Axle Disco. questions

Ok I have a '91 XJ 4.0 HO that is stock, but is going to be going under construction in the next few weeks. A few weeks ago I went out wheeling with my buddies and my four wheel drive would not engage, not a big deal just couldn't really do any of the fun stuff with them. Got back into town and started looking into what caused it, sure enough it was the notorious vac. axle disco. so I ordered up the 4x4 posi-lok and installed it. It worked fine the next couple of times we went out but then it stopped engaging the axle. I didn't replace the shift fork when I did the posi-lok install so I thought maybe that was it, ordered a new fork and installed it... still no dice on the axle engaging.

What else could be causing my front axle not to engage? Shift collar maybe?

TIA for any help.

You can see if its ingaged, you may have a broken axle.

damn.

yeah i was fearing that. I can slide the collar over the other side so I know it is engaged for sure, but the passenger side wheel still turns. sound like a busted axle? shiesty...

oh forgot the other question

How hard is it to replace the front axle? can a DIY'er like myself do it pretty easily?

bumpity bump... want to be able to go wheel this weekend...

another bump...

I took off the diff cover just to see what it looked like in there, when I turn the driver side wheel i can see the gears move. When the passenger side wheel is turned with the shift collar engaged onto the intermediate shaft the gears dont turn... another sign of a busted intermediate shaft?

any help appreciated...

It's possible for the splines to be stripped where the shift collar engages both shafts. It's easy to swap out the shafts, simply remove the caliper and rotor, unbolt the hub, and pull all the junk out.

thanks, we got it done last night. it was pretty simple, the intermediate shaft was all jacked up... well not really that bad but it slipped a few of the splines on the diff side (enough to make it not work right). Oh well it's fixed and ready to hit the trail on saturday!