Running 2 different axle shafts

[imtehbeef]

So I picked up a front end out of a 96 with ABS with all the control arms for $150, already out of the vehicle. It was missing the passenger side axle shaft, so the guy gave me a non-ABS axle shaft. This poses 2 problems for me.

 

1. What the hell do I put on these axle shafts for u-joints? Its my understanding that the only difference in u-joint size is between ABS and non-ABS. Is that true?

 

2. Is running 2 different types of axle shafts going to cause issues? I could put the drivers side axle shaft from my old non-ABS axle in, but I like the beefier shaft that it came with.

[dfreeman616]

1. measure it and find out, there are plenty of non-abs shafts with the larger 297 u-joints.

2. no it shouldn't matter.

[mvusse]

After I blew up a (small) u joint I replaced the driver side shaft with one with the larger joint, while keeping the smaller on on the passenger side for a few months.

 

Last may I separated an upper ball joint and in the process took out a two month old axle shaft. I was in the middle of nowhere, three hours from home and an hour from the nearest parts store. No junk yards open either. So I shelled out $95 or so for a Grand Cherokee passenger CV shaft and ran it for a month or so. I still have it and keep it as a trail spare now. Supposedly no stronger than the small u joint shafts, but lifetime warranty.

 

Bottom line is they are all interchangeable, but depending on what unit bearing you have you may have to give the ABS tone ring a few good whacks with a hammer to remove it from the shaft.