Here comes the snow... Help!

Dana 30 front on an 88 chief... Loud pop this afternoon when I was checking over the 4wd... Shift fork snapped and no one in town has one... normaly I wouldnt worry but were set to get a nice amount of snow and being able to get around would be nice... heres the question. When I go to the junky tomorrow morning what other than a cherokee can I look at to get a fork ( I have heard that a certain year dakota will work?) any help would be appreciated

thanks, kyle

You could just replace the axle with one from a non-disco front... not the whole axle just the axle shaft, plug the vac lines and put a tin plate over the hole for a temporary fix. you will probably end up doing the seal too.
If you have a good jeep shop they might have one of the cable kits too but I don't know if that comes with a fork. Never understood why they ever had that disco axle..
YJ's also used the disco axle.

Depending where it broke you should be able to reverse it to lock the axle.

I plan on putting in a posi lock(cable actuator) later on this month but I just need a fix for the weekend... I like the disconect on the axle and do not want to replace it but i need a fork( it snapped in two right where it mounts to the shaft... so does any one know if I can snag one off of another vehicle AkA a chevy or dodge ect.. what years to look for?

I would imagine that a fork off of any XJ or YJ would work. Don't know about the Chevy or Dodge though. There should be plenty of dead XJ's or YJ's in the junk yard. Heck, like suggested above, just get a one piece axle out of a newer XJ and forget about the goofy disco axle.

I plan on keeping the disco for the reason that Im not doing heavy trail duty but in the future I would like to put a locker in and be able to quasi disconect it.. it may be flawed thinking but thats what I would like to do..
I am still asking if any one knows... did dakotas have a forged iron fork? or else is there any other vehicle that the d30 w/vac disco that I can look for?

You just said you wanted something to get you thru the snow, a full axle shaft will do that with minimal [somewhat minimal] work if you can't find a shift fork.
I don't know what other models use a disco front, I've seen them on other trucks but can't remember off hand as I only saw them when they were up on lifts.
The axle shaft change was discussed on here a few weeks or maybe a month or two ago, I just remember inner seal being mentioned. Too bad you were'nt closer, I have a complete YJ rolling frame with a D30 disco on it in back of the house, we're doing a frame change and are in the process of stripping and refinishing it for one of our YJ's whose frame is shot. Only pia part is the rusted one has D44's that we have to move over too.

As for a locker up front, I'd go with OX, ARB or Elocker and eliminate that vac disco myself but thats just me, I dislike the vac setup and that shift fork for the reason you are looking for a new one, it's a semi-common problem and never happens when it's warm and sunny out...