Rear Driveshaft Length

[wheeling365]

I recently picked up a used 231 with an SYE installed for a good price.(its not a hack and tap) I still need to get a rear driveshaft made up for it. I've tried searching here to figure out how to determine what new length rear shaft I need but I'm not finding anything helpful. I also looked at the Tom Woods site and that's not helping me either.

Its all going into my 2000 XJ with a 4.0 AW4 231 D30/8.25 on an OME kit.

Does anyone know of an easy way to determine the new rear shaft length without having to bolt the new TC in and busting out the tape measure?


Thanks

[jeeptec]

the only accurate way is to install the tfc and measure.

[CaliXJ]

How much lift are you running? I have 5.5" of lift with your same set up and i'm running a stock front DS in the rear. Any reason why this wouldn't work for you?
Anyways... here you go http://adamsdriveshaft.com/measurements_chart

[Lurch]

How much slip should a driveshaft have?

[ehall]

Rear driveshaft length for an XJ is determined by four factors:

manual or automatic
2wd or 4wd
95- or 96+ transfer case output shaft style
D35 or D44/8.25 rear axle

You pretty much have to match all four variables, at which point they are going to be the same part number anyway.

[Wil Badger]

Whats so hard about measuring from yoke to yoke. You can not know the length of the drive shaft accurately without having everything in place and putting a tape measure up to it. You can guess all day long but guess wrong and it can cost you the transfer case when the drive shaft tries to go through it because it's to long. Being a bit short won't hurt to much if you have enough in the slip joint but again to short and you put unneeded stress on the slip yoke causing it to oblong and wobble.

[RCP Phx]

Originally Posted by SaMo_XJ

How much slip should a driveshaft have?

It depends on how much lift you have and how much suspension travel you have(also based on what type of suspension).A normal slip yoke has 3" of travel,my TW shafts have almost 5" of travel,they also sell 4" yokes.

[wheeling365]

To answer the questions above: This is in my DD so I can't have it apart until I'm ready to do the swap 100%.

I'm running an Old Man Emu 3" kit. The SYE kit is from Advanced Adapters.

[RCP Phx]

If you want to do it right,you need to measure for yourself/your vehicle. There is no "one size fits all".That said,my rig is 2000/4.0/AW4/231/D30-C8.25 but with more lift @5.5" and the measurement is 32.5",when I was at 3" of lift the measurement was 32",I still run the same driveshaft.

[Wil Badger]

Even if it's your daily driver there is no reason why you couldn't have the driveshaft built locally with in a day or two. If you are only running 3" of lift then you will not be able to use the front drive shaft trick. The most you could do is grab a junkyard shaft and cut it down yourself as a temp while waiting for the real one of course this would be if you have or know somebody with a welder.

[jeannies_driver]

My 99, 4.0, auto, 30/8.25 has OME 2" springs ( which are closer to 3-3.5" )with another inch of shackle and my front shaft fit right in. It is probably an inch shorter than I'd like it but there's no spline showing. It would at least get him driving till the proper shaft was ordered if needed.

If you order a shaft from most places anymore they already know what size it needs to be. You tell them what you have and they will send a shaft ready to install.

[CASEY-R]

My 98 has the auto/231 with an A.A. sye and 8.25 rear. My springs are really broken in 3" skyjacker with 1" lift shackles and my measurement from center of ujoint to center of ujoint is 32.5".

Swap t'cases, move front d.s. to rear and order a new one up or get another for the front.

You might need to swap shims too. I had to go from 4 deg to 2 deg.

[playwithit]

When I installed my 241OR transfer case, I had heard I would need either a longer or a shorter (depending which internet expert I chose to believe) drive shaft. I waited to order until I completed the tc install and made the measurement correctly. Tom Woods had the proper drive shaft to my door in two days (mileage may vary). By the way, the shaft length as measured in post #6 was 33 1/2" (longer).

Well worth it if you can do it right.

[Phil]

You are replacing a 231 with a fixed yoke 231? Not changing anything else?

You could measure how far the fixed yoke is from the back of the transfer case.

Then measure that same distance off the back of the installed slip yoke case.

Then measure from the pinion yoke to where your fixed yoke will be.

I bet that will be pretty accurate.