Hi everyone, here is my write up on how to lube the slip yoke on your Jeep Cherokee XJ. I’ve had a clunk when stopping in my Jeep, I assumed it was something wrong with the rear end, but it turned out that these splines just didn’t have any grease. If anyone has any questions, leave them below and I will try my best to answer them, also if anyone has any advice, please leave that below too.

Step one- Use penetrating fluid on the 4 8MM bolts
You can see 2 of the 4 bolts here, and a bit of the 3rd bolt at the top, I can’t take a picture of all 4 bolts because, well, there’s a driveshaft in the way. Spray these at least the night before your job.



Step two- First you NEED to put a block behind the wheels and put on your emergency brake, once you take off the driveshaft, your vehicle will basically be in neutral. Use common sense. Next, I recommend taking off the CV Clamp off the boot right by the transfer case, these are a pain to get off if you don’t have the proper tools. I used vise grips on mine and it popped off. There are two clamps, take off the smaller one closest to the differential, taking off the bigger one is not needed. It is necessary to take off this clamp, you can do it now like I did, or do it after you take out those bolts at the differential.



Step Three- go back to your differential, and mark with a paint pen, or a marker where your driveshaft lines up with the differential, I’ve heard that this driveshaft is not balanced in relation to the transfer case? But I would rather just be better safe than sorry.


Step Four- Take off the 4 8MM bolts and take off the clamps. Be very careful not to break these, I would recommend replacing the hardware, which I didn’t do as my hardware was in decent condition. These bolts came out pretty easily.

Step Five- Once you take off the 4 bolts and the two clamps, which will come off when you take off the bolts, you can now pop off the driveshaft. Be VERY careful that the caps do not come off the U joint, one of my caps came off but none of the inside components fell out, so I just slipped it back on. Also if your U joints accept grease, this is a good time to lube them. To get my U joint off from the differential, I had to use a hammer and lightly tap on the caps of the U joint. It came off once I did that.



Step six- after that, the rear of the driveshaft should be in your hand, from there, simply pull on your driveshaft and it should pull off of the splines at your transfer case, you might have to pull a bit, and the boot might move a little bit. This is what you should see



Step Seven- Once your driveshaft is off to the side, get under the Jeep and clean the splines with a rag and a cleaner if your choice. I sprayed a bit of brake cleaner on a rag, and cleaned the splines like that. As you can see there was a bit of grease on the splines, but it wasn’t much and is probably the original grease from factory. Also while your under there, go back to the differential and clean where the driveshaft meets onto the differential with a wire brush.



Step Eight- Go to the female end of the driveshaft and clean in there too, as you can see there was zero grease on mine



Step Nine- Use either a high quality grease, or use anti seize. I’ve heard mixed results with what to use. Some people say grease lasts longer, other people say anti seize lasts longer. I opted to use grease, moly graph grease made by CRC. Pack a bunch of grease or anti seize inside the female end of the driveshaft. Once you grease that end, go to the transfer case and grease the male end too, more is better than too little in this case.



Step Ten- Slip on the female end to the male end. There may be some resistance because of all the grease. Once you push it on, go to the back and line up the marks you made on the driveshaft and the differential. If they don’t line up, go put the Jeep in neutral, then you can move the driveshaft back and forth to get it onto the differential. Once it’s all lined up, simply put on the two clamps and 4 8MM bolts. I used blue locktite on my bolts. Torque these to 14 foot pounds. Then grab onto the driveshaft and try to shake it. There should be no movement or play in it if everything is tight. For the boot, either re-use the CV clamps, or like I did, use a hose clamp. It works just as well.



From here, go for a drive and see if your clunk is gone. Upon my test drive I was very happy, my clunk was completely gone. I have so far driven about 180 miles after lubing the splines, and the issue has not re-appeared, it also seems to make less noise when going over bumps.

This job is very simple to do, and only took me a little over an hour, mainly because my U joint was rusted to the differential. This was also my first time ever taking off a driveshaft on any vehicle. If your having any clunk noises when stopping or even accelerating, this might very well be your issue. It seems that only the 96+ have this issue, the 95 and below have a spline that’s lubed automatically by the transmission fluid. If anyone has questions, feel free to list them below, or even if anyone has any tips, please list them below.
Hope this helps!

 

Beyond 8mm do you know the thread and length of the hardware? Can be handy info for ordering new before digging into the job.

 

If you Google Dana 35 strap kit, you get the straps and bolts,

good to keep the old ones as trail spares, as the straps are are a weak point

 

Good write-up. I've since gone the SYE route for other reasons, but when I had the factory axle I found the moly grease to be the best, like you say.

 

Not sure of the length, or the thread. I did take a picture of the bolt though, so maybe you can tell the thread from the picture

 

They are not 8mm, lol. People use 8mm sockets on them because everyone always has metric more available than SAE. That's why people always complain about rounding them off. Those bolts are very specific due to the small head on them. You won't be able to find them at the hardware store, unless you want to run allen bolts in your yokes. They are 1/4-28-1/2 small wrench. They take a 5/16 socket.

 

Thanks for the info, 8MM seemed to have fit well, but 5/16 may fit better

 

Maybe Lowe's won't have them, but my Ace Hardware might, and the online fastener places for sure.

 

Nice man... thanks for sharing... will keep this in mind for mine in the near future