Front XJ shaft for the rear?

Scored a free front shaft from an XJ When I lift the XJ I plan on running a SYE and this front shaft...in the rear. Is there anything I need to have done to the shaft, or is it a bolt in? BTW I'll be running 4.5-5 inches of lift and 33s.

If it's from an automatic, it'll be fine. Check the centering pin in the cardian and make sure it's not worn out or dry. If it's good, get some extra grease in the centering pin area and have fun.

Should be good to go, but you'll want to check the length once it's on there.

If you need a slightly different length the front shaft from an XJ manual is ~2" shorter, and the front shaft from a ZJ is ~2" longer.

Its from a 89 with the aw4 auto tranyand np242...going in a 97 with the auto/np231

I do mean the outer or stub shaft

just went through this last weekend when I installed my SYE ...went to the Jeep wrecker ...grabbed a front drive shaft from a 98 V8 Grand ...fits in the rear perfectly of my 97 Xj with 5 inch lift ....the V8 shaft has a much larger spline and yoke ...much stronger than the front shaft of the xj ....

xjtroy what is your axle and trans setup? did it fit or was it lengthened?

Yea, this was just free...so ya know lol . Want to make it work if I can, and if its reliable!

it was a direct bolt on ....97 XJ auto 4 dr ....Chrysler 8.25 ...awww i see a freebe ...well then bolt er on ...not sure what your set up is ? but as long as your not running 35's with a V8 under the hood ...Im sure you will be fine ...the best thing about it is ..if you grab another shaft ...you have a spare for both front and rear !!!

My steup now is sotck on 30s..but soon to be 4.5 inches of lift and 33s. I'll more than likley never be bigger than 33s..but you know how that goes lol. I will be geared and locked,with some performance mods. I think it will be fine, I can get my hands on a few more of them.

XJTony said:

just went through this last weekend when I installed my SYE ...went to the Jeep wrecker ...grabbed a front drive shaft from a 98 V8 Grand ...fits in the rear perfectly of my 97 Xj with 5 inch lift ....the V8 shaft has a much larger spline and yoke ...much stronger than the front shaft of the xj ....

Click to expand...

It's a double cardian too right on the ZJ ds? So the V8 ZJ DS is much beefier and 2" longer but still a 1310 Spicer yoke to hook up with the axles and t-case right? I see your post about. I have looked up quite a few ZJs and they have those crappy CV joints. I bet it would be harder to find a non CV driveshaft along with CV front axle shafts on a loaded out Limited ZJ. Well off to the junk yard I go! Sure easier and much less expensive then having custom ds made only to break it later!!!!

I run a stock XJ front ds in the back with a Rock Track 241 Rubi t-case and it is really stretched out with my 9" and 8-9" lift. I have to find me a ZJ front ds too!!! :guitar:
Wow, what else was left of the 98' ZJ. Was this the rare 5.9L? Any V8 ZJ has front coils good for about 2" lift and the front seats bolt on the XJ seat sliders.

The XJ or now I hear ZJ front ds works great in the back of a auto with a SYE kit or a 241 Rubi t-case which has the SYE kit stock. I like using the stock ds as cheap drivetrain fuse. I haven't broken 1 ds yet with 37's and 5.43 gears with HP44/35 spline 9" but then again I don't hammer on it all that much either.

Nice mod, do it and then you are good f/r at least for your ds needs! ;-)

Troy

Someone posted this reference for DS lengths in another thread recently.
http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J321-CV.PDF

First no one asked what sye you were planning on. if a hnt no it will not work. Also from my understanding and veiwing the V8 grand is an inch longer with all the same parts, running the same DC and same tubing. So the whole "being stronger" is incorrect, but is one inch longer. Both run 1310 U joints.

ZJs with AWD-only(ie 249,etc) came with the crappy CV(not a double cardan...forget what you call this kinda CV...a CV!) style front DS, and axle shafts.

Stock XJ and ZJ front shafts are pretty strong...and very cheap! I have 6.25" of lift on my 99XJ with 4.0/AW4/231 AA SYE/D44 and custom tom woods shafts front and rear. They're beefier than a stock XJ shaft, and have longer spline engagements. Definitely the way to go....if you can afford it. However, the other day wheelin I busted a yoke and messed the rear driveshaft up a bit. So, busted out the cheap XJfront shaft as a spare, and wheeled another 2 days like that. Have been driving it around liek that since....cause I haven't made it to the shop that will refurbish the slightly banged up DS yet. I know a few people who exclusively run XJ shafts for rear drivelines with larger tires than me...even 39.5, with no issues with busting them at all. If they did bust one, they've got spares!!! If the length isn't just right, you can either have it lengthened/shortened, or put another female end of it on there with a longer or shorter shaft to either lengthen or shorten it yourself. Mix and match!

The 249 AWD t-case was found behind the V-8 ZJs so I don't know how anyone could get a non CV driveshaft from a V8. It's possible I guess (based on the response above about pulling the V8 ZJ front DS and running it), but you'd have to do a fair amount of looking around to find a non CV double cardan front DS. I'm going to be doing this because I need the slightly longer ZJ front driveshaft for my rear DS with my Ford 9" being as low as the pinion comes out of the diff as well as being lifted 8-9". The stock XJ DS in the back is really stretched out.

Wow that Dana DS manual is very helpful, from what I saw:

XJ: AW4 auto front DS is 30.660"
XJ: AX15 manual front DS is 29.250"
XJ: AW4 auto rear DS is 28.620" (listed with dana 44 rear axle)
XJ: AX15 manual rear DS is 27.080" (listed with dana 44 rear axle)

ZJ: 4.0L/auto/242 t-case front DS is 31.750"
ZJ: 5.2L/5.9L w/ auto & 249 t-case front DS is 29.600"

So from this chart a 4.0L ZJ front driveshaft will give a 1.09" DS length increase which help me, but not all that much...I was hoping for a 2" increase, but for a cheap stock OEM DS it works.

I wish all Jeeps came with dana 44 rear axles, it sure would be nice as the chart seems to think all the Jeep had these nice rear axles from the factory!

Troy

I got the Advanced Adapter SYE kit with the Tom Woods drive shaft for a 4.5" lift. It messures 34.5" long. I have the stock front shaft that messures 32.5" from a 89" XJ.
So that extra 2" may be good thing to have during flex.
At leats that's what she said! :roflmao: