Hello all,
I have not been here for some time, but I am in need of your expert assistance. Here is the horrible long story in short form:
-Needed a new clutch for my 92 Tracker
-Bought new clutch and installed
-Realized I needed the pivot/fork for the throwout bearing
-Attempted to find one; could not
-Did find a 98 Tracker tranny (t-case to bellhousing in great condition) for $65
-Bought it intending to use the pivot/fork
-Decided to put this tranny in as well as it looks to be in perfect condition, looks EXACTLY the same and the repair manual does show 86-98
-Got everything back together..... until I went to stick in the rear drive-shaft
-Found out that my drive-shaft has 26 splines on it, while this newer 98 tranny has 16 only
-Work has now stopped!
Here is what I think I have learned:
-The difference is likely due to the fact that my 92 is an 8 valve and the 98 was a 16 valve
   -Someone told me that it was likely because of the 1.6L and 1.8L difference, but the guy I bought the tranny off of says it was out of a 98 2-door 1.6L 16valve.

The question:
What do I do now?

Solution 1 (correct me if I am wrong):
-Buy a drive-shaft from a wrecker for $250 off of a 98 and make sure it has 16 splines on it, stick it in and go.
Problem 1:
I do not want to spend that much money, considering I have a tranny that came out of my Tracker that works just fine.
Problem 2:
Will the 98 drive-shaft fit, or will I find that there is a difference in length as well?

Solution 2:
Find a slip yoke for a 98 and change it over.
Problem 1:
Will this fit, or will there be a length problem?
Problem 2:
Brand new it's $110 and a week away.
Problem 3:
Might not be able to locate a used one.

Solution 3:
Take the t-case off of the 92 tracker and put it on the 98.
Problem 1:
Will this even fix the problem?
Problem 2:
Can this be done easily with the tranny attached to the car?

Solution 4:
Rip out the 98 tranny (basically start over) and put my tranny back in.
Problem 1:
REALLY don't want to - too much work all over again and I really want the newer tranny in my car.

So, who can help? What do you advise I do?
Ultimately, as is probably understandable, my order of importance is this;
-Spend as little money as possible (First priority)
-Keep the newer tranny
-Do as little work as possible
... cheap and lazy right?!

What can you guys tell me about my above points? Has anyone done this before?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Sorry for the length of this.

Thank you again.

I  would think that the easiest solution  would be finding the 16 spline yoke and fitting it to your drive shaft. As long as the cups are the same size or a u joint is available! If I remember correctly a buddy of mine did the opposite to try a t case out so I think it is possible. in the case of solution 1 I don't know if the 98 shaft is the same length as the 93!

Here is the cheap, but not real simple solution.
Put your tcase on the 98 tranny.
It will fit fine.


It is next to impossible to remove the tcase from the tranny with it in the vehicle.  There is a bolt underneath the shifter tower that has to be removed to remove the tcase.  To get to this bolt, the shifter tower has to come off (this is what is next to impossible to remove with the tranny in the vehicle).

A couple of other notes........
89-95 tcases have a 26 spline output shaft.
96 and up tcases have a 16 spline output shaft.
AFAIK, the output shafts will interchange in the 89-98 (and maybe later) tcases, but it would be a PITA to take a tcase apart just to swap shafts, when you can simply swap tcases.
The 98 tranny has a higher 5th gear ratio (.795) versus your 92 tranny that has a .86 ratio.  This translates into about a 300 RPM difference at 60MPH between the two trannys.  The different 5th gear ratio is because the tranny came behind a 16V engine (all "16V" trannys I have ran across have the .795 5th gear ratio, and all "8V" trannys I have seen have the .86 5th gear ratio).
All 5 speed and 3 speed auto trannys are the same length, so if you wanted to go the swap the driveshaft route, then any driveshaft from a 96-98 (and maybe later), 2 door (since yours is a 2 door), 4x4 trackick will fit.  Or any slip yoke from a 96-98 (and maybe later), 2 or 4 door, 4x4 trackick will work.

I  would think that the easiest solution  would be finding the 16 spline yoke and fitting it to your drive shaft. As long as the cups are the same size or a u joint is available! If I remember correctly a buddy of mine did the opposite to try a t case out so I think it is possible. in the case of solution 1 I don't know if the 98 shaft is the same length as the 93!

Armour
Thank you for the response. When you say, "as long as the 'cups' are the same size", what are the 'cups'?
As far as a u-joint being available, can I not re-use the one off of mine?

Thanks.

