Slight issue after lift...

[BIGdaddy]

Is it mainly a thud you can hear, or is it something you can feel? I had maybe a similar problem with mine, and it turned out to be the transmission mount. See if you can grab the rear of the transmission and wiggle it. If it moves at all, that maybe the source. Just a little suggestion you may want to try...

interesting.

 

[BIGdaddy]

ok, so I did the braking test that was suggested and was able to reproduce the noise I think, which leads me to believe it has something to do with the pinion/yoke angles in the rear.

Other than the fact that I'd be losing an inch of clearance(clarence) I'm thinking that a simple 1" tcase drop would do me right up.

Here's the deal: I'm swapping in a 8.25 soon, and I don't want to spend any money on d35 stuff, if I don't have to.

-Ujoints on the ChryCo driveshaft? sure
-seals on the new axle? sure...
-$$ on a shaft I'm getting rid of before years end? NOOOOO!...HAHA!


Thoughts?

 

[alosix]

Ah, ok if the brake test made the vibe check for contact here:

View attachment 40863

On the yoke at the transfer case. Some XJs came with a yoke that just doesn't allow much angle on the shaft at all.

The RE part would be usable (and probably still needed) on an 8.25 driveshaft.

Or another option, find a post 1996 XJ 8.25 driveshaft (matching t-case and tranny as well) and swap the yoke from that for now. Later, when you do your 8.25 swap just put the yoke back on it.

FWIW, that driveshaft shop u-joint swap is a pretty good deal. You do know how do to them yourself right? (just making sure).

Jason

 

[BIGdaddy]

Ah, ok if the brake test made the vibe check for contact here:

View attachment 40863

On the yoke at the transfer case. Some XJs came with a yoke that just doesn't allow much angle on the shaft at all.

The RE part would be usable (and probably still needed) on an 8.25 driveshaft.

Or another option, find a post 1996 XJ 8.25 driveshaft (matching t-case and tranny as well) and swap the yoke from that for now. Later, when you do your 8.25 swap just put the yoke back on it.

FWIW, that driveshaft shop u-joint swap is a pretty good deal. You do know how do to them yourself right? (just making sure).

Jason

your attachment didn't work? was it a pic of the yoke ears?

If so, yeah, I check front and back for contact/wear/shiny parts on the pinion yoke side and the slip joint side of the driveshaft.

I actually should have a driveshaft coming my way for my 8.25 swap real soon. Thats a good point, that I could swap in the slip yoke for a bit more length.

I also have line on a free to me tcase drop.

Then again, I had absolutely no symptoms this morning on my drive in..haha!..

 

[BIGdaddy]

FWIW, that driveshaft shop u-joint swap is a pretty good deal. You do know how do to them yourself right? (just making sure).

Jason

You know whats funny, Jason? :Wow1: I've never installed ujoints. [shrug]

I had a J10 pickup that needed a set and the shop charged me like $40.00 for new joints and labor. At the time I was DD'ing a honda accord, and it was just too easy to pull them, put them in my trunk and drive over. I went and got a starbucks:coffeedrink:, came back and they were done...

haha!!

Even my blazer w/ 38's never spit one out.

Just haven't had a car long enough or beat on it hard enough for it to become a wear item.

Is it pretty easy?

 

[DrMoab]

U-joints is where I would look.

U-joints have a very very small area they wear back and forth on. If you think of how a U-joint works, it isn't like the bearings spin all the way around so they wear areas in the trunnion(right word?) and as soon as you lift them, it puts the wear area on a totally different part of that trunnion. I've seen more than a few U-joints fail immediately after installing a lift.

 

[BIGdaddy]

U-joints is where I would look.

U-joints have a very very small area they wear back and forth on. If you think of how a U-joint works, it isn't like the bearings spin all the way around so they wear areas in the trunnion(right word?) and as soon as you lift them, it puts the wear area on a totally different part of that trunnion. I've seen more than a few U-joints fail immediately after installing a lift.

that makes sense...

