Measure from yoke face to yoke face . Then compress drive shaft down and measure. Shaft should be around 2 inchs shorter than yoke to yoke measurement. Major prying to get a driveshaft in is not normal.

 

After its unbolted should slip in and out with ease .....

 

I had a problem reinstalling my front DS the other day, but that was because the vehicle was on a lift and the front axel had dropped down and back shortening the distance too much. Just sitting on the wheels it pops on and off with ease.

Bolt the TC back in place on the cross bar and try again?
You didn't make any changes that would have affected the distance for the front drive shaft. The transfer case can only go so far forward because it's connected to the transmission.

 

Problem solved. I put the car on stands, then raised the T case up almost to where it hits the tunnel. It increased the distance between the T case yoke and front diff yoke by about 2". Made the gap so big that i didn't even need to pry anything!

Originally, i had lowered the T case to install the SYE. Apparently the lower it is, the tighter the gap between the T case and the diffs.

Now that everything is installed, new question --- what the heck do you guys do with the E brake cable when running an SYE and new driveshaft????

This new Teraflex SYE and DS kit causes the new rear DS U joints to hit my E brake cable b/c the DS rides higher in the DS tunnel than stock. How does everybody move their E brake cable or somehow affix it a bit better to the DS tunnel? As the cable is pretty beefy, the U joints/yokes thump my cable and make a wicked noise.

Thanks again guys!!

 

Easy fix...http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=61686