Do I upgrade?

Ok money is real tight right now and my girlfriend's car is dead. My 94 Xj will have to be the daily driver now. Well I was doing the once over on it and found the u-joints for the front axle to be toast, there was way too much play. Anyways would it be more cost effecient for me to replace to the 297 axle and joint or just replace the 260 u-joints for now. Is this a safety hazard to just drive it down the highway without using 4wd? I'd like to wait till after Christmas because the girlfriend's income is no longer there. :dunno:

Just replace the u joints. You could just drive around with them also. 4wd is very nice to have if you get a snowstorm too.

I'd just replace the joints and upgrade when/if you snap them. You won't snap them just driving around.

You can drive without replacing them. You can not use 4wd with them like that.

I've driven most of the summer on one that goes 'click,click,click' with the wheel speed. When I finally changed it, there were no needle bearings on two sides.

Ok thank you for your input guy's I really appreciatte it. Put's me at ease for a bit.

boise49ers said:

You do need to hope you don't need to use 4 wheel drive. If you break one there is a good chance it'll take out the stub axle. It is about a $10 fix for one side. Pulling the hub sucks unless you have air tools.

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Only, if its never be done before, or the last time noone used never-sieze on it. But I've never used any air tools. A 2 foot breaker bar for the hub nut, and a chisel and a 32 oz ball peel hammer for the hub itself.

Anytime you break a ujoint in 260 axle you probably are going to take out a yoke. Just how it was designed.