 

[BIGdaddy]

Ah, ok if the brake test made the vibe check for contact here:

View attachment 40863

On the yoke at the transfer case. Some XJs came with a yoke that just doesn't allow much angle on the shaft at all.

The RE part would be usable (and probably still needed) on an 8.25 driveshaft.

Or another option, find a post 1996 XJ 8.25 driveshaft (matching t-case and tranny as well) and swap the yoke from that for now. Later, when you do your 8.25 swap just put the yoke back on it.

FWIW, that driveshaft shop u-joint swap is a pretty good deal. You do know how do to them yourself right? (just making sure).

Jason

pretty sure this is my issue. I again re-created the sound with that braking test, and while I don't see any wear marks, the noise is specifically a thud-thud, as in a 12 o-clock and a 6 o-clock contact, metal to metal. I think what I'm going to try first is to clearance the yoke gently with a grinder and a file, to see if I can get a bit more room. If that doesn't fix it, I'll go with a tcase drop kit (local jeeper has one for free), if that doesn't work, I'll get myself a new yoke...

 

[ExpoMike]

Man I am seriously not a fan of t-case drops. It puts major strain on the engine mounts (you are basically rotating the back of the engine down) and makes the clearance for the fan to fan shroud really close. T-case drops are a band-aid fix at best and have the ability to break many more things than it will fix.

My .02 worth.

 

[BIGdaddy]

what's your suggestion, then, Mike?

seems to me that a 3/4-1" drop that far away from the pivot point (engine mounts) would only rotate the engine a degree or two. Not enough to really effect anything.

Just my perception, though.

 

[ExpoMike]

Honestly, Cherokee's have enough issues with engine mounts tearing and failing, I would never want to risk adding any stress (however slight) to a known problem. Heck, I have a set of MORE Bomb Proof mounts at home awaiting to go in, just so I won't have a problem down the road.

As much as you don't want to hear it, my only suggestion is an SYE and approprate driveshaft. Yes it costs much more to do than a t-case drop but I firmly believe in the pay now versus pay more later. YMMV

As suggested above, if you don't know if the u-joints have been changed, that would be a good place to start. I know my 104,000 mile XJ has the front ones going as I get a vibration that starts about 75 MPH. Pro Gear, when doing my front gears, mentioned the joints should be replaced some time soon. Might be a good place to start.

I can understand money being tight. It took me a year to buy all the parts for my lift. I made sure I got all the major things before I even started a lift. Then when I did, I found a few extra things I needed but this approached kept it from being a big hit on the wallet at one time. I firmly believe that all lifts end up with the domino effect. Change one thing and it will effect others, fix those and they effect others, etc., etc.

Hey, did you ever get different disco's?

 

[BIGdaddy]

Honestly, Cherokee's have enough issues with engine mounts tearing and failing, I would never want to risk adding any stress (however slight) to a known problem. Heck, I have a set of MORE Bomb Proof mounts at home awaiting to go in, just so I won't have a problem down the road.

As much as you don't want to hear it, my only suggestion is an SYE and approprate driveshaft. Yes it costs much more to do than a t-case drop but I firmly believe in the pay now versus pay more later. YMMV

As suggested above, if you don't know if the u-joints have been changed, that would be a good place to start. I know my 104,000 mile XJ has the front ones going as I get a vibration that starts about 75 MPH. Pro Gear, when doing my front gears, mentioned the joints should be replaced some time soon. Might be a good place to start.

I can understand money being tight. It took me a year to buy all the parts for my lift. I made sure I got all the major things before I even started a lift. Then when I did, I found a few extra things I needed but this approached kept it from being a big hit on the wallet at one time. I firmly believe that all lifts end up with the domino effect. Change one thing and it will effect others, fix those and they effect others, etc., etc.

Hey, did you ever get different disco's?

nope, took the other ones back, and checked out the JKS's, but they don't have any way to secure them??? you just have to bungee them out of the way. Seemed pretty ghetto. I've run without them to work and back the whole week, and since I already drive conservatively, I honestly haven't had any issues. I'm planning on reinstalling "something" soon, but I've actually had to do a few manuevers in the jeep on the highway, and even so, didn't feel much more than a bit of lean.

