So...I got in an accident that banged up the front of my '99 Cherokee.
I replaced the bumper and grill with the one from my 2000 Cherokee.
A day later I noticed that the driver's side LCA bracket also got severely bend.
Saturday (10-26) I tried using heat and sledge to straighten it out, but could only go so far with it still on the Jeep.
On Sunday (10-27) I pulled the front axle.

Here is my plan: Since it will probably take longer to bring the axle to a shop and have them repair / replace the LCA bracket,
I'm planning on pulling the front axle off of the '00 Cherokee and putting it on the '99 so I can be driving it by next week.

My question is, should I keep the '00 front drive shaft with the '00 front axle or does it not matter?

 

They are the same but the 00 model could have the low pinion Dana 30, not really a big deal unless you plan on running large tires.

 

The '99 has a Dana M30/181MM Front Axle
The '00 has a Dana 30/181MM Front Axle

This info is from the VIN loopup Equipment list.
M30? I'm not familiar with that varient.

I'm running 16" on the '99, but might put the 18"s that are on the '00 onto the '99 since the '00 is going to be down over the winter.

 

I don't think it matters. I went into my '99 and '00 parts catalogs.
Looks like all parts have the same part numbers for the front Propeller Shaft.
If I had to guess the 30 refers the the Low Pinion diff that '00's have and M30 refers to the High Pinion like 00t444e pointed out.

 

Thanks Ralph.
I'm going to take a look tonight (if its not raining) at the '00

 

No problem. Lot of stuff comes up like this.
Might want to give this a read.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/research-249236/

 

00 models can have the high pinion or low pinion, post a picture of the axle from the rear side if you want to know. Either way high pinion and low pinion Dana 30 axles are all interchangeable between the XJ, ZJ and TJ.

 

Is there anything special that would make an '00 have one or the other?
Or is just luck of the draw?

 

Here’s a quick pic

 

Looks like a low pinion to me.

 

ABS rings need to be switched too
the ‘00 doesn’t have ABS rings.
Doesn’t that make them not interchangeable ?

 

The axle shafts are all interchangeable.

 

...but all the housings do not have the threaded holes for the ABS sensors

 

Do you have abs? Its easy to delete if you do.

 

i prefer to keep it. Just ordered new LCA brackets, guess I’m going to see how good my welding skills are next weekend.