JeepcoMJ Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 my 87 4.0 shortbed auto has just scored a 231 with SYE for cheap...and i need to do the 4wd conversion anyways when I install the 6.5" lift, so I'm wondering... are any of you running a shortbed 4.0 with SYE, and what are you using for a rear driveshaft? I'm hoping I can make one from an xj front or zj front driveshaft work as $$$ is low right now, but also don't want to do the project wrong. also, what length should the rear shaft be with SYE? thanks in advance! -Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 not sure on the exact length, but a V8 ZJ has the longest front DS of all. It may be close. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWLONGSHOT Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 IIRC, Tom woods offers a table/graph to compute DS length. Maybe try there/ his site? Don't buy there, at least not until you look at Carolina Drive-shafts. I don't mean to dis Toms, He is good and all but getting expensive. Last shaft I got was almost $400. I have been hearing a lot of good things from Carolina Drive shafts. Two good friends just had them make up front and rear shafts for 2/3 of toms price. A week later, one of the guy's pretzels one and Carolina replaced it NO CHARGE. He even admitted it was his fault and expected to have to pay!!! CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 I thought about custom shafts for about 5 seconds. then dismissed it completely...i'm not in a position to be spending money like that right now, so worse come to worse I'll chop up one of mine, and retube it then take it in to have it balanced...i've done it once before without problems so i'm sure I can again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWLONGSHOT Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Yup, I remember. I am sure you can do it too!! Nice project too!!! in any case, check out that chart on Toms site. It will help you get the proper length shaft no matter how you go about it!! :cheers: :cheers: CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 10-4 on that thanks C-dub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 IIRC, Tom woods offers a table/graph to compute DS length. Maybe try there/ his site? Don't buy there, at least not until you look at Carolina Drive-shafts. I don't mean to dis Toms, He is good and all but getting expensive. Last shaft I got was almost $400. I've broke 2 of TW's d-shafts. And no not at the joints. 2nd one was "maybe" my fault as the yoke on the axle broke and the shaft was spinning under the Jeep connected to the TC for about 2 mins. :roll: After the 2nd one I said I was done with them and went with a JE Reel shaft. Haven't looked back since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWLONGSHOT Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Yea, I am on my third as well.... First one was a combo fault issue. Paid $350-360 for the shaft, 11,000 miles later I paid another $380 for the repairs. :eek: When that second shaft needed repair in my opinion it was entirely their responsibility. In the end still had to pay almost $100 for the repair. It was the centering ball ceased, I am meticulous about maintenance and re-grease every grease fitting (Even those funky ones in the centering ball)after every trip off road. I proved it to them as my grease is purple blue and theirs is motor oil color. it was PLAIN to see it was reg serviced. This is on my off road only TJ. Got about 5000 miles on that shaft... then I got shafted again. :D My next one will be from Carolina for SURE!! CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I don't think you are going to find a jeep shaft that will be long enough. Try looking at late 70's ford front.. might have some luck with that. Or you could take you current rear shaft and a front shaft down to a driveline shop and get them to make you one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Length aside, I think you're going to find that a front shaft is too small for use as the rear, primary drive shaft. I would only use a front shaft back there in an emergency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 Length aside, I think you're going to find that a front shaft is too small for use as the rear, primary drive shaft. I would only use a front shaft back there in an emergency. it's done all the time on cherokees, so I'm not too particularly worried...plus with SYE if it does damage itself, I have a fallback to get home. I'll be building a skid or something for the shaft in case of some accident like that. I've got an xj rear shaft that actually is the perfect length to put the cardan shaft ends on, so I will be building the first one myself this weekend and having a local shop balance it (i don't trust them to do anything else) then having a different shop build me a custom shaft from scratch....either way, I just need this one moving for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Pat, Just stumbled across this....it ought to help you. It only lists collapsed lengths, but it's better than guessing. Check the second page for XJ/ZJ driveshaft lengths: http://www.crownautomotive.net/catalog/ ... afts1.html Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motion Offroad Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Length aside, I think you're going to find that a front shaft is too small for use as the rear, primary drive shaft. I would only use a front shaft back there in an emergency. As stated above it's done A LOT with the XJ's. They work in the rear with upto about 4" of lift on the XJ. After that they are not long enough. We've yet to see a front XJ shaft fail in the rear of an XJ. We run one in our own XJ and by no means are "easy" on it on the trails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 combined a '73 waggy auto 360 equip rear slip-shaft with a front xj shaft to get what i needed... 45-1/4" is what the driveshaft needed to be mid-slip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWinland Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 '89 shortbed np231 w/ SYE, D44, SOA...rear shaft = 43.5" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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