Topic: rear driveshaft angle after d44 swap

[cabz]

Well I finaly got around to putting the XJ d44 in my YJ, I had to shorten the dshaft 1" just to get it back in.  Now that I am just about ready to get the perches welded on I have a question . 1st this is a 92 YJ 5spd with 2.5 inches of lift I need to know what the driveshaft angle is supposed to be? I have read several diffrent opinions but I am still a hair confused. since I know some  of you here have YJ's and D44's I figured this would be the best place to ask.

I have been told that the axle pinion and the tcase output shaft have to be on the same paralell plain , That I have done ( I think ).
I set the YJ on her tires on the ground and set the shaft in , with the pinion yoke and the tcase slip yoke pointint straight up and down I used a socket on the ujoint caps . I got an angle gauge reading of 6* for both . That should mean that the Tcase and pinion are on the same plane ... right? then I checked the driveshaft angle it comes in around 17* . Does this sound OK? the ole 35 had shims in it and the new axle doesnt ( and shouldnt need em)

I just want to make sure that I only have to do this once .

Thanks for any help or advise you can give

Carmine B 

[jfrabat]

If you are using a normal shaft, then the TC output shaft and diff shaft have to be on parallel lines.  But if you have a CV shaft, then the axle and the diff have to have matching angles (well, 1 degree of difference, but that's the ides) and you forget about the TC shaft angle...

Here's a pic of my CV  shaft; check out the diff angle.



In this case (this is a CV Woody shaft) the diff had to be tilted up to be in line with the shaft (about 14*).

Hope that helps!

Felipe

[cabz]

I am useing the standard shaft , 1" tcase drop and the 2.5 lift.
I have the axle and tcase lines parallel . What I am wondering is if the numbers I put up seem right? I now with the RE springs they sent 2.5* shims to modify the angle some .
Unfourtunatly when I started this swap I did not know about checking the angles or I would have done so , But I dont know if that would have helped any since the d44 is longer in the snout than the d35 by about an inch and since I had to shorten the alllready short Dshaft.

[jcsanders79]

What is the chance that you can get rid of the TC drop and adjust the pinion since you haven't welded your perches on yet?

[aw12345]

Actually the easiet way to get the right angle is with a measuring tape when the yokes are parralel and pointin up and down measure from upper ear to upper ear of the yokes then from lower ear to lower ear of the yokes if you are within 1/16 of an inch or less you are good then if the drive shaft has some where between  a 1 to 8 degree angle from the yoke (slope) you are all good 8 degrees is the maxium for a regular driveshaft.
That make sense to you? try it with and without the TC case drop if you can get a driveline angle of less than 8 degrees without the drop you would be a happy camper if not leave it in place

[Jeffy]

When I did my XJ D44 I just copied the stock perch angles from the D35c.  I'm not running a CV driveshaft so there was no problems.  The pinion on the D44 is not only longer but taller too.  I would suspect you might be able to remove the T-case shims if you're only running 2.5" lift.

[cabz]

Well heres the latest, I got the pinion and tcase yokes seto to about 6* so my axle and tcase are paralell . the DS angle measures out to be 16.5* which looks about right when resting on its wheels .

When I jacked up the rear and let the axle hang freely on the springs the DS looks horrible, It almost binds because of the steep angle it is at. I might be able to get a dime in the gap between the yoke ears . does this sound right? I know real world flexing is going to keep this from happening since one side of the axle will be high and one side will be low . But it just looks nasty.

Also I mounted my rear shock brackets on the axle at full droop , I made sure the shock body was not touching the axle tube ( seems I bent my old rear shocks in that area ) I have about 1/8" gap at full droop. I am hopeing that I can keep from whacking another set of shocks.
But the issue I have now is that 1. the new shock mounts are shorter than the stockers by 1/2 " and now that I have rotated them up some I only have 4" of up travel before bottoming them out , problem is my bumpstops are 5 1/2" from the axle .

anyone else have this shock issue? how did you fix it?

[neale_rs]

I went with RE u-bolt skid plates with shock mounts.  This avoids having to weld on the shock mounts and you won't have any issues if you change the pinion angle later for a bigger lift.

[Jeffy]

Well heres the latest, I got the pinion and tcase yokes seto to about 6* so my axle and tcase are paralell . the DS angle measures out to be 16.5* which looks about right when resting on its wheels .

When I jacked up the rear and let the axle hang freely on the springs the DS looks horrible, It almost binds because of the steep angle it is at. I might be able to get a dime in the gap between the yoke ears . does this sound right? I know real world flexing is going to keep this from happening since one side of the axle will be high and one side will be low . But it just looks nasty.

Also I mounted my rear shock brackets on the axle at full droop , I made sure the shock body was not touching the axle tube ( seems I bent my old rear shocks in that area ) I have about 1/8" gap at full droop. I am hopeing that I can keep from whacking another set of shocks.
But the issue I have now is that 1. the new shock mounts are shorter than the stockers by 1/2 " and now that I have rotated them up some I only have 4" of up travel before bottoming them out , problem is my bumpstops are 5 1/2" from the axle .

anyone else have this shock issue? how did you fix it?

Drive shaft angles get ugly when you drop the rear.  Mine is set up with a limiting strap to prevetn teh rear from dropping out.  This was added back when I was running Revolvers.

As for teh shocks, get some longer bumpstops or extensions.  You could use some square tube and bolt it to teh frame and bolt the bumpstop to that or else get one of the premade ones that clamps into the axle tube.  I have these on my Jeep.

[cabz]

Well I finanly got the ole girl done . thanks for all the input.

it drives down the road with no driveline vibes at all . the locker takes a bit o gettin used to but other than  that I am sure happy to have 5th gear again and the ole girl on the road .