Front driveshaft bad?

Hey all, i recently pulled the front driveshaft out of my mj to chase some freeway vibes i have. during my inspection of the undercarrige, i pressed up on the front driveshaft and realzed that where the slip yoke is, the driveshaft moves up and down about 3/8 to 1/2''.

does that mean my front ds is toast? i have two, but the cardan joint is different. how easy is it to switch? the one on it now has the 4 bolt holes on a bracket that comes off of the u joint, the old one has four threaded bolt holes on a strap that goes over the cap.

That seems pretty loose... I don't think it should be that bad. Swapping it out should be an "unbolt the old one and bolt in a new one" sort of job if you have the right replacement, I'm not sure what you're describing with the different cardan joint (can you post pictures?)

Can't you just swap in an XJ front shaft from a similar equipped rig?

That would require going to the junkyard and finding an xj with a 242. I looked today and saw two, one missing axle and DS, the other missing just the DS.

heres pics.

old


new