dana 30/driveshaft issues....

[Ty84]

ok so i have a low pinion dana 30 from a 96 jeep grand cherokee and im having trouble with getting the driveshaft to not be too steeply angled... ive got an 84 ranger 4x4 with the stock transfer case, it has the splined slip on connection and i cant figure out how to get it to work with the new axle... has anyone encountered this problem or know how to deal with it? my local driveshaft shop was no help, thanks for any info!

 

[Explorin94]

You are pretty much stuck with the steep driveshaft angle with a low pinion 30. Not a whole lot you can do but if you run that axle make sure you have the double joint by the transfercase.

 

[dangerranger83]

If I had known that you were going to put a LP D30 under her I would have said hold off and find a HP one.

As for driveshaft, I have the same setup as you minus the LP D30. All I did was tell the driveshaft place to extend mine 2 inches (thats what it needed) and they made me a whole new one for $150. They used the ends off my factory shaft and welded them to my new one.

Pics are in my build thread of my setup and somewhere in there my driveshaft and whatnot.

 

[Ty84]

ok cool thanks for the info, ive also got this other idea that to me sounds like it might end up with a pretty trick set up... so the cherokee came with a brand new rebuilt tranny/transfer case and i was thinking that maybe if advanced adaptors made an adaptor for that tranny to mate with my 2.8 it would make the transfer case farther from the axle and eliminate some steepness, it also has a u joint connector instead of a spline joint which is better i think, the only downfall of that case that i can think of ids that there is no 2wd.... what do you think of that?

 

[dangerranger83]

It wouldnt be worth the time or money to do that. Since you did say you have a 302 you are going to be throwing under her in the future then I would spend the money to do that then try to adapt a jeep tranny to a ford engine.

 

[Ty84]

thats true, idk im just speculating on all the things i could do... but i think i found a place that has u joints that you can swap with the slip joint on the transfer case and that would make it able to have a double u joint and im hopeing that that will fix the problem

 

[dangerranger83]

If you get rid of your slip joint then you will have to put one on the drive shaft. Put a double cardon stop on it and that should help.

 

[cdawall]

I have a LP in mine on the stock case. CV joint at one end and its not to steep.

 

[Ty84]

but yours is 10 years newer, doesnt it have a u joint on the case? mine has a slide joint and the local driveline shop said that cv joints dont work with a slide joint

 

[dangerranger83]

Heres a picture of my front driveshaft when I got it back from the driveshaft shop and how it is under my truck.

 

[cdawall]

Swap the front output shaft go with a cv. Plenty of guides around on that. That angle however doesn't look any worse than the slip yolk style rear on my xj. Length is about the same as well.