'90 D30: Non-disco, ABS.... 297's?

I learn something every day with these dadgum XJ's. Here's the situation:

A guy calls me looking for a replacement pass. side axle shaft and unit bearing for his '90 Laredo. I ask if it's got the vac. disco unit, he says no so I gather his Laredo has the 242 t-case, non-disco axle and like all the other XJ's I've ever parted out...... should have 260 joint axle shafts. So, that's what I sell him.

He calls tonight and again confirms that he has a non-disco axle, but his Laredo has ABS with the sensor/ring on the stub shaft..... and a bigger bearing cap on the destroyed axle he's removed than the shaft I sold him.

I'd never heard of this before and had him measure the caps - sure enough, his busted shaft has 297's. News to me. I'd never heard of 297's in any D30 prior to '95.

So, he needs to get a replacement that works so he can keep his ABS.

I assume that the sensor ring on the original stub shaft can't be removed and placed on the 260 shaft I sold him right?

If he needs to get it on the road before he can source a correct ABS axle shaft, can he run the 260 shaft and disable his ABS? What's the best way? Remove the ABS relay/fuse?

Thanks in advance!

Yep, the ABS equipped axles had 297 U-Joints. I felt like a bandit when I sold my old axle for $20, got twice the core charge. Wish I'd kept those shafts after all.

Since his old shaft is trashed, I would measure the stubs where the tone ring mounts. It may be possible to remove the tone ring the same way you change a ring gear on a flywheel.

The Bendix 9 brake system is a real bear to stop without the electric booster pump. The few times I had to get the heep home without power on the brakes, I thought I was going to break the seat for pushing the pedal that hard. The best workaround for the system is to completely replace it with a vacuum assist booster, MC and PV from another XJ.

If the tone ring is the only real difference, I'd be giving that a hard look.

Frank Z seems to think that any ABS shaft from a ZJ will work........

Anyone know for sure?

YELLAHEEP said:

Frank Z seems to think that any ABS shaft from a ZJ will work........

Anyone know for sure?

Click to expand...

Yes the ZJ shafts will work because that is a common upgrade for the older cherokees due to them running the bigger u-joints. As long as there both D30's. And also providing they havent had aftermarket lockers with higher sline counts installed.

YELLAHEEP said:

Frank Z seems to think that any ABS shaft from a ZJ will work........

Anyone know for sure?

Click to expand...

Just make sure that the ZJ tone ring has the same number of teeth.
Early XJs had twice as many teeth on the tone ring.