Which axles shafts are compatable?

Well, the warm air is starting to come, and I will be wheeling more. From my very limited knowledge, I have been told if I break an axle shaft with no replacement i am FUBAR'd on the trail. I wheel 1-1.5hrs from my house, so that is a bad situation.

I have a '95 XJ with a D30 up front, and a 8.25 out back. Which shafts will fit? Will ANY D30s swap in, or are there certain years? Does it matter if it is an XJ, ZJ, TJ, MJ?

Also, lets say i do break one, what exactly do i do?

thanks!

Any d30 shafts from a non disconnect XJ, MJ, TJ, YJ, or ZJ will fit. Avoid CV joint axleshafts (some ZJs and some 84-86 XJs iirc), avoid 260 sized u-joint shafts (84-94 non ABS equipped vehicles) and the rest are fine. WJ shafts will not fit and are CV joint anyways. If you want to be lazy you can buy them with the unit bearings still installed (will cost like 10 bucks extra at the yard) which makes trail swaps easier.

8.25 - any 27 spline shaft should fit. 91-95 XJs with the 8.25 and some early 96 XJs (count the splines and make sure there are 27) as well.

If you break a front shaft:
* foot off the gas pedal IMMEDIATELY
* 36mm socket and breaker bar to loosen hub nut - easiest to do before you jack the thing off the ground. Skip this if you bought your spares with the unit bearings still installed
* jack it up, take wheel off, take brake caliper off (12 or 13mm hex head bolts)
* take rotor off (bare hands or BFH depending on rust situation)
* unscrew 3 12-point 1/2" (or 13mm) bolts behind steering knuckle. You'll need a big ratchet.
* use a sacrificial socket and a BFH, or the bolt and power steering trick to push the unit bearing out of the knuckle. If you are broken on the trail, the bolt and power steering trick will probably be dangerous because you're on a rock garden, off camber, etc.
* yank old shaft out, shove new shaft in (might have to fish out the broken off stub of the splined section if you get unlucky.)
* reassembly is reverse of removal, you curse in different spots though

If you break a rear shaft:
* foot off the gas IMMEDIATELY
* get out your drain pan, gasket scraper, 1/2" socket and ratchet, 5/16" 6 point box wrench of good manufacture
* loosen lug nuts, jack up, remove wheel, remove brake drum
* grab your drain pan, pop the diff cover, spin carrier till the cross shaft retaining bolt is in front of you. Remove it with the 5/16" wrench
* slide cross shaft out most of the way, do not spin spider gears. Push the shaft in far enough that the c clip drops off, then remove it. Install new shaft, reverse procedure...

A lubelocker or other reusable gasket on the rear diff makes a huge difference. I hate messing with RTV. A 9x12 foot sheet of 6mil painters plastic from home depot makes a huge difference too, you'll generally break in the one spot you do NOT feel like doing axle work in (rock garden, mud pit, etc... my last bad break was tranny lines punctured on a muddy, rocky hill climb.)

also, a D30 XJ ABS shaft will fit a non-ABS equipped XJ. Not optimal, but in a pinch, I'd rather run the bigger U-joint on a 95+ ABS shaft, than an earlier non ABS shaft with small U-joint.

kastein said:

Any d30 shafts from a non disconnect XJ, MJ, TJ, YJ, or ZJ will fit.

Click to expand...

fantastic info, exactly what i was looking for, thank you. one question though, what does "non-disconnect" mean?

assuming you axle is also from a '95, yours won't be a "disco" axle-- early 231 equipped XJ's came with a vacuum operated shift fork in the front right axle housing to disconnect the wheel from the differential.

If you're pulling a JY shaft, just verify the housing doesn't have a large cast housing with a vacuum diaphragm on the right side before you pull the shaft.

RenegadeT said:

also, a D30 XJ ABS shaft will fit a non-ABS equipped XJ. Not optimal, but in a pinch, I'd rather run the bigger U-joint on a 95+ ABS shaft, than an earlier non ABS shaft with small U-joint.

Click to expand...

Uh, WHY is it not optimal? ABS equipped XJs always got the larger u-joints. Even with the tone rings, they'll slide right into a non-ABS XJ axle (assuming both are non-disconnects.)

Yeah, literally the only difference between a late model big-joint shaft and an early model ABS shaft is the tone ring. The knuckle is the same ABS or no ABS (at least past like 92, and I think it's true for all of them) so there will be absolutely no clearance issues.

Several years ago, I replaced u-joints, and by necessity, axle shafts and tone rings on a friend's 92 XJ w/ ABS. The u-joints were so rusted in place that the u-joints were going to be a bear to press out, and the tone rings were so corroded that there were almost no gaps left to sense.

The tone rings came separately from the axle shafts. Upon seeing this, the owner of the XJ looked at me in some despair and said, "No press. How are you gonna do this?" Easy, axle shafts in the freezer, tone rings in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes. Slid over with leather gloves, 2 seconds later, a faint TINK, and they're still running to this day.

ChiXJeff said:

Uh, WHY is it not optimal? ABS equipped XJs always got the larger u-joints. Even with the tone rings, they'll slide right into a non-ABS XJ axle (assuming both are non-disconnects.)

Click to expand...

If I don't have ABS, the optimal setup would be big U-joint shafts w/o the tone ring. I was just trying to point out that the shafts with the tone ring will work on a non-ABS rig, sorry for any confusion.

I didnt know they never made ABS shafts with the 260 joint, that's good to know.