I picked this front drive shaft up at pull a part for 22.50 out of a zj with a v8 and getting ready to install it with using a front yoke off a 247 donar T.C. I bought that was cracked for 20.00 and also the front pinion yoke off the same vehicle a 2004 wj overland for 20.00 any advise before the install or anyone done this swap thanks... I have a 4 inch lift and a 242 T.C. and have worn out the C.V. style joints.

 

I have done alot of research and hours of reading up so hopefully I have all the bases covered to pull this off. I got the 33" on center u joint to u joint measuring fully collapsed as I read to get so if anything ill let yall know how it works out. I read the zj shaft offered the most slip in the slip joint so im looking forward to trying this swap out next week.

 

The most critical part of this swap is changing the front yoke. It must be torqued properly or you'll destroy the pinion bearings. Here's the way to do it;

Take the front wheels off and pry back the front brake pads so the hubs spin free. Then use an INCH-POUND wrench to measure the torque required to turn the front yoke. It should be very little. Then remove the nut holding the yoke on. This will require lots of FOOT-POUNDS because it's an interference threaded nut. Now is the time to replace the pinion seal as well. Remove the CV flange and install the yoke.

NOW comes the tricky part. It will require lots of FOOT-POUNDS of torque to tighten the nut, but the torque-to-turn the yoke MUST NOT EXCEED what ever you had before by more than 2 INCH-POUNDS. What you're doing is preloading the pinion bearings with the right pressure and not tightening them enough to burn up. This involves tightening the nut up just until the yoke doesn't move, then tightening it a tiny bit and checking the torque-to-turn repeatedly until you get the proper reading. I'm not sure about the actual values, but it should be somewhere around 18 to 20 INCH-POUNDS to turn the yoke, but requires up to 150 FOOT-POUNDS to turn the nut. In the write-up I read, the guy used a large pipe wrench with a cheaper pipe locked against the control arm to hold the yoke and a long breaker bar to turn the nut.

Don't trust me, do your own research, but I think you'll find I am correct.

 

Thanks for the info..... I will research the inch pound pre load and torque values on the pinion nut. I think I can bypass replacing the crush washer and ill count my thread depth prior to removing the cv yoke nut but with a u joint style yoke theres no guarantee it will be close. I may go ahead and pick up a new crush washer ill see about it along with the new pinion seal.

 

Got it installed today

 

Seemed to have developed a vibration at 60 mph and up so im going to take the transfer case drop out and see if that want clean that vibration up but all in all it went together sweet.

 

Looks like with the drop installed on the T.C. the front yoke points upward a slight bit so possibly that will change after I take that 1" drop out.

 

I was going to say that front shaft angle looks excessive, but then I realized you have a 4" lift on it.

 

It looks worse with the suspension unloaded on the lift but you can tell the T.C.
Yoke is pointing up instead of level. The C.V. style didn't vibrate at highway speeds. If by removing the T.C. case drop doesn't help it I will pull it and take it to a driveline shop and have it balanced and inspected. This is a used shaft out of a 93 ZJ so it could be a possibility but im going to hope we can fix this issue without resorting to that lol....

 

Well after alot of reading amd running ideas how to fix this vibration at 50mph and up I did find the front slip joint that holds the single u joint is out of alignment about 90 degrees to the double cardon u joint housing so looking at pictures of other drive shafts im going to un bolt the front drive shaft and see if I cant pull the slip joint off and align it with the rear as I see it in the pictures and re install and drive it !!! I'll let you know if it fixed it. I dont know why the slip joint is out of place but its a used drive shaft that somebody could have reinstalled it wrong at some point in its life.

 

No help lol after I took it loose I could tell it was ok just an optical illusion so time to buy some upper adjustable control arms and set up my pinion angle you know that geometry **** lol.... I just took it out until my arms get here hopefully ill have some by the end of this week.

 

Well shiver me timbers, I should have thought to mention that. Looking at your first pic, it's obviously out of sync. Not quite 90* either. Actually, it's only about 20* or 30* out. A simple spline reinsertion should cure that.

Ah, you posted as I was typing. That won't work on the front axle. Pitching the front pinion up will destroy the built in caster on the spindles. You could put a double-carden on both ends of the front shaft.

 

Your right.... yes it is out about 20 degrees or so... there is a centering ball with needle bearings and they could be bad but I think im going to take this drive shaft over to a drive line shop and let them check it. I cant pull that slip yoke off ??? Wonder why.... I could replace all the u joints and center ball myself. Im batting some ideas around in my head right now while I have it out. I read the transfer case drop is actually bad on the T.C. angle... maybe I should take it out and see if it gives my rear drive shaft any issues while im resolving the front but that front drive shaft is definitely out of phase with not being inline.... atleast from what I read and see pictures of.

 

Thanks for your input... its appreciated never hurts to hear advise and listen even if you been there and done it repeatedly is my mono cause you may learn a better way or something new

 

I took 2 pictures with the double cardan yoke laying flat so you could see how much out of phase they are to one another. This could be my dilemma im fighting. A video on youtube I watched about setting up pinion angle said with a double cardan just make sure the single joint is set as close to 0 as possible so I will check the pinion flange angle tomorrow.