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8.8 swap: sye necessary?

CleanInstall

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Allen, Texas
for those of you that have swapped an 8.8 in your xjs, have you found it necessary to use a slip yoke eliminator? I am just about finished with the build on my axle and it's about to go under my 94 with 4.5 inch rustys lift and 33's. so far it has been vibe free, but I worry about the pinion yoke length differences between the 35 and the 8.8. btw, I have incorporated the same pinion angle as my current setup with shims into the spring perch angle on the 8.8. thanks.

-mike
 
I'd say you should always run an SYE with any amount of lift. Even stock trucks can benefit from an SYE's improvements (shaft strength and so forth).

If you don't have any cash to spare, I would consider the Rubicon Express hack and tap at the very least. It takes all of an hour to install, if that. I did mine in under 30 minutes (air tools help). ;)
 
I went from a 8.25 to an 8.8 and the driveshaft bolted right up and was the right lenghth.
 
Isn't there some kind of adapter for the DS to bolt up to the 8.8 ?
As for needing a SYE you needed one before but didn't put one in so why ask now if your pinion angle is the same you will have the same situation just another rear end in the same place at the very same angle.
 
The 8.8's pinion is slightly offset from the center, this extra angle puts alot of added stress on the slip yoke.

That said, I'm still running my stock DS with my 8.8. I have an SYE kit and just haven't had a chance to install it yet. Its fine on the street, but before you wheel I would reccomend you get an SYE done.
 
IslanderOffRoad said:
The 8.8's pinion is slightly offset from the center, this extra angle puts alot of added stress on the slip yoke.

That said, I'm still running my stock DS with my 8.8. I have an SYE kit and just haven't had a chance to install it yet. Its fine on the street, but before you wheel I would reccomend you get an SYE done.

Where do you get this?

Isn't that what the two u-joints are for?

I have wheeled my stock ds with the 8.8 just fine.
 
mikeforte said:
Isn't there some kind of adapter for the DS to bolt up to the 8.8 ?
Yes. Its a flange that uses your u-joint but never reuse a u-joint. Any drive shaft shop will have them or check the sponser ruffstuff in the links to sponsers sections for everthing you need for this swap.
 
RedHeep said:
Where do you get this?

Isn't that what the two u-joints are for?

I have wheeled my stock ds with the 8.8 just fine.

This is information I recieved on this board when I asked the same question.

The u-joint at the x-case end of my DS has some binding issues because of the angle (from both the axle swap and the lift), and it got worse with the axle swap.
 
I had that same binding at the T-case side. They don't cut them deep enough for the DS angle so I had to replace with one from a YJ or something like that. I am replacing mine again with an SYE and Tom Woods DS.
 
BlackJax said:
I'd say you should always run an SYE with any amount of lift. Even stock trucks can benefit from an SYE's improvements (shaft strength and so forth).

If you don't have any cash to spare, I would consider the Rubicon Express hack and tap at the very least. It takes all of an hour to install, if that. I did mine in under 30 minutes (air tools help). ;)

Dont forget the mod done to the driveshaft with using the RE flange
 
IslanderOffRoad said:
This is information I recieved on this board when I asked the same question.

The u-joint at the x-case end of my DS has some binding issues because of the angle (from both the axle swap and the lift), and it got worse with the axle swap.

But the primary contributor for the driveshaft u-joint binding was the result of your lift.

I don't think to arbitrarily say that an 8.8 swap is going to cause damage to the slip yoke on a stock driveshaft is an accurate statement. There are a lot more variables involved.

I agree that most people swapping 8.8's in are already going to be lifted, etc. and have to deal with some sort of u-joint problem (I had to run a tcase drop) but the 8.8 wasn't the cause of it.

I didn't know you did an 8.8 swap, Doug.
 
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