Jeep shaft

[pow3rwagon]

I was trolling around one of the local junk yards looking for a Cherokee steering shaft and found nothing. I did come across a 1990 Comanche, I used to own one many moons ago and from what I remember aside from the body it is identical to the Cherokee. My question is does anyone know if the shaft is the same and will work in my wagon

 

[pontiacgp]

a gmc safari and a chevy astro have shafts that will work with a minor modification. This video is for a F body but it works for a G body..I have one in my car and they are easy to find..

 

[liquidh8]

Very good video. I love it. A lot of people act like the jeep/astro steering shaft mod needs to be some sort of secret. I run the jeep shaft, but will do an Astro van shaft here soon.

 

[pontiacgp]

Another thing I like about the safari/astro shaft is it is covered in a thick rubber sleeve so as long as that sleeve hasn't been damaged the shaft looks brand new when you remove them

 

[pow3rwagon]

That was a very good video. The hardest thing for me to this point was find out which jeep shaft it there seems to be a lot of conflicting info. Thanks though I think the Astro shaft will be something i do in the very near future

 

[pontiacgp]

Besides being hard to find the Jeep shaft has a nylon piece that has a habit of breaking when you try to get the shaft apart to clean it up. The safari/astro shaft is all metal and there is no need to clean it. The safari/astro vans were built 1985–2005 so there is plenty of them

 

[MC-87-SS]

That is a great video, really gives someone wanting to do this yourself all the help you might need.
Figured i would jump in and help with some insight. The jeep shafts that work are late 80s early Cherokees, some Grand Cherokees but not the Larados. You want to look for the ones that have the bolt that takes a 13 mm socket. This kind has bent steel ends rather then cast ends. With this kind there is also 2 different styles, each has their pros and cons. Where the 2 sections of the shaft slide together there will either a plastic sleeve or a rubber boot. If you can find one with the rubber boot it is the best style for the average DIY person. This style usually slides in pretty easy but test it at the yard because these do not pull apart so if its stuck chances if getting it to move freely are slim. I personally like the style with the plastic sleeve since i need to take them apart to do all the cleaning and prep i do do for selling them.

As far as the Astro shafts the only ones you can use are 200 or 2001 and up, the earlier ones are different and are not long enough. You can generally ell by the headlights. The older vans have square headlights and the newer ones are more rectangular. If the shaft is in a rubber boot then its the right one.

If anyone wants an Astro shaft and can't find them in the yard, don't have welding options or just wants one rotated, prepped, painted and ready to install let me know as i sell them all the time.

 

[pontiacgp]

As far as the Astro shafts the only ones you can use are 200 or 2001 and up, the earlier ones are different and are not long enough.

I used a 96 Astro shaft and now I have a 98 safari shaft, there is no problem with the length. Yo might be thinking of a 4 wheel drive which is different. The second generation of the Astro and Safari went from 1995 to 2005 and the first generation had the same wheelbase as the second

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks for posting the video, Steve.
Looks like I may also remove my Jeep shaft and go with the Astro/ Safari piece.
Are they fairly easy to remove from the Astro van?

 

[pontiacgp]

You will need a knife to cut the rubber cover and side cutter to cute the wire at the bottom of the rubber cover. You can get to the top by just cutting the rubber cover open but for the bottom if you can cut the bottom wire it's be easier to get to the bottom bolt. The top is easy to remove and make sure you line up the bottom so you can get to the bolt before you remove the top. I use a long pry bar from the top to pry the bottom off. With the rubber cover the shaft basically looks new so I paint them with clear engine paint to keep them looking like new.