• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

XJ front driveshaft with 242 SYE?

baseballneal86

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Damascus, MD
I posted this reply in another thread but thot it would get seen more on its own.

I just finished putting a Hack n Tap SYE on my 242 case and an XJ front shaft WILL NOT FIT. It is about 3 inches short. I pulled the shaft myself from an XJ with the 4.0/AW4/231 combo which is what I thought was supposed to work.

I'm taking it to a driveshaft shop later this week hopefully.

Is there anybody running an XJ front DS on a 242??
 
i can verify that a 5spd REAR shaft is 2" longer.. but he is asking about the FRONT shaft.. i saw it suggested in another thread as well and was interested in if there is any facts behind it.. guess not...
what about a PRE-87 rear shaft?? i had an 85 with select-trac and the rear output was a FIXED YOKE and the slip-joint was in the center of the shaft.. i should have pulled that shaft before i scrapped the rig...
 
Opps soory I should have read the thread more closely you are talking front shafts.

5spd rear shafts are longer than an autos which would make the front shaft shorter. No help to you. Sorry for the confusion.
 
The way I understand it to work is.... you must have a AW4 auto w/ a NP242J TC with a fixed yoke hack and tap...and the kicker...a 87-89 D44 rear...the front shaft for any (231 or 242) drive shaft will work ...as the fronts are the same length on both TC....another kicker.... as long as they are from a donor with the AW4...The AW4 is longer...making the front shafts longer than the ones from donors w/ manual trans. SOOOO! you must get one from a xj w/ an AW4

I'm working on this as we speak....just pulled a front shaft from a 92 w/ AW4/231...laid it beside the original shaft from the donor that i got my D44 from.... which had a AW4....approx. 1/2-3/4 shorter....reall needs about 1/2 added to shaft....but may work for now.....will advise on progress!
 
I used a front driveshaft from a 99 aw4/242 combo in the back of mine with about 4 in of lift and a 8.25 axle. The shaft is a little shorter that I would prefer but it works fine. We'll see what happens when I drop the d44 in.
 
That's good to know...I'm still building my D44....and I have a 8.25 in there now....I tried measuring the two from axle center to yoke saddle....looks like the D44 is 1/2 inch longer...or the same....hard to tell with one still up underneath

I'm going for about 3.5 - 4 on mine also....hope this plan comes together!

did you use the fixed yoke or the flange SYE....gojeep has a write up on his site that uses a fixed yoke...but his is a pre-96 that had the long tailshaft case!

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoSYEconversion.htm
 
Last edited:
A ZJ front shaft is about 1-2" longer than an XJ front shaft with an AW4/231. That may do the trick for ya.


I've got a 99XJ with 6.25" of lift, AW4/231/D44 and a tom woods rear shaft. I busted a yoke and messed up the driveshaft a while ago. Stock XJ AW4/231 front shaft fit in perfectly! Still running it 2+ months later....haven't gotten around to having the tom woods shaft fixed yet.
 
anybody look at a TJ front shaft, I believe they are longer than a AW4/231 shaft and some tj's use heavier duty shafts that look pretty beefy compared to an xj's
 
Back
Top