Hey everyone,

The problem, in descending order with details to follow:
1986 V6 2.8L
AX5 Manual Transmission
NP207 Transfer Case
Rear driveshaft Slip Yoke (Dana 35 rear axle: I'm not positive about this, but it says Dana on the diff cover so that rules out the 8.25, and anything else?)

I'm not too far past the beginning of my very foolish but fulfilling trip in my 86 cherokee I just did a ton of work on to make it safe for the highway. Still rocking the 2.8leaker, it was running pretty great actually. I have plans to put all that info on the "rebuild" into an old thread of mine, when the story is finally finished.

But this happened: My rear driveshaft came flying off my car at 65 MPH on I-12, and my girlfriend and I are holed up in Hammond, LA. I'm pretty sure I know exactly why the driveshaft failed... another part of the story. Miraculously my rattle can front driveshaft, which is very very broken (hence the rattle), limped me several miles down the interstate to a shade tree mechanic.

I was able to retrieve the rear driveshaft after a lovely walk down the interstate, but unfortunately I no longer have the slip yoke for the transfer case. and I am having some difficulty locating one. I spent all day with my extremely patient girlfriend, knocking on strangers doors and hunting "the nice person down the road with several old Jeeps in their yard." Everyone is very helpful, patient, and understanding of my problem so far, so that's nice! Southern hospitality abounds. Of course its a Saturday so most of the junkyards won't be open for another day, and despite the hospitality I'm in pretty unknown territory out here.

What I know:

• My cherokee has the NP207 transfer case, rear output shaft and slip yoke are 27 spline. Counted the splines on the t-case output shaft to be certain, but you probably already knew that!
• No auto parts stores can locate the proper part. they all pull up replacement or upgrade front driveshafts (which I definitely need, but not today)
• None of the junker/parts cherokees in this area that I have found (so far) are in the 84-87 year range that I need to pick from. Still looking, that will be my day tomorrow. I'm trying to stay positive I will find one...

What I need to know:

• I really need a part number for the slip yoke (rear driveshaft) to see if any stores can cross reference it. I checked rockauto as usual, but unless I missed it I did not see the part on there. Did see their upgrade rear driveshaft on there, but I get the impression that's not just a slap it on and go scenario? I also searched the forum here, couldn't find anything specific about this yoke, but there's tons of information and I might have overlooked the details I'm searching for. But I'm in a pretty tight spot here so I'm reaching out.
• Is this by chance the correct part? https://www.actionmachineinc.com/pro...=5130672570405 ?? Because I lack my original yoke, I cannot confirm any measurements listed on that site, and I can't locate any measurements for the yoke online. One thing about the part in that link is that it does not list the transmission in my vehicle (AX5), so I think it may be incorrect.
• From the info I've gathered in some frenzied searching between junkyards etc, I'm wondering if the rear driveshaft slip yoke out of an NP231 would work? I presume that if it would work, it would need to be from an NP231 bolted to a manual transmission? I still would not be able to cross reference any measurements to my original yoke. I searched for the original yoke by retracing all of my steps from the scene of the mishap; in doing so I gave my girlfriends car a flat tire. I'm really in hot water today.
• Is there any other kind of fix for this issue that I haven't been able to locate yet? I have the rear driveshaft, I have new u-joints, I just really need that slip yoke and I'm back on the road.

If anyone has any details on the yoke, or some friends in the area of Hammond, LA that have 84-87 cherokees to scrap, or any other ideas, really I would appreciate it! The ideal scenario is to get a new slip yoke quickly and cheaply, but if I can get a part number and find out how to get it ordered up then I might be able to figure out a way to make that situation work.

THANK YOU!!!

 

The parts diagram is a bit confusing
https://www.moparpartsgiant.com/part...agram=0000046Z

Looks like the yoke is p/n 8350-0143, and the complete assembly is p/n 5300-0036

 

The Jeep parts diagrams show different numbers, but these links imply that the 231 yoke will work if they're listing 84-88 as well?
https://autodriveshaftstog.xyz/produ...aft_drive.html
https://www.quadratec.com/products/RE1822.htm

Looks like the 231 and 207 take the same output seal

But NAPA says Cherokee 1985-1990, "Process 207 & 231 Exc. Transfer Case # 53008207 Thru 53008212; New Process 242", not sure now?
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/OSQ2...al+and+bushing

I'm thinking early NP231 with the extension housing yoke should work?
https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p56...eep_np231.html

 

That one uses a 1350 u-joint, but your rear shaft uses a 1310.

 

Have you tried

www.car-part.com

it connects salvage yards across North America.

 

Thanks man, yes I've seen those diagrams and they are a bit confusing. That part number always brings me back to this: https://www.drivetrainamerica.com/sp...saAlY5EALw_wcB. which of course looks correct, but with no fitment details I just can't be certain and I'm unfortunately not in a position to wait around on the wrong part. There's a part number guide on that website, but it's Greek to me. I tried to figure out the way they had the parts coded in there, but it was late after a very long day. I'll see if I can figure it out again.

Alright, I'll hunt this line.

Super helpful, thank you lawson for doing some sleuthing on my behalf.

Also gonna hunt this line, thank you Mr. Mallard.

 

This is from the interchange guide of a Pull a part that's not too far away from where I'm stuck in Hammond, LA. Unfortunately, none of their locations have any of these vehicles available. I was told by a local that after floods or damaging storms, many of the older vehicles in salvage yards get scrapped for the cost of their metal, as well as to make room for the influx of modern cars that were totaled in the storm. I'd never thought about that, but it makes sense, and apparently it has made these old cherokees even more rare in terms of salvage.

