Tailshaft and driveshaft clearance

I just swapped out my dana 35 for the 8.25 and I only have 1/2" clearance between my tranny tailshaft and driveshaft now. What is the minimum clearance I should have to allow for flexing? It has a 5" lift and the np242 t case. Don't have the money right now to do 231 swap and SYE and need to make this work for now.

This has worked for me. I will get flamed for this but... oh well...

I took a long front ds from another Cherokee, disassembled the entire double cardan joint on the one side. I then cut out the support for the bearing in the double cardan. From there I took both driveshafts and visually looked at the clearances for the slip yolk and DC joint, a little wok with a grinder to get some more clearance on the front DS and I assembled the slip yolk on the front DS...

Then, to stop the slip joint in the front DS I simply cut a piece of tube in half, measured the length I needed and then welded the piece in place of the slip. Took 45 minutes and its been under the jeep 6 months.

Ghetto? Yes. Works? Yes. Better options? Yes.

Take your DS down to a driveline shop and have them shorten it an inch... this was my option when I had to get this done and it was midnight with no shops open.