I swapped my d35 for a 8.25 and shortened my drive shaft an inch to fit properly.
At full droop (body on jack stands suspention hanging) the drive shaft binds on the trans case side u joint. If I jack up the pumpkin it spins freely. im currently at 3" with a tcase drop and had no known binding issues before the axle swap.

im assuming that with the wheels on the ground the pumpkin sits higher and the ds wont bind. does this sound right? should i grind the u joint where it binds or shims? or is it ok the way it is?

 

I would either A: try a tcase drop and mabe shim the rear.. but sounds like your treading into territory where you may want to explore a sye.

 

Just get yourself a set of degreed shims to put between your rear axle sping pads and the springs. This will tilt your pinion up a bit and problem solved.

Now, you can get the crappy aluminum ones for dirt cheap. I had one of mine break under heavy flexing while 4wheeling. I got a set of steel ones from my local 4x4 shop for $18. So, still pretty cheap and they will last.

 

How much should I shim? Shims would fix the bind but will it effect anything else? Do I need to have someone look at my angles? Is there a way to check them my self.

 

A good rule of thumb that has worked very well for me is 1 degree of shim for every 1" of lift. 3" lift, 3 degree shim, etc.

 

I have a 1" tcase drop how does that factor in

 

I bought a 4.5" lift kit from Rusty's Offroad. It came with a 1" TC drop kit and 4 degree axle shims together right in the same kit. That setup worked great for me. No binding and no vibes.

 

thanks for all the help guys! I will get some 3 degree shims and see where im at.

 

Ya shims are deffinataly the way to go. Especialy if you are putting on a new differnt sized axle. But do by real ones not that cheap crap they try to sell you.

 

Buy a degree finder.. you know the one that is a dail gauge. place it on the axle yoke... then do the same at the t-case.. you want them angles to be the same. so if t-case is at 6* and axle is at 2* you will need 4* shim. The 8.25 has a lower pinion then the d35.. this is what caused the issue

 

and a longer pinion/housing leading to a steeper DS angle