Driveshaft grew after heavy rains!

[Bonkers]

... Okay, not really, but as i sit here I can't think of

a better explanation:

 

1988 - 4.0L/Ax15/D35/LWB

 

Went to reinstall the Ba10 driveshaft onto the back of

the new Ax15 transmission. According to all the literature,

the Ba10 shaft is 50" and the Ax15 shaft is 50" so

theoretically it should pop right on... but as you can see

from the picture its not exactly a precision fit.

 

Now if I jack the truck up and pry it in I think it'll fit,

but itll be TIGHT. From what I hear that is not an ideal

situation for the shaft or the TC. I also worry about what

might happen if I hit a large bump in the road.

 

Others have been telling me to shorten the shaft, but

before I do I just wanted to make sure I didnt miss

something important. I do not want to modify a good part

just to cover up a problem with another - I want to get

this right.

 

Any suggestions or observations?

[Pete M]

what's the other end look like?

[87MJTIM]

What Pete said.

 

Are all the bolts to the trans and tcase tightened?

 

You had to change the tcase to 23 splines.  What year and model (XJ, YJ, TJ) were the trans and tcase out of?

[88whitemanche]

Looks like your about 2" off...

And you don't want to install a TIGHT driveshaft because it will break your t-case...

Best thing to do is install driveshaft yoke and bring it out 1" then measure center to center (u-joint cap) to the rear axle...

[Bonkers]

Ax15/231 is out of a 98 Xj. Motor and

Axle are stock to this truck.

[64 Cheyenne]

You could shorten the stub as a temp fix, but no suspension flex off road allowed. Stub could pop out of TC and #$^*)&^$#%&*

Not recommended.

[Blue88Comanche]

Did you by any chance swap the axle as well? i thing the D44 and 8.25 yoke stick out about an inch more than the D-35...  

 

When i swapped from BA10-5 to AX 15 the drive shaft was fine. but i had to shorten it when i swapped from D-35 to D-44 rear axle.

[FrankTheDog]

Show picture of transfer case output and how drive shaft attaches to that.

96-01 Tranfer case is different than pre 96.

[90comancheswb]

Yokes are different for 98 231 tc. I had to swap in a new style yoke to fit my 98 tc. I bet your old yoke can't slip onto the tc output shaft.

[64 Cheyenne]

Stubs also had different stick out lengths.

[Eagle]

Ax15/231 is out of a 98 Xj. Motor and

Axle are stock to this truck.

The '98 is a different animal. Starting in 1997, I believe, Jeep changed the transfer case output. On our MJs and older XJs, the front yoke slides into the tailshaft housing and the seal rides on the machined surface of the yoke. The newer style transfer case is sealed and the yoke just has a dust boot around it.

 

Looks like you're trying to mix apples and oranges.

[Bonkers]

I took the yoke off the Xj because the spline

count was different. It looked like it was the

same lenght as the old Mj one. It makes perfect

sense if the tailhousing is a different lenght

though...

 

And i do plan to put in my D44 soon, but i was

gonna save up and have the locker installed

during the rebuild... ie: $$$... i need to get

her roadworthy immediately but the closest

driveshaft shop is over an hour away opposite

of my work schedule so itll be a week or more

to get it cut. I was hoping to avoid having to

do it twice but looks like thats my only viable

option at this point...

[1987Comanche]

Mopar went to the external slip yoke NP 231 in '96. T-case # 52099212.  I did a lot of research on this before converting Georgia to 4WD and used the 9212 T-case.

[Bonkers]

Thanks 87 - I can't seem to find any information regarding how

much difference the changeover affected the overall lenght,

but if there is a difference the only thing left to do is get

cutting...

[Bonkers]

So I had 2.25 inches cut from the driveshaft, here's

how she sits now - shaft bottomed out on yoke:

 

Since (theoretically speaking) I shouldnt have had to

cut it at all, I decided to err on keeping the shaft

from falling off the trans. Worst case senerio I can

always go back and cut it again...

 

[Bonkers]

Just a quick update... went to try to bleed my

slave cylinder today and I noticed that the

driveshaft has now returned to its pre-Ax15

lenght... minus the 2" I cut off.. so now the

the shaft is sitting on about 2" of the yoke

on flat ground...

 

I'm about dun...

[86FUBAR]

Hum..... Well at least the Dana 44 pinion is 1" longer than the D35 so when you swap axles you will be better off .... That is as long as the length don't change again!

[Bonkers]

You know, i hadnt even considered that...

So it may work out yet. Thanks Fubar!