jlow1979

got a 1997 jeep grand cherokee v8 full time all wheel drive (zj), Its lifted 3'' got 33's i just ripped my front cv style drive shaft out wheelin this weekend, so i just picked up a u joint type front drive shaft from a 1997 grand cherokee 6 cylinder now im not sure what diff i have in the front, but are all the yolks interchangeable ? so i can install this.

xjdave95

does the rubber cv style shaft have 6 bolts at the transfer case? cuz a double-cardon(u-joint style cv) just has the 4 bolts at the transfer case

jlow1979

no on mine at the t case it has the splicer 4 bolt ..and at the front diff it has the 6 bolts

xjdave95

oh i see you're planning on swapping the yokes on the diff? in that case it should have a dana 30 and yes it should swap over

jlow1979

cool now one other question is, my front diff has cv style axles going into the hubs can i swap those out for instead of the cv style but use the universal joint style has this been done or it wont work now remember i have a full time 4 wheel drive zj not part time? thanks.

xjdave95

yes you can swap the cv axles for u-joint style axles they did it on Trucks! on their project cheap cherokee

OnAll4s

See I'm lost.... What's the difference?

jlow1979

thanks for the help...

jlow1979

i thougt this would be an easy swap of drive shafts, but i guess not.
i have a 292 transfer case i used a universal joint style drive shaft with both yols from this shaft and for some odd reason the god damn thing will not fit i compressed the drive shaft till it bottoms out and try to fit it into the yold but its just about 1 inch to long to fit between the transfer case and the front diff is there something im missing with this swap.
my parts in my truck
d30 front diff 292 transfer case cv style in my truck

parts i picked up universal joint type frnt drive shaft
matching front yolk and matching transfer case yolk from the parts jeep with a 242 transfer case ...both the cases look to be the same size and there front diffs are the same what am i missing ?

my thought maybe the yolk needs to be tightend more to sink it in the dif ..im stumped

jlow1979

ok did a search people are saying the drive shaft is to long after 95 so now i need a shorter drive shaft wtf ?? anyone

xjdave95

according to this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_fo...-drive_systems
zj's had either a np242, a np249 or a nv249

jlow1979

ok so just for anyone who is interested, and or cares about doing the cv drive shaft to u joint style drive shaft swap. i found that on my 1997 v8 grand cherokee with full time 4 wheel drive transfer case. that the only universal joint style drive shaft that will work is from a 1991 to 1999 jeep cherokee sport. i just found one at the local junk yard deliverd for 40 bucks. installed it with new u joint and fully greased works perfect..no binding no vibrations. i can turn full lock to lock and works great ...thanks for all help leading to this working now on to the cv to u joint axle swap ..

OnAll4s

I'm still lost? What's the difference in cv an u joint style? Preference or is one better over the other?

jlow1979

im guessing its stronger than the cv style inside the cv style ones there are ball bearings and a caseing that under extreme load will snap and the bearings will fall out and you wont have 4 wheel drive .so i used the universal style its supposed to be stronger with the splicer style universal joint and more comon to find parts for ..so its all prefrance i like the universal style ..