a drive shaft thread.

That depends entirely on suspension geometry and how it is drooping. One side, both sides as would be of both were in the air, and also compression. Admittedly I know nothing about the wrangler link suspension geometry. I've only experienced a problem with drive shaft length on a leaf spring suspension. Once when over compressed when I jumped my pickup and shoved the front drive shaft into the transfer case. Expensive lesson for a 16 year old.

When you do lift your rig, and you keep your axles located where they are supposed to be, the distance between the output of the transfer case and the input of the axle will be further apart. You need to maintain enough stretch and compression in the drive shaft to prevent either bottoming out or over extending. So a longer drive shaft is in order to keep the same or better tolerances.

Another problem often faced is binding of the U-Joints from the angle now being much sharper. Some older Jeeps (TJ, XJ, others?) also use a slipyoke instead of a telescoping drive shaft which slides in and out of the transmission and often are not nearly long enough for the added travel at the same time cause the angle to be steeper, causing the need for a slipyoke eliminator kit to convert it to a telescoping drive shaft.

Aftermarket drive shafts often take all of these problems into account.
 

Kilroy

New member
Im new on here but not new to project jk. i have used local shops before for shafts on my lr witch is unheard of as i think i am the only one running a one peace rear shaft on my lr. checking here is the best thing you could do these guys here have been breaking parts for some time and take their nohow and experience to heart. Just do your research on shafts your local shop have done google there name and you'll most likely come up with forums that have info on them and the reliability. Just my 2 cents
 

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
Cool video! I'll have to watch more of the wayalife videos. Maybe I'll learn something ha ha.

So the video doesn't really show how he broke both shafts + the tie rod. Did he just land too hard or something?

Tires spinning at full speed and come to a complete and sudden stop. He's probably lucky he didn't break more.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
When measuring for a new drive shaft, is it better to do it at ride height or full droop?

Sent from my DROID4 using WAYALIFE mobile app

If you are still running factory axles, there is NO need to measure anything. Just pick up an off the shelf shaft and it will work fine. Aftermarket shafts are made with enough slip to accommodate most any standard 3"-6" lift just fine. IF you are running a 60 or bigger, then you would need to measure for a shaft as it will need to be shorter and this is something you would at ride height.
 
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