ujoint or CV axles

a while back I broke the front long side drive axle on a trail in my 2000 xj. the u joint ripped out and destroyed the wheel side of it. being on a trail and then not knowing how to take the hub assembly apart(and then not having all the right tools) i drove it 5 miles out to the highway and 20 miles on the highway back home. it was catching the other side of the axle the whole time, i tried to wire it up so they wouldent catch eachother but no luck. So when i tore it apart i needed a whole new axle and new spider gears. could not find an axle close by or cheap so i swaped both sides to cv drive axles from a wrecked 93 grand cherokee. so far its working fine but i havent been on a hard trail yet. are the cv shafts better or worse than a u joint shaft? i got one from autozone and it has a lifetime warrenty on it so im lovin that. what do you think?

Thanks

The cv's are weaker than the u-joints no doubt about it. But if you needed a whole new axle and spiders how did the CV units fix that for you? Or do you mean you put in a ZJ D30?

As a xj and kj owner I think CVs suck, but thats my personal opinion. If a u joint breaks you can usually just replace the joint, a cv blows your out the whole shaft. Also you can usually catch u joints when they are worn and replace them before they go bang. Unless your heavy on the skinny pedal then it doesnt really matter.

They're no where near as strong as a u-joint shaft.

I did and would recommend for you to take stock XJ shafts and ground down the ears of the shafts so they would accept full circle c-clips. I'm using Spicer 760 u-joints with 35" Mickey Thompson's and they have yet to even loosen up.

The main reason for a shaft to break is the c-clips pop off and the u-joint cap spits out causing the ear of the shaft to "egg out". The full circle c-clips prevent the cap from spitting out of the shaft.

veedubshafer said:

The cv's are weaker than the u-joints no doubt about it. But if you needed a whole new axle and spiders how did the CV units fix that for you? Or do you mean you put in a ZJ D30?

Click to expand...

I only needed the drive axle. i found spider gears from something else not sure what but i think it was a wrangler that a shop had put an ARB locker in...there was like 10 spider gear cases just sittin there in the back of a van. the zj had the same D30 my xj had so the only difference was the cv shaft and u joint shaft

anyone know where can i get a u joint axle long side for cheep?

junk yard....

From a junk yard, '96 up - any Cherokee or Wrangler will have the large u-joint axles(297- as opposed to the 260-)and one piece axle shafts. 96- back, any Cherokee with the Selec-trac (NP-242 Xfr case)and antilock brakes will have a non-disco axle with the 297 u-joint.

For what it's worth, my buddy Nick (hanaxj87) has been running ZJ cv shafts for years, locked on 35s.

The only one he's broken was goofing around in his driveway (all locked on pavement.)

The upside is that if you do break one, it won't pop your ball joints, like a ujoint can.

Robert

Im sure a member around you has a spare, post in you local chapter.

Nevermind.

That's not quite true. Look at the years he lists.

My 94 does not have the disconnect axle, and came with 260x u-joints.

If you have the money, longfield CV axle shafts are much stronger than the standard u-joint shafts. That being said, high quality alloy shafts are plenty strong for a few hundred bucks less.