Interesting note from the image above, is that it lists the rear driveshaft from an automatic transmission as interchageable with my manual transmission, so I again doubt the necessity of getting a slip yoke or driveshaft from a vehicle with a manual transmission.

 

I really do agree, this looks promising, but it's difficult to be certain. Does anyone have any experience with this that can possibly confirm this extended slip yoke for NP231 would work? If it is too short or too long for my car, would it result in another catastrophic failure?

 

The Mopar parts diagram shows the same slip yoke for the NP207 regardless of which trans, which makes sense. It shows the same driveshaft for everything but some 84/85 manual transmissions, which probably means those transmissions were different in length making the necessary shaft either shorter or longer but they'd still have a usable slipyoke if you found one.

 

following that logic then, a slip yoke for rear driveshaft off of any cherokee with an NP231 should work? or must it have that extension coming off of the case? were the cases with extension offered during certain model years, or is that an aftermarket addition? there are a few old cherokees nearby me, but the oldest was 1996. I looked at the t-case and driveshaft, it was all complete but I cant remember for sure if it had that extension housing although I think not. It had what looked like a metal cup surrounding the slip yoke.

 

Just bought some cheap tools, thinking of pulling rear driveshaft from a 96 cherokee to see what's up and count splines, but donor vehicle may not have 4wd and will have auto trans. Any thoughts on if that will work?

 

Output shaft on a 2wd trans instead of the xfer case probably be a different spline count and size. I did a big more googling, and I think the 231 slip yoke is 27 spline and 1.5" OD and will fit the trans, but the question is length. It looks like the yoke from a Wrangler 231 is 5/8" longer than the Cherokee version (one comment was that's what RE is selling as an extended version). I don't know if the 207 version is shorter or longer. As long as it's engaged enough, and doesn't bottom out when the suspension cycles it should be fine.

 

Hey guys, sorry for the long silence but I did get this resolved with some persistence and creativity. Thanks again lawsoncl, for your help in sleuthing out the right part number for me.

Here’s what I ended up doing: I was on a pretty tight schedule and didn’t have the luxury of waiting on a special order part. It was the weekend, so I was pretty well screwed, but I begged my way around people’s backyards, and in to a closed junk yard. I ended up revisiting the closed junkyard to confirm our suspicions, a 2wd cherokee has a slip yoke of different size and spline count (21 splines and much larger diameter). By pure luck, and thanks to some research I’d already done in finding sources of parts for my cherokee, I was on my way out of the junk yard and spotted a 1984 Chevy S10 4x4. I got a bit excited because I knew they had very similar or even the same drivetrains (for the most part). The s10 was basically sitting on the ground, so I pulled the jack from another junker, raised it up, crawled underneath... and after I scraped all the dirt away I found what I was looking for “NP207” stamped on the t-case. Hallelujah. I pulled the driveshaft out, and confirmed another suspicion. Spline count matches, but the ears for the slip yoke are designed for a larger u-joint. Whatever, I was desperate so I went for it. Ended up making a Frankenstein driveshaft using the u-joint that was already on the s-10 slip yoke with caps from the u-joint for my driveshaft. It took some creative “machining” with a grinder and hammers, but we got the larger u-joint in to my driveshaft. Then the caps for my u-joint/driveshaft combination miraculously fit over the larger u-joint ends. I thought this is where I would really get stuck, but I guess when we ground the u-joint ends to shorten them up, altered the taper and the smaller caps then fit. But the caps were protruding slightly and wouldn’t accept the snap rings they’re designed for. The gentleman who was helping me called up his old buddy, we welded the caps in place, I put the driveshaft in, and I was back on the road.

I drove with that Frankenstein driveshaft for 350 miles straight at about 60 MPH with no real issue. The only thing I noticed was a significant increase in vibrations on my car, which I expected but didn’t love. It made for a tense drive, but everything held together! I’ve since replaced it with a junker driveshaft from an old cherokee that I ordered from car-part.com after I had the luxury of time. Now the vehicle is back to running smoothly! I”m trying to figure out the best way to share some pictures so this makes sense.

 

got lucky and noticed this 1984 s10, 4x4, that had an NP207 t-case to match my cherokee.

pulled the driveshaft from s-10, removed slip yoke, and started figuring out how to make the more robust s-10 u-joints fit the yoke/ears of my driveshaft

cap for cherokee u-joints is too small for robust s-10 u-joints

cap for s-10 u joints will fit the smaller cherokee u-joints, but would have been too large to fit my driveshaft. I was more comfortable altering the u-joint from the s-10 to fit my driveshaft than I was altering my driveshaft to fit the u-joint.

did some shadetree machining until the s-10 u-joint would fit my driveshaft, but still didn't think the cherokee u-joint caps would fit.

because we had to shorten two sides of s-10 u-joint to fit cherokee driveshaft, the small caps fit!! it was dumb luck that the caps went over the u-joint after this minimal grinding. I think grinding the ends off removed a slight taper, and the small caps fit fine. but as you can see they wouldn't go in enough to accommodate the snap rings.

we resolved the unclipped caps with this permanent solution. my factory driveshaft was pretty thrashed from banging down the road at 65 MPH, so I already knew a complete replacement was in my future. I was mostly comfortable taking this risk, because I was desperate.

Boom. Frankenstein driveshaft in place. It got me where I needed to be, saved me costs of food and another night in a hotel, and saved me the uncertainty of only possibly being able to acquire a cherokee driveshaft after the weekend was over.

a side by side of my frankenstein slip yoke with a factory cherokee slip yoke. you can see that the slip yoke from the s-10 is larger, heavier duty, and as noted it takes a bigger u-joint.

 

That is awesome.

I'm glad you got it figured out and made it home okay. Thanks for the pics and the update. Definitely an interesting read!