NP231 rear drive shaft removal and install

Wow. It must be drive shaft season. No sooner did I get the XJ back together then my youngest son walks in and says his YJ is making a weird noise.

Using my recently found driveshaft experience, I traced it down to the pinion u-joint.

QUESTION IS: Can I simply slide the drive shaft out of the 231 tail cone, then slide it right back after fixing the u joint?

I don't know what it looks like or how it engages inside the cone.

Short answer, Yes. Just a standard slip-yoke setup, as it's not an SYE.
Mark the DS location to put it back the same, sometimes can cause vibes if installed different.

Thanks I am going to break it down tomorrow.

Will probably pull the cone too and change the seal/bushing while Ian in there.

Does a place like NAPA press seals in for customers? If I bring the cone in to them?

It varies, depending on who is working and what that store is equipped with tool-wise.
Those type of seals are easy enough to change though.

Interesting. Autozone had a timken seal in stock, moog u joint and "jeep" specific bearing straps at the local store. That with using their u-joint press - I got it done and back on the road in short order - even on a federal holiday. No jeep down time for the high schooler.