Long story short, i snapped the mainshaft on my t case on my 96 xj, so im using a couple pieces from a 90 wrangler np232 and installing an sye.
My question lies here- in the pic you can see the wrangler main shaft on top and the xj on the bottom.
The wrangler shaft has bearings in the inside of the gear and that brass intermediate gear while still in the case, this additional gear allowed for minimal play.

The xj gear has no bearing and rides directly on the shaft, and does not have the middle gear. While in the case, there was a lot of play, but it appears that it was designed this way. I prefer to use the one with less play, but using the one from the xj means i dont have to press out the brarings.
Why are they different? Any info about this will help

 

Edit: thats a 90 wrangler np231, just a typo