Were there ever early XJs with CV jointed axles?

Crawling through a local yard the other day and saw a 2.8 V6 XJ with a CV jointed axle, like the ZJs got. Probably swapped in, but just wondered if they were around that early...

 

I was under the impression all stock XJ's had solid axles . . . . . . but I could be wrong.

 

I believe there were.

Rzeppa joints may run smoother than Cardans, but Cardans are simpler - and therefore more rugged - than Rzeppas once you get off pavement.

And, an Rzeppa fails almost immediately when it loses lubrication, and can grenade rather nastily. Cardans can last longer when they lose lubrication, can be relubed (or changed outright) in the field, and tend to only take out the axle shafts when they blow out (vice Rzeppas - I've seen a couple grenade and wreck the knuckle as well on FWD cars! Ouch...)

Cardan joints are more fault-tolerant than Rzeppa - which is probably why they ended up replacing them in the XJ and MJ. The ZJ was considered a "luxury" ride, and therefore retained the Rzeppa joints (if you want luxury, why are you buying a truck? Get a Caddy...

(I know, I know - Caddy offers a truck or two now. So does Lincoln. Gawd only knows why. And don't even get me started on those pregnant roller skates you can get from Europe - BMW puts a damned rag joint in the driveshaft! Stupid...)

 

He means a solid axle that had CV joints at the hubs instead of u-joints.
Edit: 5-90 already posted reply.

 

most older cherokee's (89's) i know for sure, prolly will have them, (the rubber booted axle shafts right??? cuz mine did and i've seen 4 others that my friends have owned that have them also
the funny thing about the 89 cherokee.... if its the limited edition with the power everything.. thats basically the first generation jeep grand cherokee..... it sounds a bit funny but its true

 

More like 1984, 1985, and maybe 1986. I've had five XJs to date - 1987, 1988, 1989, 1989, and 1990, and none of them had Rzeppa joints. All were D30HP, with all but one being CAD-equipped.

 

Very interesting. Thanks Kelly! Can't imagine anyone breaking an axle shaft with the 2.8...

And yes, I should have mentioned this was the 84-86 XJ D30. And up until this last trip to the junkyard, I hadn't seen any 4.0 ZJs with Cv shafts. Butall but 1 this trip had CVs... Oh well. I'm lucky my 95 ZJ Laredo has Ujoints. Maybe its the Upcountry package?

 

The cv joint shaft was only on certain years of the ZJ. I am not sure which years exactly but it was not just for certain trim levels.