Spacer under Transmission on 79 J20??

[Moose79J20]

I finished installing my 6" lift on my 79 J20 and found that the front drive shaft wouldn't reach the front axle. BJ's Offroad sold me the lift and spoke of no problem with the fitment. I noticed a 1 in spacer beneath the tail of the transmission. It doesn't appear to be stock. If not, then hopefully it will drop the transfer case enough to reach.

My question: Is the spacer a stock part on the truck?

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j296/Moose_92/J20Round3016.jpg

[orangecherokee]

that doesn't look stock to me and i believe it needs a rubber mount there.

[82j20]

Looks like someone has made a mount............not sure why they would do that the mounts are cheap ans easy to find

:drivin: :fsj:

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Yes that is stock, it was used to help with the front driveshaft angle on some of the J trucks

[Slick Willie]

You might not be able to see it very good, but here's a stock '84 J-10 view from the rear.
https://webspace.utexas.edu/jwr55/LHOR/208.JPG?uniq=-u7fpvk

[Crazy_Jeepman]

You might not be able to see it very good, but here's stock.
https://webspace.utexas.edu/jwr55/LHOR/208.JPG?uniq=-u7fpvk

Stock on some FSJ's, but not all ;)

[Slick Willie]

Well then my post doesn't help you. Oh well. It was worth a shot. :D

[Crazy_Jeepman]

If I remember 79 was the only year that block was used on the Q-Track J Trucks, as that year had the highest ride height, and that spacer was needed to Keep the angle correct on the front driveshaft. Something to that effect anyhow. ;)

[Moose79J20]

Thanks. Any ideas on how to get the drive shaft to reach? Length isn't an issue, but there isn't enough of an angle to reach down far enough?

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j296/Moose_92/J20Round3015.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j296/Moose_92/J20Round3017.jpg

[Slick Willie]

What's the driveshaft hitting? Or is the t-case just too high?

[Crazy_Jeepman]

You will need a new driveshaft made capable of running at that angle. It is now binding up in the Double Cardan Joint at the T-Case.

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Here is another Pic of the NOT STOCK mount :p LOL

Stole this Pic from fubard76cj7 ;)



http://www.crazy-jeepman.com/Tech/TH400%20Q-Trac%20Mount.jpg

[shackwrrr]

since his length is good couldnt he just take it to a driveline shop and have them weld a bigger cardan on it?

http://driveshaftsuperstore.com/bad_boy_drive_shafts.htm get one of the 80 deg ones. **** 80 degrees from a driveshaft

[Moose79J20]

Yes it is binding up at the Double Cardan Joint. Can I just replace it or maybe some modification/grinding to allow for the angle?

[Crazy_Jeepman]

I beleive some have ground a bigger relief in the joint to achieve a greater angle, doing that puts it well out of its operating range. The centering ball and socket would be on the verge of popping out, if it does let go say goodbye to the tranny as well as the driver shaft. You could possibly go with a larger Joint on that end. It might be interesting to find a new yoke for the Q-Trac to handle it though.

[Moose79J20]

Thanks for your help guys. I spoke to a friend that works at a driveline shop and this is what he told me.

"Does it have lockout's on the front axle? If so you can use a standard D/S without the CV and grind the yoke a little. To clear the binding spots of the drive shaft. A standard u-joint has more radial movement then a CV."

Can I just remove the joint and use the standard driveshaft?

[Crazy_Jeepman]

You would have to change the front output yoke on the T-Case.

[J20 project]

Weird, My 76 with the 6in BJ's caused no issues w/ the front shaft other than it needs to be about 1 in longer. Haven't changed it yet as I intend to go bigger. I have the T18 though.
J20

[Moose79J20]

We're going to try shims in the front and taking out the spacer. If all it was for was to get the right angle at stock height, dropping it should lower the tcase and give enough of an angle. Will let you know once we get time to get at it.

[steven79]

if you take the spacer out your front yoke will point up more causeing more angle on the u joints. taller spacer will lessin the angle on the u joint. i think your double joint is put together wrong as mine will almost touch the ground when disconected front the front axle.

[shackwrrr]

could we get pics of the cv end of the shaft please this may help up better diagnose the plroblem.

[Moose79J20]

The problem was solved. We figured the spacer wouldn't help, but thought we'd try it anyways. It didn't help. We messed with the CV some more and it broke loose. It was able to practically reach the ground after that. Thanks for the help guys.

[KaiserMan]

We messed with the CV some more and it broke loose.

As in, it was stuck, or as in, you broke the pos?

[JeepinPete]

I wonder if there is something specific to the front ds used in '79s? When I did the engine swap in my '79 Cherokee, the front driveshaft had the same issue. I have a 4" lift on mine, and clocked the QT up about 2" to clear the trans pan. The end result is the front shaft looked exactly like what Moose pictured above. I still haven't fixed it, but need to soon...

[Moose79J20]

The CV wasn't broken. we checked out all the joints and caps on the ujoints. they were fine. I'd post pics but the truck is about 4 hrs away at my friends house. I spoke with BJ's and they told me that they had run into a few occurences with problems on 79's, but hadn't pinpointed the problem.