Muzikp's Sometimes Driveable Build

*James, Your high pinion rear 44 yoke is approx, 3” higher than the LP pinion 44 you removed (at least mine was). With 3” of suspension lift, your driveline will be darn close to the stock driveline angle. I don’t think you’ll need a CV joint on there. I had a new DL made for mine because the old one ended up being a tad long. IMO you want around 2” travel in each direction for the slip joint.

*Edited to provide a couple useful links. Tom Woods Drive Line Resources:
Measuring CJ Drive Shafts
Drive Line Angles

 

I’d suggest putting it in there with the new spring perches in place. Mock it up bolted together but not welded, weight it, see how it is and take measurements. Then adjust the pinion yoke in relation to the t case yoke. A floor jack works to leverage it up and down. The axle will simply slide/rotate on the perches till you get it where you want it. A little DL angle is better than a totally horizontal DL. Maybe your drive line fits...You can even tack the perches in place, and take the jeep for a spin to check for vibrations.

 

I don't think a double cardan joint will work in your case, since you are running a centered rear with a Dana 18. There is no way to effectively point the pinion at the transfer case output.

 

Didn't realize it was a centered rear to a D18. Double cardan is out if that's the case. I suppose you could run a double cardan on boths end like an old Cadillac, but that would be expensive and might not leave room for the slip joint.

Cadillac had them on both ends of the driveshaft back in the 60s so both the engine and axle could point towards the ground for a lower driveshaft height and a flatter floor. My dad will tell you how pricey a driveshaft rebuild is on that.

 

+1

 

Rats! Me neither. Will this work?...Centered differential to a dana 18? Seems iffy to me. My HP44 is custom built offset deal.

 

Me thinks it might work, but I have no qualifications what-so-ever. Since the HP is raised and the D18 has a lower output the driveshaft might be relatively level, leaving only the side offset to worry about. I'm probably just making stuff up, and if it doesn't work I volunteer my jeep for this axle to live under.

 

The offset isn’t ideal, but it’s not beyond the realm of possible. I’ve done it before.

I always catch flak for saying this, but...
If the joints are in phase and the t-case downward-angle matches the pinion upward-angle, a u-joint doesn’t know if it’s at an up/down angle or side/side angle. An angle is an angle, and they’ll match.

 

^^^^
This

I have not welded or even tacked my perches yet so still room for adjustment there.

My pinion and transfer case flange are almost dead level (in fact my pinion looks to be sloping downward a bit), I'm only dealing with side to side offset. I knew this going in and I was blindly hoping what ITLKSEZ said would be the case, an angle is an angle. I have no way to point the pinion at the Tcase so that probably rules out the double cardan.

Here's a pic from the side.


I have a 6" center to center offset (side to side not up down). According to some rough math each u-joint would be operating at a 9.75 degree angle. Is that too much?

 

The general online consensus is that the max angle for a 1310 joint is 30°. As long as your full-droop doesn’t bind, I wouldn’t worry about it. Just keep them lubed. I think my 3b has been running around 20° angles for eons. The joints are shot, but I only remember replacing them once (after one failed coming down Mt. Washington in NH).

Maybe keep an eye out for a D20 down the road? Or do you run an OD?

 

No fancy Woodys overpriced drive shaft required.
Plenty of local places in Sacramento can put your yokes/slip on a longer shaft. Only 9 degrees of offset??? D20’s and centered diffs aren’t perfectly aligned either. Be outside the box and run it!!!

 

Well that's all good news then, that was a lot of great input from everybody. Thank you.

So how do you get the drive shaft apart? There is some sort of stop that keeps mine from coming off the splines.

 

There’s a cap where the two halves meet. You can either take a chisel/hammer and tap the cap towards the section of tubing, or if the they move freely enough, just use the two halves like a slide hammer against themselves. They'll come apart.

 

Decided to make a trip out to J&W Auto Recyclers. They are typically very expensive but have a lot of stuff for our early CJ's.

Like drive shafts for example:












Found this cute little blue guy that is the exact length I need

 

They do have a bunch of stuff and some hard to find items. They are pretty proud of it and their prices usually reflect it. Hope you got a good deal.

 

$100. The ease of it made me happy with that price. I walked in, he pointed me in the right direction, rummaged for a minute, somehow stayed focused in spite of all the other amazing things I wanted to gawk at, paid and was out of there in 15 minutes.

 

Looks to be about the same length as the one for my T98.

 

It's got a paint marker label on it "73 CJ5" so that makes sense.

 

That place is impressive!

 

Looking good James! Did you ever figure out what the rear diff came out of? I did not see it posted. Been working on mine.....getting ready to hot water high pressure the tub, frame, and parts.