Correcting rear angles

I have a 98 XJ on around 4.5" of lift and T-case drop. I have noticed a slight slight growl in the rear at certain times of acceleration. Im pretty much certain that its the driveshaft angle. Now the ways I know of to fix this would be SYE, hack and tap, rear shims, or a longer T-case output shaft. Obviously the SYE is the best way to do this, but Im trying to do this as cheaply as possible, its so slight of a noise I can live with it, just dont want the long term wearing. It's my DD so I want to eliminate as much down time as possible. I was leaning towards the longer output shaft, but Im looking here for reasons to/not to go with that compared to the hack and tap or rear shims.
Thanks

Check your slip yoke for spline wear and that you have enough engagement on the output shaft. I'm not saying you don't have driveline angle problems, but this is something to check.

For a while, I ran with an Extended Slip Yoke. Eventually, the splines on the slip yoke wore to the point I experienced a "growl" or vibrations but only when I would "coast". If this is your problem, replace the Slip Yoke ... if it's going to be a while before you install a SYE.

Les

any noise usually means wear on the drivetrain. Just bite the bullet and run an XJ front driveshaft from an auto XJ and get the AA sye or the PORC sye and you can bolt it right up to the rear. Get some 4 or 6 * shims and you are done. For about 300-325 you could be done and have no future problems.

"I experienced a "growl" or vibrations but only when I would "coast"."

This is almost exactly the experience im having, but only at the instant I start to coast. This is why I was thinking an extended slip yoke. That and since its like 1/3 of the cost of a SYE that I just can't afford right now.

Ive also noticed that this growl happens less often with less intensity with a full tank of gas vs an almost empty. So im still thinking extended shaft...any other thoughts?

Check your Slip Yoke for wear ... replace if necessary. Keep in mind that at 4.5" of lift with a TC drop, you are at the point you should really consider a SYE in the near future.

HTH ...

Les