The strap-style yoke is a weak point on the Dana 30 and 35 axles on YJ's. On many occasions we've had a bolt or a ujoint break due to overtightening, undertightening or the inherent weakness of the stock strap and its tiny bolts. Then one day while giving my Jeep too much gas on an incline, my rear axle yoke broke almost in half, giving me an opportunity to replace it with a better setup. Incidentally, I don't believe my yoke broke due to the strap-style. It broke because I got silly with the stupid pedal.

Here's what the broken yoke looked like, by the way. Notice the broken off strap bolts.

Now I have to be honest with you here. I didn't have much time to fix this problem since I needed to be able to drive my Jeep the next day. Also, I didn't have a tool for the new seal...more about that later. I ended up having a shop do it for me.

There isn't much involved in making the swap really. Basically you're taking the old yoke off and putting on the new one. The only challenge is removing the old bearing seal and installing a new one since the seals are somewhat delicate and must be gently tapped in around the pinion nut. I'm going to be doing this mod again for the front axle so I'm thinking about making my own tap-in tool. I hear there is a tool called a "seal driver" but haven't seen one yet. Some have suggested using a large socket or a 3 inch plastic pipe fitting.

Since the pinion nut is a jam nut, you can't (shouldn't) reuse it. This nut will also be difficult to remove since it's torqued on at 200 ft/lbs.

Things you need:

1) U-bolt style yoke: Spicer p/n 2-4-8091X (about $50)

2) U-bolt straps/nuts: Spicer p/n 2-94-28X (about $5)

3) Pinion seal: GET P/N

4) Pinion nut: GET P/N