I'm trying to upgrade my '85 D30 to the 297 u-joints. I got some TJ shafts and the axle shaft fits fine, but the stub shaft won't work with the 85 hub. My stock stub shaft has splines on the inner part of the shaft (closest to the yoke) and is threaded on the end for the 36mm hub bolt. The TJ stub shaft I have is not threaded on the end, has the splines on the end of the shaft (furthest away from the yoke), and is longer than my XJ stub shaft. I spoke with Drivetrain direct and they said that the 84-85 XJ's had a different style stub shaft....I've never heard this before. What stub shaft could I use to make this work, or do I even have TJ shafts? The u-joint looks like a 260 to me but I have nothing to compare it to...............

could you p/u a non vac. disco front axle assembly to swap in?? i imagine there are pick and pull junkyards where ya can spend $50 on a front housing?

Hunter

I don't need to get rid of the disco, I just wanted the 297 u-joints. All I need is a stub shaft to make it work, but I'm wondering if I have a CJ D30 shaft instead of a TJ D30 shaft........and no, the local junkyard wanted $200 bucks just for the hub/axle shaft assembly!

Now that you mention it, that does sound like a CJ shaft.

The 297x is noticeably larger than the 260x, so there is one clue. The end needs to be threaded to sandwich the hub/bearing or else the wheel will fall off with the TJ/XJ/ZJ/YJ style bearings. A CJ on the other hand has the whole locking hub, which won't require threads on the end of the shaft.

I do remember reading a while back that the older style had different hubs, but I can't remember any particulars. Call up Drivetrain Direct and get the 297x version of the disco D30 shafts, they came in 95 YJs with ABS.

Does your passenger side shaft have the larger end and spine where it couples with the intermediate shaft going into the carrier? That would be a dead giveaway that it isn't a CJ shaft, and would thus confuse the hell out of me. Unless some idiot took an XJ intermediate and used a CJ outer.

$200 for the shaft and hub? BS man! I just picked up a complete spare D30 for the same price. This includes brakes, both hubs, both sets of shafts, R&P, etc. Totally functional. Call around, you can get a way better price than that. Or for just $50 more DD will get you the right shafts and joints you need.

I just needed the driver's side, so I don't have the passenger's side. All the junkyards down here wanted the same price for the hub assembly, so I said forget it.

It sounds as if you do NOT have a TJ outer. The TJ outer will be threaded for the 36mm nut. I was not aware that the hub assembly is different in the '85 model. Actually, I'm not too sure I buy it.

What your attempting should work. The problem you will most likely have is the seal on the vac-dicso side. There are a few part numbers floating around (National Seal if I remember correctly) but not all of them work. You will most likely have machine the part of the inner that will contact the new seal to prevent it from ripping it up. It took a few tries to get my buddies to work.

If for some reason the hub assembly is different you might just have to fork out a few bucks and buy new bearing assemblies off of a TJ. They will use the same 3-bolt setup.

Well, I took the u-joint off last night. Its the 260. I guess the guy sent me a CJ shaft. :( That will teach me to buy stuff from people over the internet. Guess I need to get a stock pre-95 XJ stub shaft to make it work.........

Yeah, drivetrain direct tried to tell me the XJ's used a different style stub shaft in 84-85. I compared it to a friend's 98 XJ stub shaft. Exactly the same.