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Drop or not?

Transfer case drop or not?

  • Drop it like it's hot, if bolts break, drill 'em

    Votes: 32 66.7%

  • Don't worry about it, it's too minor

    Votes: 16 33.3%
  • Total voters
    48
BIGSLVRXJ

BIGSLVRXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Des Moines, Iowa
Alright everyone, I want some opinion on this. My 99 XJ is lifted between 2.5"-3" and I have very minor vibes; more just noise than anything. I have a spare transfer case drop sitting around that I could install. The only reasons I'm hesitating are the risk of breaking bolts (the studs have never been a problem for me) and the fact that it's tampering with something that is very important to the driveability of my DD XJ. I'm almost positive the transfer case drop would eliminate absolutely all of my problem I am mainly just hesitant because of the rust belt bolt situation. What would you guys do drop or not? Oh and no, I am not going to put a slip yoke eliminator on it at 2.5" :D. Please discuss...
 
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i just finshed my sye on my 98 w/ 6'' and 32's. didn't remove the whole case. put the front on ramps and went to work. 6 hours with lunch break and by my self. just do the sye and forget about it. witha fixed yoke output ona 231 auto, a front shaft from the same setup will work for the rear. i simply took my front shaft off the front and bolted it up to the yoke on the sye and voila! i dont have a front shaft as of right now. i think my replacement is '' IN THE MAIL". and it only cost me 58 bucks with shipping. i spent a total of 258 for the sye and shaft. total time spent, 6 or so hours at a comfortable pace. im such a weenie for not doing it sooner. oh yeah and one bruised thumb, pry bar slipped.
 
I'm about to drop mine. Might seem like a lot of work with rusty bolts but it'll save you in the long run.

There's a hole in the frame rail just in front of the cross member spray alot of PB in there angled at the bolts.
 
I dropped mine, did some fine tuning with it. No vibes. 80mph on the freeway, rides smooth and quiet. 3" lift on 31's.
PB blast the crap out of the bolts and studs for about a week. I broke my studs off, so if all else fails drill-em and tap-em.
 
you poor guys with newer Xj's..... I have a 1990 at 5" and I'm not putting anything in!!!
 
drop the shaft, service it or just have some place take care of it. The price is around 75ish to have a shaft balanced and serviced with new joints (oem stuff). More than likely that will fix your problem.
 
Okay I probably should've given more background about my experience with this. I have a 1990 too, to the person that said he feels bad for the guys with newer XJs. I remember not having to do anything for rediculous amounts of lift. I dropped the T-Case on my 1990 XJ that had the RE 3.5" Superflex (that really netted me about 5") back in the day. I had excellent results with it, got rid of my vibes almost completely, enough to where I really couldn't even hear them. I will PB blaster everything in hopes of not breaking thanks Starboard. I'm not going to do an SYE on a DD that never sees trail for 2.5" of lift, it's just not going to happen. I will drop and shim before I do that. I have brand new ujoints in the shaft, but I will take it to get rebalanced, thanks for the suggestion. I do appreciate the opinions and advice from everyone, please keep it coming.
 
You own three jeeps and you're worried about breaking a bolt? I'd be more concerned with breaking the bank buying parts. My drop and shims really smoothed my 4" lift. New front tires, a zj tie rod , and a simple alignment squared and smoothed it all.

Do the drop and count on breaking two bolts so get what you need for a replacement B4 starting the job. Extra 2"Grade 5 or 8 bolts are always a handy item to have on hand. Do the PB thing at least twice and consider a couple sharp hammer hits ,using some hardwood as a buffer, on the bolts and against the frame before the second PB effort. Plan an hour for the task but it could take you half that with luck. Don't count on luck for good support...cover all your bases with stands and lifts since you only want the TC to move a vertical inch, not a horizontal one. A simple job but possibly in the top five messiest jobs. It should be a snap. Pun intended.
 
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Hudson Bend said:
You own three jeeps and you're worried about breaking a bolt? I'd be more concerned with breaking the bank buying parts. My drop and shims really smoothed my 4" lift. New front tires, a zj tie rod , and a simple alignment squared and smoothed it all.

Do the drop and count on breaking two bolts so get what you need for a replacement B4 starting the job. Extra 2"Grade 5 or 8 bolts are always a handy item to have on hand. Do the PB thing at least twice and consider a couple sharp hammer hits ,using some hardwood as a buffer, on the bolts and against the frame before the second PB effort. Plan an hour for the task but it could take you half that with luck. Don't count on luck for good support...cover all your bases with stands and lifts since you only want the TC to move a vertical inch, not a horizontal one. A simple job but possibly in the top five messiest jobs. It should be a snap. Pun intended.
Click to expand...
I own four Jeeps actually, just ran out of room in the sig :D. I've broken plenty of bolts over the years (shock, crossmember, etc.) but this is the newest XJ I've ever owned, and my DD at the time, so I'd rather not make any part of it weaker if at all possible. I don't consider the drop anything that makes it weaker, I just hate having to drill and tap holes especially ones that hold up drivetrain. I already have many of those size bolts since they are the same as the ones used on XJ trailer hitches and as I said, I've done transfer case drops in the past. I will however count on breaking one bolt since I did on even my brother's '01 XJ. The PB thing is a definite though, but I may end up doing this whole thing tomorrow, so maybe I'll soak them in the morn and let it sit all day. I appreciate the suggestions and insight from all of you. Thanks!
 
Everytime you start thinking about it, walk out and spray the bolts with PB-Blaster rather than posting. . .

Seriously, at some point ya gotta logoff and get greasy.
 
The knee-bone is connected to the shin-bone.

The drop may fix your admittedly minor problem, but will create others in the long run. Think motor mounts, exhaust. The drop puts stress on these parts and will cost more to fix, new mounts and new header due to cracks arent worth it in my book, a short-sighted "fix".

Either live with it or do it right.
 
jeepman75 said:
Drop it.

Did a 1" drop on my 98 with 3.5" lift and it cured my driveline vibe.
Click to expand...

same here..
with my 2000
drop it and be done..
dont use an impact..
thats how i broke one bolt
the 2 studs came out easy enough..
but the impact went wack wack wack and crack...
the others i took out by hand...
and yes an SYE is in my futurehav the parts need to do it...
 
Well got it dropped about an hour ago. I had been soaking the bolts for about 3 days in PB blaster. Tonight I started out by trying to back the bolts out, one came out very easy, the other seemed like it was binding, I thought for sure it was going to break. The stubborn one turned about one turn, so I loosened, tightened, repeated and kept shooting PB Blaster in the unirails until it finally came all the way out. The studs were stubborn, but with the double nut trick they came out just fine. I now have brand new 10.9 grade (if that's what you'd call it) M10x50mm metric flanged bolts in there. Thanks for voting on this everyone!
 
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