front drive shaft questions

hi folks,

previous owner put a lift & shackle reversal on my six, and appears to have ignored the length of the front shaft. (d20 tc and d30 front axle)

mine appears to be stock length, 27" long without the yoke, 27.75" with yoke collapsed.

maybe someone could chime in if this is an actual stock shaft or not.

based on the amount of spline outside the yoke, im thinking i have a couple inches + to give.

do i have options for a longer front shaft, aside from a custom ordered one?

any thoughts on a candidate with a ~28.75" - 30" shaft (minus yoke)?

thanks

 

It does not look stock. I pulled one at the salvage yard off of a Cherokee XJ and then took it to a driveshaft shop to have it shortened and balanced. If you don't care about balancing you can shorten it yourself as long as you have a welder. Anyway, it's a perfect fit. I think it starts out at about 32" give or take, so there isn't much to trim. The part cost me $16 and shorten and balance was $75.

 

With the shackle reversal make darn sure you have enough slip yoke travel.

 

I assume this is a 304? 304 and 232/258 are probably the same... I can take a tape when I get home tonight. The parts book may also list the lengths.

There will be no difference int the CJ-6 and CJ-5 lengths, so anybody with a factory setup could measure for you.

 

thanks folks.. she is a '73 with 232...

i did come across this list on a the web
would an early 80's cj have the same yoke patterns as my Dana 20 TC and Dana 30 front axle?

 

A stock 73 232 3spd front shaft would measure 27.73 collapsed, (center of yoke eye to center of yoke eye) according to the book.
So, I believe your shaft to be the stock shaft.

 

Good point. You might be better to err on the side of more exposed spline at rest than normal due to the now rearward travel of the axle under compression. The last thing you would want is to ram that driveshaft though the t-case the first time you come down hard on the front end!

 

thanks for the info guys...

one critical point i left out in the above pic, that was at full droop (had the jeep up on a lift, and it was suspended from the frame)

below is two pics.. at rest, parked on the street, and full droop.

i dont have a pic of full compression (working on that next),

with the shackle reversal in mind, do you think my driveshaft length is short/long/fine ?

thanks folks

 

1) Lengthen the shaft about 1.5 to 2.0 inches.
2) Find a longer slip yoke. I know they are out there as I've seen them.