First, you all are welcome. I spent almost a year researching lifts, bumpers and other options before rolling the dice and going AEV. (Hadn't had the opportunity to drive an AEV equipped Jeep.) It was the consistency of customer reports that finally sold me. Those fellows on other forums whose reports and suggestions helped me decide, well, I owe great thanks and I'm carrying on, passing the word and trying to help others as I was helped.
[Kinda like when you pull out a guy stuck in the mud or a snow bank. He tries to give you $'s and you don't take them, but tell him it would be reward enough if he promised to help the next stuck guy.]
As far as front drive shaft, well, maybe yes and maybe no from what I have read. With the Hemi swap I think things may be different for my JK, but AEV tells me that there is no issue and I have not had any clearance issue (but like you all, my die hard rock crawling days are past.) One reason for no issue is that I am running the AEV supplied Bilstien 5100's, which are the correct length for a 3.5" lift but limit axle droop when run on the 4.5" suspension without extensions. I don't have extensions and don't want them either, no hard core rock crawling, no need for my use.
I'm coming up on an oil change shortly and I'll have the shop lift the Jeep by the frame and get under the Jeep, something I've been meaning to do. From underneath with weight on the tires, there doesn't appear to be any issue, but the axle doesn't drop straight down or flex straight up when the suspensions articulates. BTW, the issue is stock drive shaft boot/skid plate or cross member interference for those who may not know.
There is the possibility that you would have to do nothing; this seems rare for autos but not so rare for standard trans JK's. (Gotta love it where everyone has the same Jeep, same engine, same transmission, but some need to trim, some don't, some need to replace, but some don't... Its the same way with fender well pinch seam trimming.) There is also the possibility that you can gain clearance by "trimming" the offending auto trans skid - not applicable to you all - and front cross member. I have not been under a standard trans JK, so not so sure one way or the other. The photos that I have seen of trimming for clearance seems to indicate that this option is an acceptable fix. For all of the hoopla on the forums regarding stock shafts, they are apparently stronger than 1350 shafts. Clearance issues are what is causing problems.
Also, to avoid any clearence issues, and to avoid trimming, you could always use axle straps to limit front axle droop. Think bumpstops in reverse.
You can access an AEV forum from their website, and many questions posed there by customers are answered by AEV's engineers, techs or even AEV's owner. Be warned that their response on the website is slow, really slow in some cases. A lot of the time a customer will answer the Q before an AEV tech, engineer or whoever will answer. Either way, Dave, the owner, has written that typically there is some interference. He has also posted that he is working on a replacement shaft that doesn't rely on U joints but uses the oem style joint - the name of that joint is on the tip of my tongue (Reponza?), but not on the tip of my fingers right now - since the oem style joint is stronger.
If anyone here wants to try out an AEV equipped Jeep, they would be welcome to try mine. I live near Washington, DC. Let me know...
JPK
