Thanks Travis. The guy doesn't know what year it came out of or what vehicle. He did confirm 23 spline. I read the Naxja thread. It appears this one came from a KJ Liberty.

Not having a provision for a speed sensor is probably a deal breaker for me. I want to buy one that will be as close to "plug and play" as possible. I want to avoid ripping one out at the junkyard to save the hassle, but if one ever shows up, I might just have to go that route. Then I will know the model, year, mileage and be able to grab the wiring, shifter bezel and even the driveshafts if I want.

 

Yup! Just stock to the NAXJA thread and you'll be fine. If you are wanting to swap in a 231, there's plenty of research and documentation! Good luck!

 

I'm looking to swap out my 231 for a 242 but I will probably keep the 231 unless I can do a clean trade.

 

It's a silicone like gel used to mark if a bolt has come loose.


A quick bead is all I need. It is tacky enough to atick to a part fine but brittle enough to break apart when sheared.

 

I've scoured the internet for reproduction tags or just blank unstamped tags, with none to exist. I knew I could recreate it. I contacted (quite a few) shops on Esty when finally one pulled through.

All I had to do was create a vector file of the tag. I thought that was going to be the end of it, but I found it super easy with a mobile app that I downloaded. I sent the image over, got confirmation that it would work, and it showed up in my mail a few days later. Here's what I got:


These are the stickers I ordered from Etsy. The color is a little off but I think that's my fault. They are full clear stickers with red ink ontop. It feel like really nice quality and the seller claims them the be waterproof.


I removed all the paint and cleaned the metal.


I built up layers of sharpie into the stamped parts of the metal and wiped off the excess. Good thing the stickers are waterproof.


Then I applied the sticker. It is actually kind of iritating that the second row was stamped slightly off center.


Shes ready to throw back into the Cherokee!

For anyone who is doing a rebuild/resto-mod or just want to touch up their transfer case, I have 24 stickers left over. $5 a pop and I'll mail them to you. Send me a PM 😁

 

I'll try to remember about the stickers when I get to that point!

 

I finally had some spare time to throw the transfer case back in!


An hour later I got her bolted up.

She got some (expected) battle scars fighting with the cement floor and jack. A transmission jack would have been nice!

After I get the wiring and breather hose connected, I'll have to sort out the shifting linkage as well as getting the driveshafts reconnected. More to follow on those!

 

When you get to the off roading you said was a few years down the line, a transfer case skid off of a ZJ is a great fit for the 242 transfer case. The 231 skid is hard enough to find, and it won't clear a 242 with enough of a gap to let the driveline move. Every skid plate I've ever bought at the self service junkyard was $15 or less.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like on the XJ, you'll have to scroll a bit.

XJs with 242 or the Up Country group are hard enough to find separately, much less together. And to be honest, the ZJ skid with its much wider coverage probably protects the transfer case better than the narrower XJ skid would.

 

Wow I'll tell you what! The ZJ ones look waaaaayyyyy better than the stock XJ ones! I am legitimately impressed! Compared to the OEM XJ ones, the stock ZJ skid plate look aftermarket 🤣 I'm definitely going to pick up one! Thanks for the heads up!

Also, nice build 😁😁

 

Okay so before we start with the driveshaft rebuild, I need to verify that a XJ adjustable front shaft will fit in the rear with this set up. (For anyone wondering the specifics, it's a 96 XJ with 4.0, AW-4, shortened 242HD, what I believe is an 8.25 diff, and a sagging rear end)


It does fit! From mounting surface to mounting surface, its 31 1/4 inches.


Theres around 1/2 left of adjustability until it is fully collapsed.


I am still using the double cardan joint.


Also, I know you cannot see it well, but the rear leaf springs are sagging quite a bit.

So I do not know exact how much of the mainshaft was cut, but I was left with about half an inch of clearance before it is fully bottomed out. Other people with a different engine, transmission, suspension, and rear end may have more travel. For me, this is acceptable because it will work for the time being since I do not offroad my XJ, and because I do plan on lifting it in the near future.

Now that I know it will work, let's get to rebuilding both of these shafts!

 

As any Jeeper would suggest, I bought Azzy's Design Works NP242 shift linkage. And of course with the basic theme of my life, I did mine slightly different than normal. Check it out.


So it's pretty straight forward and lot of people have it so i won't go too far in depth on the installation, rather what I did differently.


The OEM linkage has a 25 year old rubber bushing that is not compatible with the kit, nor do I want it so it's got to go.


Quick and easy work with a razor knife left me with this. Why Chrysler designed it with such a deep recess is beyond me. There was super thin metal left behind in the openening.


I threw a washer in there to fill the inside of the void so it will make full contact. Not like it really mattered but I tend to go overboard when I engineer something. I also put the bolts in backwards. There was enough room but I just wanted to be safe.


