I was working on a buddys cherokee and saw his had a cv axle in the drives side front axle. Is this stock?

Not sure if it can come from the factory like that or not but my buddys XJ has them too. We came to the conclusion that it was probably a highway contractors vehicle (has holes from mounting laptops and other equipment) and either it was ordered from the dealer that way or the contractor had them changed due to lots of highway driving.

Don't think they ever came stock, but they are a pretty common OEM replacement from parts stores.

Question: Which transfer case do you have. I have seen several XJ's with CV joint front axles and they all had the NP242. I assume the factory installed these to improve the NVH on these vehicles.

It's my buddies jeep and it has the 231. Left side is cv. Right side is u joint

Has dana 35 rear and it also has abs.

I could be wrong, but I thought that the Grand Cherokee's came with the CV style axle shafts, cherokee's where always U-joints. But they could be interchaged after the fact. (was a AWD GC thing IIRC)

The Grand Cherokees with the NP249 transfercase came with CV style axles up front and a CV front drive shaft to keep the AWD from binding up.