i found a couple axles for cheap on CL after attempting my ujoints and noticing my inner axle shaft for my 97 cherokee looks no good. does anyone know if these 89 XJ axles will work in my 97? I know the spline count will have to be the same, and i believe i have a 27 spline but am heading out to count now. Could there be any issues with my driveshaft fitting? or i have heard older axles have vaccuum disconnect ports or something... anyone know more about this? or if they have them what it would entail for me to use them? And has anyone ever heard of a chrysler 8.5 axle? are they usable? i know im full of questions but have this thing torn apart and broke down so its as good of time to learn a few things as any. and ill go ahead and say thanks for all your guys' great help. thanks.

 

Xj's came with either the Chrysler 8.25 or the Dana 35 rear axle from the factory. The newer xj's typically have the 29 spline 8.25, so I would assume that's what is in it, so I would say they probably won't work, but it never hurts to count and see if your axle just happens to have 27 by some miracle

 

my bad ujoint and axle shaft were in the front. i could pick up both axles for 100$. basically i was trying to get off with either swapping the front axle or using the shaft out of it until i could get a nice chromoly axle kit for my original d30 in a few weeks or more.

 

but thanks much for the help. i do have the 8.25. and from what i gathered they all have 29 splines. which sets them right between the 35 with 27 splines, and the 44 with 30 splines.

 

The 89 8.25 has 27 and the 97 is a 29 spline you can swap them with out the problem except the 29 spline is considerably stronger than the 27 and you can have a 89 8.25 and a 97 d30 with out problem. What you do need to check is the gear ratio they have to match

 

89 will not be an 8.25. It's probably a Dana 35.

 

saw a pic in the ad. Looked like 8.25 that is under my Jeep now. Same exact diff. cover. So it may have been replaced.any Quick way to tell how many spline my 8.25 is without knowing the year?. It shouldn't have a problem connecting to the driveshaft or with any of the vacuum disconnect Stuff? And thanks a lot guys. your truly saviors

 

D35 and 8.25 look alot alike in photos.

D30 axle disconnect can be bypassed easily if it's on there. If the 89 had the NP242 full-time t-case there will be no disconnect.

 

Since nobody has said it yet they did not start using the 8.25 until '91, before that they were all the d35. The 8.25 was 27 spline until late '96 they went to 29 spline, they remained 29 spline until the end of XJ production in '01. Also an easy way to tell if your '97 has the 8.25 or the d35 is check if you have abs, if you have abs then you have a d35, no abs you have an 8.25, hope this helps

 

I implied that in post #6. I knew an 8.25 wasn't used in 89 but not when they started using them. Thanks for the heads up.