Drive shaft angle

I just ran some strings to see what my driveshaft angles are going to be. After the SOA and SM465, the rear driveshaft will be at about 20 degrees, and the front one will be at about 16. This is before the springs have been broken in, so the jeep will settle a bit too.

Will these angles be ok, or do i have to go to a CV style driveshaft. I'm hoping to get by without having to order the CV yokes (from Tom Woods I think, or maybe I can find something in the junkyard) and having to wait for them to get here. I already have donor CV driveshafts. What's the steepest angle that will work? Thanks.

 

Anyone know the answer to this? I'm probably going to go ahead and try making a normal driveshaft for the rear.

The front I'm pretty sure will work, I'm going to make a square tube driveshaft for that one since it costs almost nothing to do. Hopefully the castor will come out ok.

 

its not the angle of the shaft that is critical. where you need to worry about angles is the angle of the t-case output and the diff pinion. these need to be the same, or realistacly the diff needs to be a few degres lower for the wrap. then the only other thing you need to look at is the clearence of the yolks. to do this, jack up the rear end and put the frame on stands so the axle is at full droop. spin the wheels as you watch the shaft.... if there is any binding you will see it. depending on how sever it is you can fix this by doing some clearencing with a die ginder. hope this works.

 

I wish I had jack stands that came within a foot of being tall enough to touch the frame. I'm heading to the junkyard tomorrow, if I can find a yoke that will work, I'll just rotate the pinion up and use a CV shaft to be on the safe side. If I can't find anything that will work, I'll rotate the pinion back down a bit and check to see if the yokes bind on a regular shaft. Thanks.

 

If you can find a Grand Cherokee in the yard you can pick up a cv shaft from it. We use them all the time. They are easy to cut down yourself and just weld back together. To make your jack stands work you can put a rim under you jack stands to get more height.

 

I dropped my transfer cae 1" and it helped.

 

For the grand cherokee driveshafts, what did you use for yokes on the transfer case end? Ive got an XJ driveshaft sitting here, but it's set up for straps, and the stock yokes are set up for ubolts. Or does the grand cherokee use the ubolts?

 

You will have to buy a cv type yoke. It will run you about 50 bucks. But its worth it considering you can pick up driveshafts in the junkyard for around 20 bucks.

 

Does anyone have a source for the D18/D20 CV yoke? I've read on here that you can get them from Tom Wood's driveshafts, but it's not listed on there website, and I don't have time to call durring business hours. Anyone know of an online source for these?

 

TOM WOOD'S phone number is 1-877-497-4238,www.4xshaft.com . Good luck finding a C V flange for the axle or tranfercase ,not a stock set up.I got mine from him last year.If you can try to lower the tranfercase, it will help with the drive line angle.I have the same set up as you in a 58 CJ5

 

I also installed some 4° wedges which angled the differential up decreasing the angle of the shaft (worked very well). mY ANGLE WITH THE TRASFER CASE DROPPED 3/4" and the wedge installed on the leaf springs made the agle equal to stock with no vibration.

Cheap+Easy+Effective=Perfect Solution

 

I don't think I can get away with a regular driveshaft for the rear, even with cheating everything the right way. With the spring over and all, the shaft is pretty steep.

I know I probably won't be able to find a D18 cv yoke, but I know that a lot of D20's came with them stock, so I was hoping to find a website that sold them. If I don't find anything, I'll try calling Tom Wood's.

 

The front CV yoke from a Dana 20 or Quadratrac transfercase will work on the front or rear of a Dana 18, as long as it's 10 spline. I've used them twice now - once on the front of a Dana 18, once on the back of a Dana 20.

 

Ok, I've got an idea of a junkyard with a wagoneer in it that I'll check out this weekend. If that doesn't work out, What about modifying the original front D18 yoke to work? I held it in place, and it doesn't bind at any angle, and the bolt holes are only off by an 1/8 inch or so.... I was thinking about making the feet of the yoke a bit wider with weld, and then drilling new holes for the CV joint bolts. Bad idea?