INSTALLING SHIMS.

getting everything planned out for lift coming up and was wondering....
If I decide to do the lift and install the t-case drop so I can drive the jeep until my SYE and DS arrives, would it be easy to install the shims after the lift when I have the SYE and DS or should I plan on waiting till I have everything and just do it all at once? If I did it after the lift would the install go something along the lines of... Droop the axel as low as possible, loosen the u bolts, removing the center pin, and slip in the shims?

I don't know about shims, haven't done em.
Heres my thought on sequencing though:
Do it all at once. The crossmember is a PITA and you only want to do it once if you can help it. Don't bother with a Tcase drop - go straight to SYE if you can. This will save you the misery of stud removal as well as a few bucks in longer bolts which you won't need once you get around to doing the SYE.

It would be a piece of cake. Do just what you said. How much lift are you adding? I just did 6.5 inches and my yoke is almost separated from the t-case output shaft. when I try to drive mine, it shakes the transfercase around very badly. I can not drive it with out an SYE.

lifting with the RE 4.5"er. full leafs bty.

REX J said:

lifting with the RE 4.5"er. full leafs bty.

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you should be fine with the drop. i drove my jeep without a tcase drop with a 4.5" lift on it.

and yes shims are very easy to install after you already add your lift. i would go ahead and add them while you are doing your lift.

256offroad said:

you should be fine with the drop. i drove my jeep without a tcase drop with a 4.5" lift on it.

and yes shims are very easy to install after you already add your lift. i would go ahead and add them while you are doing your lift.

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huh? use shims with a t-case drop?

Yes, to point the axle down and keep the pinion of the axle parallel to the output of the Tcase. With a Tcase drop you put the fat part of the shim towards the front of the vehicle which drops the angle of the pinion.

Edit: The axle is not centered in the middle of the rear leaf springs. When you lift an XJ, the pinion starts to tilt up to the Tcase. If you run a Tcase drop, you want the pinion angle to be parallel to the Tcase angle.

I've installed a lot of lifts and every lift installation is going to be different in some way. I personally wouldn't lift beyond a 3.5" without an SYE (again). That being said, I just lifted my wifes 01' 3.5". I dropped the t-case 1" and I reset the perches to 2* neg. Without the reset, the pinion angle was 8* neg. which meant in order to get it right I would have needed 6* shims.

I have ran 6* shims before without issues, however, I personally wouldn't do it unless you buy some quality steel shims and run the larger diameter pins. I've seen the smaller pins fold like a tooth pick and the aluminum shims break everytime.


The bitch of the matter is that you will not know your angle until your lift is installed. Not everyone has the ability to cut and weld perches, but if you do, do that!

I'm just trying to make the jeep drivable for a few days while I acquire an AA kit and Woods DS. Will the t drop provided by RE be sufficient for that time without neg shims?

REX J said:

I'm just trying to make the jeep drivable for a few days while I acquire an AA kit and Woods DS. Will the t drop provided by RE be sufficient for that time without neg shims?

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Like I say....after installing my wifes 3.5" with 1" t-case drop the axle pinion angle was still 8* neg. The t-case drop ONLY helped me so I didn't have to do the SYE and DS which in most cases anything below a 4.5 doesn't typically require an SYE....Yours, may or may not take care of the DS/SYE issue because of the height of your lift. However, the new DS/SYE Or T-case Drop "won't" address the pinion angle issues. That will need to be addressed at the time of install. Hense, shims or perch relocation.

Two complete different problems.

Addionally, Once you install your SYE and DS, you will want to remove your T-case drop because together they may be counter productive.\

Hope that helps?

No worries, i'll just figure it out. thanks for the help though.