question about dana 30 axle shafts

Has anybody ever seen a dana 30 driverside axleshaft which is the short side that has a heavier than normal yoke and thicker than normal shaft? i have pulled quite a few of these at the local u-pull it yards and i have 1 out of a 95 xj laredo that looks and is much beefier than the other shafts i have pulled, the main body of the shaft is at least 15% thicker than the norm and the yokes ears and body are also thicker, im thinkin i might have found an aftermarket shaft but the rig was bone stock, passenger side axle was already pulled.

yup been there seen that before. I think they are stock but not sure. I have also seen some that were splined into the ears which was really really odd.

I believe 95 was the first year for the larger x297 u-joints. Is it possible that all the ones you pulled previously were from 94 and older vehicles? Those have the x260 u-joints.

It could also be a YJ shaft. I will see if I can find pics of the difference. The yoke is very beefy compared to a stock early XJ shaft and the shaft itself has a noticeable difference.

Most likely they had a shaft changed. in 95 they changed the shaft ears toa larger size when they up graded all D30 to 297 u joints. before that D30s with ABS only had the 297 and the others had 260

w_howey said:

It could also be a YJ shaft. I will see if I can find pics of the difference. The yoke is very beefy compared to a stock early XJ shaft and the shaft itself has a noticeable difference.

Click to expand...

i wont say this is wrong.. but the shafts i pulled out of my YJ last week were basic 260X shafts... now the 297s that i replaced them with were considerably bigger at the yoke end but the rest of the shaft was the same diameter as what came out (with the exception of the disco-shaft that was replaced by a 1-peice)