Understood about the sye, but there's no way I'm spending money on that when I've got plans to put a completely different axle in. If it were a matter of doing a hack and tap, and using a stock style driveshaft, I'd be fine, but the "front driveshaft in the rear" mod requires like 3.5-4" of lift. If I ordered a tom woods shaft, I'd still have to mod it once I put in my new axle...no-go.



keep the thoughts coming, dude. I'm open to suggetions, for sure. I'll probably get the ujoints done soon. just need a chance to borrow the dually to drive to work, so I can drop the shaft off in the mean time.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

Brian, I've got a set of the JKS disco's in my garage if you want them, I won't charge you 300 bucks either!
I had to replace them when I went to the bigger lift.
Just PM me if you are interested.

 

[alosix]

nope, took the other ones back, and checked out the JKS's, but they don't have any way to secure them??? you just have to bungee them out of the way. Seemed pretty ghetto. I've run without them to work and back the whole week, and since I already drive conservatively, I honestly haven't had any issues. I'm planning on reinstalling "something" soon, but I've actually had to do a few manuevers in the jeep on the highway, and even so, didn't feel much more than a bit of lean.

Understood about the sye, but there's no way I'm spending money on that when I've got plans to put a completely different axle in. If it were a matter of doing a hack and tap, and using a stock style driveshaft, I'd be fine, but the "front driveshaft in the rear" mod requires like 3.5-4" of lift. If I ordered a tom woods shaft, I'd still have to mod it once I put in my new axle...no-go.



keep the thoughts coming, dude. I'm open to suggetions, for sure. I'll probably get the ujoints done soon. just need a chance to borrow the dually to drive to work, so I can drop the shaft off in the mean time.

Honestly, for a lift as short as yours I'd skip the SYE. Its a fairly long wheelbase vehicle and your angles with this short of a lift should be fine for a std shaft.

Now, for the complete opposite take. I swapped my AA SYE onto my buddies XJ when he was @ 2" of lift, AW-4, np231, D35. We used a stock front DS. It fit perfect. He was DDing it at the time, and a few weeks after the swap we drove from MD to MN to wheel @ Gilbert, MN for the crawl for the cure, then drove back.. (4 days total trip) . No issues with the driveline, shaft still looked fine when I pulled it for its 8.8 install and rear linking.

The only reasons we swapped that on then were
1.) I had it lying around as my AW-4 swap used a JB super short SYE to keep my driveline sane. I had the t-case out due to the tranny swap we were doing for him (later model .75 OD tranny instead of the .70 OD the renix had) and had the DS lying around as well.
2.) It was going to get bigger sooner or later anyway (it now sits on ORO 6" airbags and a fully linked suspension)

 

[BIGdaddy]

Honestly, for a lift as short as yours I'd skip the SYE. Its a fairly long wheelbase vehicle and your angles with this short of a lift should be fine for a std shaft.

Now, for the complete opposite take. I swapped my AA SYE onto my buddies XJ when he was @ 2" of lift, AW-4, np231, D35. We used a stock front DS. It fit perfect. He was DDing it at the time, and a few weeks after the swap we drove from MD to MN to wheel @ Gilbert, MN for the crawl for the cure, then drove back.. (4 days total trip) . No issues with the driveline, shaft still looked fine when I pulled it for its 8.8 install and rear linking.

The only reasons we swapped that on then were
1.) I had it lying around as my AW-4 swap used a JB super short SYE to keep my driveline sane. I had the t-case out due to the tranny swap we were doing for him (later model .75 OD tranny instead of the .70 OD the renix had) and had the DS lying around as well.
2.) It was going to get bigger sooner or later anyway (it now sits on ORO 6" airbags and a fully linked suspension)

was that that AA super short kit? would a hack and tap be the same length?

I have no issue upgrading to a sye, as long as the shaft is an easy/cheap find. I don't want to pay for a sye AND a custom shaft right now, but I could easily pull my front shaft, put new ujoints in it, and throw it in the rear with a sye kit. I'd be 2wd till I found a new front shaft, but who cares.