Skyhiranger,

Thank you very much for your detailed and informative reply.
After reviewing your suggestion, I am thinking that I would rather change the slip yoke if it saves me ripping the tranny out again and the option of buying an entire drive-shaft, used or new, is just way too expensive.
So, you say I can get a slip yoke from any 96-98 2 or 4-door tracker and change it out and length will not be affected? It should work?
If so, any hints or tips would be appreciated when doing this; can I re-use the u-joint? Do you know what Armour meant when talking about 'cups'?
Thanks

Skyhiranger,

Thank you very much for your detailed and informative reply.
After reviewing your suggestion, I am thinking that I would rather change the slip yoke if it saves me ripping the tranny out again and the option of buying an entire drive-shaft, used or new, is just way too expensive.
So, you say I can get a slip yoke from any 96-98 2 or 4-door tracker and change it out and length will not be affected? It should work?
If so, any hints or tips would be appreciated when doing this; can I re-use the u-joint? Do you know what Armour meant when talking about 'cups'?
Thanks

Make sure it is a slip yoke off of a 96-98 (maybe later will work too) 4wd driveshaft, since the 2wd slip yokes are not the same size.  AFAIK, all the 4x4 slip yokes are the same length.  Before you buy a slip yoke, you might want to verify that it is a 16 spline.....since 96 was a transition year, there could be some odd-balls out there that still had the 26 splines.  Oh, and you do want a rear slip yoke, since I believe that it was only the rear output shaft that changed splines (the fronts stayed at 26).
You can reuse the ujoint as long as it is in good condition and you don't damage it when you take it apart (and you don't lose any of the needle bearings).
I assume he meant ujoint cups.  All trackick driveshafts used the same size ujoints from 89-at least 98.......so you should be fine.

OK, so I guess I will be spending my day tomorrow finding a slip-yoke for this. I hope to find it used to avoid the $110 bucks and 3-5 day wait. Otherwise I guess I'll bite the bullet and pay the money to get this finalized.
Thanks again for everyones help.
I'll take anymore suggestions in the meantime if anyone has any.

Here is the cheap, but not real simple solution.
Put your tcase on the 98 tranny.
It will fit fine.

I think that the input shaft also has a different spline count. I had this problem on my 8V Vit, I just swapped the propshaft over.

Quote from: Skyhiranger on September 22, 2008, 06:37:44 PM

Here is the cheap, but not real simple solution.
Put your tcase on the 98 tranny.
It will fit fine.

I think that the input shaft also has a different spline count. I had this problem on my 8V Vit, I just swapped the propshaft over.

Pretty sure the input shaft stayed the same.  I have a later tranny here, I'll check later and post back.

***The 96 tranny that I have here (that had a 16 spline output shaft tcase on it) has the same size and spline  output shaft as the earlier trannys......meaning the input shaft of the tcase is the same spline and size too.***

Input shaft has a different spline count?!?!
I sure hope not (and do not think so), because I have the tranny bolted on my car sitting snugly as we speak, if there was a difference, I would not be able to do that right?
On another note, the front d-shaft went back in no problem as well, is it strange that the front is 26 spline while the back is 16?

Input shaft has a different spline count?!?!
I sure hope not (and do not think so), because I have the tranny bolted on my car sitting snugly as we speak, if there was a difference, I would not be able to do that right?
On another note, the front d-shaft went back in no problem as well, is it strange that the front is 26 spline while the back is 16?

Input shaft of the tcase is what he was talking about, I think.


All the manual tranny input shafts were the same size and spline from 89-98.


I don't think anyone knows why they changed the rear output shaft to 16 spline.  As a general rule, given the same size of shaft (which I think the 16 and 26 spline shafts are), the one with more splines on it is going to be stronger (not as likely to strip splines).

Well.. at the current moment, here is where I stand.
As I have to balance time, cost and work, but am limited in what I can control, I think I am now at the point where I will be pulling out the 98 tranny and switching t-cases as suggested by Skyhiranger.
This is the free option for me as the cost is my time (damn I hate doing the same job twice).
Having said this, I have never been inside a t-case before, once it is out, would I be able to just exchange the output shafts? This way I could use the new t-case and the only thing old would be the output shaft.. (was this mentioned in this thread already? I'll have a look).
Thanks again Skyhiranger - who knows, in 2 hours from now I may be on a totally different path again, we'll see.

** I just re-read the thread and Skyhiranger you did say that it was possible but would be a PITA to exchange the shafts; maybe you could elaborate on that? Do the benefits outweigh the PITA maybe? **

Hey I just swaped my 90 tracker tcase for a 2001 vitara tcase the input shaft is the same count. fit right on. I got the slip yoke for the rear and put it on my shaft. also fit right on. the front output is the same accross the years. all you need is a yoke and someone to press the u-joints.

** I just re-read the thread and Skyhiranger you did say that it was possible but would be a PITA to exchange the shafts; maybe you could elaborate on that? Do the benefits outweigh the PITA maybe? **

By PITA I really meant that there were other alternatives that would be easier and quicker.....like swapping the slip yoke or swapping the whole tcase.

Your best bet is to get a good repair manual that explains how to disassemble the tcase........as it is too hard to try to explain every detail on how to do it.  I think that you just have to remove the rear section of the tcase to get the output shaft out.  But the big bearing that is on the output shaft is kind of a press fit into the center section of the tcase, so the front section may have to be disassembled, so you can tap the output shaft out of the center section of the tcase.  See what I mean.