Loose Weight on Rear Driveshaft

[jac04]

So I was poking around under my Mojave and noticed quite a bit of weight added to the front section of the rear driveshaft. I've never seen this much weight spread out so much on a driveshaft.

But, I noticed that one of the weights is loose. It rocks back & forth on the 2 spot welds holding it in place. The other 3 weights are solid. I marked it and photographed it because I can't see any way that the weight won't eventually come off.

Anyone ever noticed anything like this?

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[Haley]

It's a rotational balance, and probably not a good thing to have fall off unless you want a wobbly driveshaft that eventually blows a u-joint. I'd call your dealer.

 

[brianinca]

I would be back to the dealer in a flash.

 

[jac04]

I'll probably stop by the local dealer. There is no question in my mind that this weight is eventually coming off.

I see that Spicer has an upgraded rear driveshaft available (Spicer 10132305) . I typically look at issues like this as an opportunity to upgrade, but $1500 is a little too much money to put into an un-needed upgrade.

 

[jac04]

UPDATE:
About a week or so ago I checked the loose driveshaft weight again, and it was definitely getting looser.

Yesterday, is was GONE. Never noticed anything when driving, but never got above 45mph during that time.

I went to my local small-town Chrysler / Dodge / Ram dealership this morning - it is all back roads and 40mph max. I didn't notice any vibrations, which is good. This dealer is not a new Jeep dealer, but they can do Jeep warranty work. They did some warranty work on my JK, and I buy all my Mopar parts from them. However, this is not the dealer that I bought it from.

Here is how the conversation with the service advisor went:
me: a weight fell off my rear driveshaft, so I'd like to get it fixed.
dlr: sure, we can get you in next Monday.
me: great. do you want my VIN so you can order the driveshaft?
dlr: next Monday is just for the diagnosis.
me: oh. a weight fell off my rear driveshaft - I have a few pictures here on my phone I can show you.
dlr: the pictures don't do us any good, a technician needs to diagnose it.
me: is there any way to just take a quick look at it? it's pretty obvious that a weight fell off the driveshaft, you can see where it used to be. you can literally see it just crouching beside the Jeep if you have a flashlight.
dlr: no, everyone is busy, and I'm not going to look at it.

So, I guess I will try to use my JK until then. I assume that I'll have to wait another week after the diagnosis until the new part arrives.

Anyhow, it's just a little frustrating to have to wait so long for an appointment for a diagnosis when it is such a simple problem to diagnose.

Oh well. Hopefully the diagnosis is pretty straight-forward and I'll get it fixed. The Service Manager was watching in the background and he said that they would have to replace the entire driveshaft.

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