What gives and what should I carry. 4.0: Rear drive shaft

[88trailcrawler]

Part 4 of my series. Trying to get the XJ to be a reasonably reliable rig for 2-3 day trail runs. Driving style is light on the skinny, crawl over or go around. Sitting in 33's, extend lockers, 4:56 gears, about 5" lift.

This post focuses on the rear drive shaft. I have an SYE and D44 with pinion angle set and a Tom Woods (I think) rear shaft. The thing is beefy.

Questions:
- what is a reasonable trail spare to carry?
- what misc. parts pieces should be carried for rear drive shaft trail failure/damage repairs?
- would it be reasonable, with per run inspection/maintenance to not expect rear shaft failure (assuming trail damage is avoided)?

 

[kastein]

what SYE? Flange style or CV yoke style?

Flange style: gonna need an aftermarket spare, or a regular spare of the right length with a flange style CV section swapped in.
CV yoke style, i.e. you can fit up and bolt a stock front driveshaft to the transfer case: see if a regular stock front driveshaft will fit length wise. Options are an automatic XJ front driveshaft (fits many rigs with SYEs), V8 ZJ front driveshaft (fits many manual trans XJs with SYEs), or manual XJ front driveshaft (1.41" shorter than an auto XJ front driveshaft, I don't know what this would fit but I'd guess it would possibly fit if you had a 60/14b swapped in or something.)

If your driveshaft is a custom length that's not reasonably close (mid-extension) to one of the above stock shafts, you may be SOL with regards to carrying a spare unless you want to spend money. I don't know that I would if you're going easy on things but it's good for peace of mind especially if you can pick up a stocker as a spare.

Other stuff to carry:
dana-spicer ujoint strap and bolt kit part number 2-70-18x, can be bought from northern drivetrain for a song. These are commonly trashed when you blow a driveshaft ujoint at the pinion yoke.
spare pinion yoke, one off a dana 30 will work on a 44 from what I understand. The little metal nibs that keep the ujoint caps from popping out occasionally break when the ujoint explodes or you drag the yoke over a rock, it's nice to have a spare. Especially when it fits both your front and rear axles.
spare ujoint, part number 5-153x. Fits all driveshaft ujoints on the XJ and they are cheap.
spare bolts for the tcase end of the shaft, they're a funky reduced head design, I just get em at the junkyard when I buy driveshafts.

Tools:
whatever socket is needed to change the pinion yoke on a d44 and d30. I want to say 1 1/16, 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 but I'm not sure, look it up.
5/16 ratcheting box wrench
5/16 6 point 1/4-drive socket and 1/4-drive ratchet
5/16 6 point box wrench
If you want to be really prepared, bring a 1/4-28 tap or an old ujoint strap bolt that's been dremeled to produce a thread chaser. I've had to chase the threads in the pinion yoke before bolting the new one in before due to the threads getting packed with rust and mud.