jeepxj11

I am new to the jeep world and had a few questions as I am eager to learn I purchased a 1991 jeep cherokee xj 4.0 2dr automatic the previous owner says it has a 4 inch lift and it has 33" toyo mts I was messing around the other day and broke the rear drive shaft at the rear yoke Im guessing just the stock one didnt look to beefy. So here are a few questions i had what do i need to beef up in the drive train to turn those tires lower gear ratio? But it is my daily driver so I would like to be able to hold freeway speeds and also the tranny shifts smooth do i need to worry about it wearing real fast or slipping with the tire size? Also i have read about transfer case gears for a lower range while maintaining ability on free way? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DirtRoadXJ

Your trans will be fine. look into getting a SYE (slip yoke eliminator) kit and a drive line (hack n taps a very popular). then for gears, 4.56s is most common for your set up.

http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.com/
check out this page. hes a vender here and a good guy, very helpful.

jeepxj11

Well went wheelin and snaped the inch thick shaft in my transfer case so i think smaller tires are in store i have 33/12.5/15 would 30/12.5/15 be alot less hard on the drivetrain?

CPCP-94XJ

haha holy smokes man, take er easy on your dd haha. what kind of wheelin are you doing, ***** to the walls rock crawlin? i have 31" with a viturally stock drive train (chrysler 8.25 - 27 spline) you might have a dana 35.. but should be plenty strong for 30" tires... but it also depends on how you drive it too, anything can be broken.

ktmracer419

what are you doing with it?

what inch thick shaft? the output shaft?

what do your driveline angles look like?

plenty of people run larger tires and hammer on their rigs and the transfer case isn't an issue. then again, most who really beat on their rigs also have correct driveline angles and an sye with a stronger mainshaft.

jeepxj11

I will post some pictures but I wasnt doing anything hard core maybe a 45 degree hill with a 1ft ledge at the top just tried crawlin up it in 4 low

jeepxj11

I am wondering about the axle blocks for fear of twisting the axles? I have the 8.25 rear axle.

mr white

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ktmracer419

I would get rid of those blocks (all block suck, especially aluminum ones) they promote axle wrap, and the taller the block, the more axle wrap you will have, and the taller the block, the more your axle will lunge forward when the axle wraps. Which definitely contributed to your shaft breaking at the rear yoke. and could very well have contributed to the output shaft breakage as well if the axle lunged forward far enough for the driveshaft to bottom out in the transfer case.

In addition to ditching the blocks for a real lift, I would suggest you look into an SYE kit and dual cardan driveshaft.

jeepxj11

So if I get rid of the blocks i just need larger springs? or shackles?

jeepxj11

You are also right the drive shaft was pushed into the transfercase

ktmracer419

either or. i'm guessing you have 2" springs in there now with what appears to be a 2" block.

boom. its just poorly setup, not a strength issue with the shaft and t-case.

jeepxj11

I looked and the transfer case mounts appear to be dropped about an inch do i need more spacer's to create a better angle? And thanks for the help guys

jeepxj11

After doing some research im thinking about building a bastard pack out of s-10 springs to get rid of that block

DirtRoadXJ

after you get an sye take the tc drop out. going bigger on the drop will only start to hurt other things. its not a fix.