Trouble installing jeep steering shaft

[oldsofb]

I have a lot of experience with these shafts. There are basically two types of jeep shafts. The earlier ones have the plastic bushing that guys are melting apart. When you do this, you just added about an 1/8" of slop to the shaft. These shafts come on the Cherokees with the long rectangular air box. I don't mess with these.
I pull the other style. Like UNGN stated, they have a rubber boot which helps keep them from rusting. These shafts you do
not have to separate. Typically they easily collapse and have no slop. These shafts come on later Cherokees with a more square airbox and also have a fiber heat guard mounted above them to protect them from the exhaust manifolds.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the years, I just know by looking at them...timo22

Maybe a pic you could find of the body style will do.

 

[timo22]

Well, it is definitely the square Cherokees that have the early shaft. Then the second style is the years they started rounding them. I'll see if I can get some pics over the weekend..timo22

 

[UNGN]

I haven't seen a V6 Cherokee in the Junkyard in 10 years. Those pinging POS's have thankfully all been turned back into dust. They probably have a GM shaft, since they have GM motors. Forget about those

Most 'lil Cherokees in the Junkyard are AMC 4L or 2.5L and those shafts won't fit a G-body so I don't even bother looking.

This is what you are looking for:

But it has to say '93, '94' or '95 on the side of it (junkyards always write the model year somewhere) because the '96, '97 and '98 look similar, but the steering column end is different.

 

[L92 OLDS]

Do not use heat! The plastic bushing is made of acetal (not nylon) and heating it will create toxic formedehyde gas and ruin the shaft by creating slop. For a shaft with minimal rust all you need is some light lubricant and a small hydraulic press. The purpose of the acetal bushing is to keep the chef tight but yet allow compression during a collision

 

[Ribbedroof]

See this all the time, people use the word Cherokee liberally, to describe both XJ Cherokees and the Grand Cherokee.

As stated the Cherokee (in the model years in this discussion) is the smaller boxy one that is still stupidly expensive on the used market, the larger, plusher, Grand Cherokee is the one that are 3/$1000 on craigslist lol

I'm not a Jeep guy, but daughter loves her XJ, so I have had the joy of trying to buy some used stuff here and there, lots of goose chases that end up being GCs rather than Cherokees

 

[SaintSunday]

Not to beat a dead horse....so which year has the rubber bushing and what trim level??

 

[ItsnotaGN]

I have a junkyard shaft in the Monte. I pulled it from a 92 XJ Cherokee. This year Cherokee still used a GM style column with a square key like our G bodys. I did have to compress the shaft a little ( PB Blaster and a ratchet strap, no beater stick ) and slightly clearance the Monte column for the upper retainer bolt. I'd love to tell you all about the fabulous difference it made but I don't know since the car has only moved on the back of a flatbed.

 

[UNGN]

Not to beat a dead horse....so which year has the rubber bushing and what trim level??

'95 Grand Cherokee is the best Jeep shaft. It has a rubber boot over the telescope joint.

 

[Bigtexs]

This is mine installed on my 81 El Camino. The shaft is off a 1988 Grand Cherokee. The info in the book is out of the G body performance upgrade book.

 

[Bigtexs]

And I didn't have to heat it up or beat the crap out of it to collapse it. One tap with my 4 pound hammer it collapsed. Put groove where the top bolt slides across shaft and your done. It's a 5 minute job.