Yoy can see here that the linkages are not on the same plane anymore and Azzy showcases their product and sandwiching ontop rather than behind. The turn-buckle is fully articulated but I do not like it regardless.


This is my remedy. I simply shaved one of the two brackets down so it won't interfere with the OEM bracket.


I put the bracket on "backwards" so that the linkages would be level for the adjustable turn-buckle.


Side view of the backwards bracket.


Installed! Super simple to install. I moved both arms to the rear to prep for the turn-buckle. I bottomed it out as short as possible and installed one side. Then I opened up threads to make the second mointing point line up. Once it was square I mounted the other half and tightened everything down good.


Even with the second bracket reversed, you can see there is still a slight angle. I am perfectly comfortable with this. Better than factory.

Any one one whose bought this would say, I am extremely happy with the quality. I did not like how Chrysler designed the bracket and wish Azzy did more to compensate for this as well as notching out the other plate. Apart from that, a turn-buckle made from hex stock would have been really helpful, but I understand all-thread rod is way cheaper.

Stick around to see what I improve next!

 

It ain't much, but it's honest work


Got the rebuild kits, just gotta clean them shafts then reassembly.

 

So long story short, to buy 6 new universal joints and the labor required to revive these old driveshafts, I decided to save up a little and buy new ones. Unfortunately, they aren't Tom Woods or any other name brand ones, but they are made from all brand new parts, and most importantly, I know for a fact they are freshly balanced and won't be the reason my jeep develops the infamous death wobble.


Ebay special, but still better than what I had.


These things look great! Only single complaint is they dont have greasable u-joints.


I bought brand new hardware, and got them installed immediately!

 

I believe I already answered my reasons as to why I chose to use two front driveshafts, but I sure someone is going to ask about the specifications.


These are replacement front shafts, so this "should" be the stock clearance given the front suspension is almost 30 years old. Theres about and inch of compression left for suspension travel.


The rear sits at about a half of an inch away from full compression. This is perfectly fine, let me explain.


My rear leaf springs are completely flat. So this would simulate suspension compression under normal conditions if the leaf springs were proper.

The front ride height from tire to fender is 4 inches, and the rear is 1.75. With the leafs sagging, I've got a few options. I've looked into junkyard leafs, compatible vehicle leafs, OEM replacement leafs, add a leaf, and those are all okay. The most interesting option out of all of those would be an OEM replacement. But honestly if I'm going to buy new leaf springs, I might as well get an aftermarket lift kit set that solves my problem and makes the whole Jeep much more appealing. I'm talking like 2 to 3 inches of lift, nothing crazy. This would also help with how much driveshaft is compressed under normal load, and inadvertently how much I got left to play with.

So I guess now that this is done, my next major purchase would be a lift kit 😁

 

So the last piece to the puzzle is four bolts. It's easy to skip this post, but I just wanted everyone to see how thorough I'm trying to be with this build.

The front driveshaft's double cardan attaches to the fixed yoke on the transfer case with four bolts. Because I did a slip yoke eliminator kit on the rear, it was replaced with another fixed yoke. So I didn't have the four extra bolts to reuse in the rear.

Now normally I would like to buy new hardware when possible, as I just bought new straps for the differential ends of the driveshafts. But I could not find these bolts locally at the auto parts store or hardware store, so I resorted to online.

After thorough online investigation, I couldn't find these bolts new anywhere. I'm not sure if I'm calling them the wrong name, but I straight up couldn't find them. They're not normal bolts; the head is roughly the same size as the shaft instead of larger like normal bolts. This is because of the spacial constraints accounting for the size of the socket (I believe) Either way I had a better bolt that I would much rather use instead.



These are called safety wire bolts, or lockwire bolts. They are mainly used on aircraft and performance vehicles where safety standards are exceptional. These bolts are all conjoined with safety wire in such a way, that if a bolt starts to loosen, it starts to tighten the wire and all of the other bolts attached. The only way to remove the bolt is to cut the wire. This method is sometimes used on constant velocity joints and driveshafts.



Long story short, the problem I ran into is that I absolutely could not find a 6 point, small head, 5/16x24 thread pitch, tension bolt. I found plenty that met all of the requirements except for one. I really wanted the tension bolt, but absolutely could not find one in a 6 point.

The small head and thread pitch are variables I cannot change so I had to choose between the two. Even though the bolts would not come loose with the lockwire, I would have a hard time trying to extract then drilling and tapping the driveshaft if it had rounded off. In turn, I can always use loctite on an OEM 6 point bolt while I continue my search.



I simply cleaned them up with a wire wheel, degreased them, and hit them with some self etching black primer and called it a day before applying loctite. Eventually I'll get those aircraft bolts. One day. 😎