Just in case anybody is wondering what the results were, it seems that the
problem was the _front_ drive shaft's slip member. Pretty much all vestiges
of the factory lube were gone. I greased it up as well as I could , and that
eliminated both the play in the shaft and the mysterious vibrations.

All is good.

/Peter

"Peter Pontbriand" <sprocket@storm.ca.remove.me> wrote in message
news:chv6pb$d85$1@news.storm.ca...
> > > I was just thinking ... is it possible that it is the front shaft that
> > > vibrates when running in 2Hi, but doesn't vibrate when under load,
i.e.
> when
> > > the rear shaft is removed?
>
> I just spent a bit of time under the jeep, checking into the things you
guys
> mentioned. The rear shaft sure doesn't look bent, I used the same trick I
> use when truing bicycle wheels on it, slowly bringing a chunk of oil
pastel
> to the spinning shaft, and it made a complete, even circle agains both the
> slip member and the tube.
>
> With the transfer case in neutral and the rear wheels in the air, the rear
> drive shaft doesn't wiggle. However, if I jerk it straight down with a
> significant portion of my weight, I seem to hear/feel the faintest of
clicks
> but can't see any movement. I can't really tell whether it's coming from
the
> double carden area of the shaft or from the transfer case tail cone, but
my
> money is on it being the bearings in the transfer case. However, what I
> don't know is whether this is normal or not. It is very slight indeed.
>
> Moving to the front of the jeep, I did notice quite a bit of play in the
> slip member of the front drive shaft. There is a visible movement, perhaps
> as much as a couple of millimeters. I'm going to remove the front shaft
> again and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.
>
> /Peter
>
>