broke an axle..now i'm lost

Tommygunn

Active Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Location
jordan lake, nc
maybe someone can help me out here. I snapped a Yukon axle on my 2000 model TJ. well, with the snow coming in today I'm trying to get it going so I can go play. I went to the junkyard and got a stock axle just to get me by. they say its for my jeep. well I get home and go to slide it in and it won't fit. everything goes in fine but when I go to slide the hub on, I'm about 1.25 inches short of being able to bolt it up with the 3 bolts. I have no idea why this is. I know the axle is in as far as it will go because the flange by the u-joint sets flush with where it should on the axle tube. any ideas?

the axle I pulled out is also shorter from spline to spline then the axle I bought. what gives?



thanks in advance.
 
Tommygunn said:
maybe someone can help me out here. I snapped a Yukon axle on my 2000 model TJ. well, with the snow coming in today I'm trying to get it going so I can go play. I went to the junkyard and got a stock axle just to get me by. they say its for my jeep. well I get home and go to slide it in and it won't fit. everything goes in fine but when I go to slide the hub on, I'm about 1.25 inches short of being able to bolt it up with the 3 bolts. I have no idea why this is. I know the axle is in as far as it will go because the flange by the u-joint sets flush with where it should on the axle tube. any ideas?
the axle I pulled out is also shorter from spline to spline then the axle I bought. what gives?
thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
The jeep doesnt have an 8.8 rather than a dana 35?
 
Disclaimer: I've never owned a Jeep, so I don't know the first thing about them.

But having said that, I know that with all of the Ford axles I've ever built that the axles shafts are different lengths on each side. I would suspect that you bought an axle shaft for the wrong side.
 
I think this is a front or I was looking at pictures from another thread. :lol: The inner shaft had twisted threads and the outer was snapped clean off. what happened to the pics?
 
Tommygunn said:
...the axle I pulled out is also shorter from spline to spline then the axle I bought. what gives?
thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

wait a minute...am I reading this correctly? The shaft you bought is longer than the shaft you pulled out...and now you're asking why the shaft you bought sticks out after you installed it?
 
RenegadeT said:
wait a minute...am I reading this correctly? The shaft you bought is longer than the shaft you pulled out...and now you're asking why the shaft you bought sticks out after you installed it?
Click to expand...

yes thats what i' asking. i called the junk yard back and they have been trying to figure it out as well. i took measurement from the one i pulled out and compared it to the one they gave me. theirs is longer. they did give me the correct side because the drivers side is very short. they also pulled 2 other axles from a tj and they measure the same as the first one they gave me. yet...these axles are too long for mine. what i am trying to figure out is.. why? why are they too long?
 
I also know about Jeeps but....you mentioned the hub sliding on?

TJ's don't have locking hubs from the factory if you are indeed refering to a locking hub. If your Jeep has had manual hub conversion then that's probably why it won't work.

If this makes no sense then please ignore. Like I said...I know nothing about Jeeps.
 
If that's the short side and you're talking about the hub/unit bearing assembly check your carrier. With the way that twist looks in those splines Id be its fubar'ed.
 
I'm also going to assume you mean unit bearing when you say hub. Also, is the front locked or stock spider gears? Either way, the splines inside the driver (locker) or spider gear has GOT to be trashed by the way those splines are twisted. You're going to have to open up the diff and see what's going on. Did you really snap the end of the Yukon shaft off in the bearing? Niiiice.
 
where is the extra lenght...outer or inner shaft?
Are you the origianl owner of this 2000TJ? ...is it still the factory LP30? I think there is a lot of variation in outer stub shafts for Jeep Dana 30's. Could you have an older XJ HP30 in your TJ?
 
i'm not sure.. i am the 3rd owner of the jeep since it was built. i called the guy i bought it from and all he knows is that its a dana 30 and was there when he got it. i think the extra length is in the outter shaft because the flange on the inner shaft fits up flush against the axle tube. when i put the new longer axle in, i can feel it grab the splines and seems to hold fine so i hope the splines on the locker is ok. but i will check it anyway to be sure. is there a way for me to tell if its an older XJ d30?
 
Sure looks like the same shaft to me. As was said, probably not going in because of a jacked up spider gear. Does it happen to have an aftermarket looking housing seal at the end of the tube?
 
TJs are Low Pinion.
84-2000ish XJs are High Pinion, around '92 or so they dropped the center axle disconnect. 2001 and some 2000 XJs are identical to XJ's.
 
have you pulled the diff cover to see if the new shaft is bottoming out or not engaging the axle gear? sounds like its not sliding in the splines on the axle gear which would explain the added length. like stated the splines are most likly shot.
 
Tommygunn said:
i had to resize the pics
View attachment ai52.tinypic.com_235umb.jpg
Click to expand...

Two things:

The seal surfaces on those two shafts are in different locations.

If that twisted spline came out of the carrier like that... there's no way a new shaft is going back in the same side gear. You need a new side gear. If that shaft is actually twisted and then broken off at the end (looks kinda jagged), then the business part of the shaft is still in the carrier.

Either way, I wouldn't count on the seal lasting a long time riding on the non-polished portion of the shaft.
 
is there any way those splines are suppose to be spiral like that? reason i ask is because it looks so perfect. nothing looks chewed up, broke, or anything. i'm about to go pull this cover off and see what else i can find. i'll take more pictures and post them up. the axles are not the same..like said above, the place where the seals were is in different places.

thanks for all the help so far.. hopefully we can get this thing figured out
 
Nope splines shouldn't do that ever. Have you taken the diff cover off yet? I suspect you still have a piece of the shaft in the side gear. Or the side gear is completely wasted or both.
 
did the shaft break in more than one place? One pic shows the outer shaft broken, then the next pic looks like the inner shaft where it goes into the carrier.
 
No experience on new models, but I to wondered where is the broke piece. End of spline looks jagged, like where break would be. Picture is NOT where U put broken piece butted up to axle, is it??? Anyway, always pull cover, drain & clean out carrier & axle tube. Inspect! Good Luck.:beer:
 
it ended up the axle broke off on the inner side also. not only the pasanger side..but the drivers also. thanks for all the help yall
 
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