Wiggles, I'm wondering-why do I need ANOTHER front drive shaft? I already am driving an auto 4x4?

Which makes me thick another thought, do I need TWO SYE now, one for the front diff? Excuse my ignorance, I am just learning about 4x4 systems.

 

The front has an actual yoke on the axle and the tc, the back has a yoke on the axle and has a "slip yoke" where the splines slide to accommodate for suspension travel. So getting a sye puts an actual yoke on the back of the tc. The stock front shaft gets put in the rear to replace the slip yoke shaft because a front shaft is a cv setup to connects to a yoke on both ends and contracts/ expands in the middle of the shaft. So in the end you would have two front drive shafts or you could go the expensive route and get a custom shaft like a tom woods for the rear and keep the front. But that isn't necessary. Either way you will keep the front how it is.
How much lift are you planning for?

 

That is incredible. I though I HAD to go get a custom one made. I'd much rather go to the junk yard and pull one. I can't believe it's the correct length too. That is awesome! So automatic 4x4, does it have to be a certain year?

BTW-I am doing no more than 3", w/ 31" tires. I don't want to chance any vibes and would beat my head against a wall if I lifted it 3" and had them. I'd rather do it right and not have to worry.

I had my prior car have the vibes (99' Lexus GS400) and spent thousands and hundred hours or so chasing them down, they never got fixed. Evene the dealer was stumpped (big shocker huh. I called them all overglorified "parts-changers" and yelled "There aren't any Mechanic's here" as I walked out. I personally replaced almost the whole front suspension when it came to the end, and used them as a consultant only. No way I was going to pay them for Labor when I can do it.

 

Yup any year Cherokee will work. And being that your only doing 3" you would use one from an xj if you were to go above I think its like 5" than you could use a front shaft from a zj (grand Cherokee before 1998) with a v8 and automatic

 

Put the 3" lift in first drive it around a few weeks and wait for it to settle down. You may not need a sye/ds or a tc drop. But like others have said before sometimes you do sometimes you don't it's all luck

 

Great advice Wiggles! I'll remember that.

Dogger15-I would do that, but it it shaked for one day, I'd probably go into a madcow fit right on the road due to flashbacks of driving the Lexus! It's good advice. BTW-what size lift and tires do you have? I love the stance.

 

I'm happy to help

 

So to sum this up, you can take the front driveshaft put of a junkyard xj or zj and install it as a back driveshaft and it works as an SYE? (Just tryin to understand)

 

Yes, the zj is a couple inches longer so it wouldn't be used until like 5 inches of lift but yes they do work in the back.

 

Cool, you probably just saved me like $200 8) thanks man

 

No problem

 

Oooh, but theres more...84 thru 86 Cherokees with the Selec-Trac 4 wheel drive have a fixed yoke from the factory with the perfect driveline. My 84 has this and hasnt been affected by a 4in lift at all. Ive seen many 84 thru 86 Cherokees in junkyards with these transfer case/driveline combos. Usually always with the wonderful GM 2.8Liter V6 and CryCryChrysler 904 3 speed auto. Actually a pretty tough drivetrain in my opinion. my 84 has over 250,000 miles on this drivetrain, driven hard, and keeps on goin. Has the power of a Briggs&Stratton though!

 

84zmyfavorite-how do you identify the Select track option? I want to know. Thanks and great input!

 

i have a 92 at 4 inches of lift and with the np242 (full time) transfer case and dana 35 (around 1 inch shorter then the 8.25) and have been driving around for a while with some vibrations and nothing bad has happened. been driving highway up to 70 mph, been wheeling fairly often and i am not too kind to the gas peddle...so far so good, i just keep the rear u joints greased up because they will be working harder with the increased angles. i am planning on doing the iron rock offroad kit pretty soon, or if i could find a RE flange because i scored a free RE rear driveshaft and a front driveshaft as well.

if your lifting it 3 inches, and do have vibrations, nothing bad is going to happen for a while. newer models seem to be more sensitive to driveline angles and vibrations. not sure why, but 3 inch is more of the borderline. where if you want too, you can, if you dont want too, you dont have too, most people would just do the t-case drop if your not doing extreme offroading and the 1 inch loss of ground clearance wont kill you. You will most likely be able to drive around fine on the street and mild offroad if you dont put one on, where as if your making a trail rig, you might want the extra strength that the sye provides. it even depends on what kind of wheeling you do. rocks are harder on the drive line because of the instantaneous gains and losses of traction. sand and mud dont really apply as much drive line shock because the sudden gain of traction are not very sudden compared to rocks.

a hack and tap kit is stronger because you lessen the length of the output shaft, so less leverage is put on the output bearings and shaft itself. and for those of us with np242 full time t-cases, we can only do a hack n tap kit.

 

XJ4Life92-Thanks for the input! What is the difference between a "hack and tap" vs a "regular" SYE install?