I know, I know, Another Lift question??

I'm sure this "topic" has been beating like a red headed step child, but I have a little bit different situation.
My question is, does anyone run a 4 inch lift with a 258,T 18, and Dana 20?????
The rear shaft is pretty damn short to begin with and I was curious about vibration issues. I know everyone says, "go with the 4 inch, or you will be buying another lift in a couple of years." I am just curious about cost since a CV shaft isn't cheap, unless you junkyard it.
Lift: around 500
Driveshaft 250

Thats quite a shock to the future wife I'm trying to get all this done before the wedding, because right now it's still my money er debt!!!!

thanks
High5 :stout:

 

Yes, I am running RE 4" lift by 2.5" wide springs with your configuration.

When I rebuilt the suspension (had to to go 2.5" wide) I moved the rear axle back a couple of inches. I do not have any binding issues. I adjusted the rear pinion angle up and changed to a CV style driveshaft.
More details at http://www.hudsonhawk.net/jeep/jeepmain.htm

 

I installed a 3" lift on a '74 CJ5. T18, Dana 20. I ended up putting 8* shims in the back, and still had a TERRIBLE vibration. Had to go to a CV shaft (from a Wagoneer). Shaft was $40, having it cut down to 15" was $36, CV yoke for the t-case was $25. Ran good then. Not like a DD or anything - you could still feel a slight vibration, but it was livable at 55-60.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I currently have 33's and not much, if any lift. It does fine on the street, but I plan to wheel it some in the near future. I don't really want to tear apart the fiberglass tub when I stuff a tire I am thinking about doing a 2.5 inch lift and 1/2inch shackles and getting 3 inches out of it. Then putting some 8* shims on it to help with the angle. Does that sound like a good idea??? I need new shackles anyway, so it wouldn't be adding cost on top of the lift. I'm definitely going with greasable ones. First though, I need to get High5 running correctly, or better let's say New carb on the way, I hope it helps.

Thanks for all the great advice and keep it coming

High5

 

You understand that a 1" longer shackle means a 1/2" lift at the axles?

 

Yes, the ones I am looking at are "advertised" as a 1/2 inch lift shackle. So I assume that it is an inch over stock length giving 1/2 inch lift. I am wrong to assume this? I'm looking at greasable one's from 4WDH. With the 2 1/2 inch spring lift should give me enough clearance for the 33's right??
Thanks
High5

 

It sounds like the you have a good plan. I was rather happy with my 2.5" lift and slight shackle lift when I had it. Had 33s and I believe they cleared ok. No problems with the d-shafts, just make sure the angles are ok.

I allways thought anything over 3" on stock axles was a little scary, but hey I'm around 6" or so now so what can I say!

Also you can adjust bumpstop height to keep the tire out of the body.

Kevo

 

3.25" lift with 360/T18/D20. I bought a front CV shaft out of a front Cherokee in the salvage yard for $11. Cut it down in the garage and balanced with a dial indicator. No vibes at 60mph. I had to grind just a bit out of the CV inner knuckles to be bind-free at full axle drop.

 

Bob (mntrailboss), your Jeep looks great. Did someone help you with that driveshaft

I also had to cut the perches off your rear axle and come up with some others becuase yours were so rusty. Scout II perches worked out OK. Technically, Oldjeep donated those since I grabbed them out of his scrap pile. Before the perches could go on I had to patch up one of your tubes that was almost rusted through where the perch was. Once the rear end was safe, the pinion was tilted way up. Then we got into the grinding. All in all, your stuff was running right at the limits of what we could do with junkyard parts. If your axle dropped an inch more I don't know if the junkyard parts would have worked.

We should also mention that you had a late '70s CJ T-18 with the roughly 6.5" long input shaft. Does anyone know, did the '72-'75 CJs use the mid length T-18 where the input shaft length is about the same as a T14 or T15? If they did, this would further complicate things becuase it would add a few more inches to the drive train. I've never been clear on whether these were used in CJs or not. I know for sure that 6 cylinder J-trucks used these, but I don't know if they found their way into the intermediate CJs or not. I've had people tell me they got mid length T-18s from '72-'75 CJs, but I'm just not sure.

 

Yup, my 75s t18 uses a bellhousing thats 8 1/4" long, not the 6 1/2 like the fords.

Kevo

 

You can get a short shaft conversion kit for the t-18 that uses a T-176 bell housing. This gives you the 6 1/2" input shaft and makes the who tranny much shorter. This is what I did. Of course I started with a T-18a from a J-series truck.

 

I'm sure the Ford T18 has the shortest input shaft of the lot. The close-ratio T18s from the 72-76 CJs and Commandos is slightly longer and unique to those apps. They used a T15 bell and a plate adapter. There was also a 70(?)-71 T18 in a V6 CJ, but those are so scarce noones sure what the setup is. The wide-ratio and close-ratio internal parts cannot be mixed. There were wide-ratio T18s in 77-79 CJs which may have used the T15/adapter or T176 bell - I'm not sure. (This has been discussed here before and I don't think we came to a conclusion one way or the other.)

The FSJs had the T18 I6 version, which is slightly longer than the CR T18s (AFAIK), and the V8 T18s were longer still. I'm pretty sure the I6 FSJ T18s are entirely different from the 72-75 CJ T18s - I know the gearing is different, and I'm pretty sure the input shaft lengths are different. Some of these had special bells with a long snout (earlier) and some had spacers (later, ca 73-74?) to make up the extra distance to the bell. After 1979, there's only the NP pattern T18 from the J20.

 

The I6 J-truck T-18 that I had used the T-15 bellhousing and 1" thick adapter plate. I'm pretty sure Jeep only had the three input lengths, at least from '72-'79 with a Dana 20. I just wasn't sure what came in the '72-'75 CJs.

For what it's worth, you can drop all Ford guts in the close ratio T-18s to get the wide ratio gears and shorter input shaft. Just re-use the Jeep output shaft, adapter and case. Or you can put the Jeep output shaft and adpater onto a Ford case (some drilling and tapping required for T-case adapter). OldJeep used a Scout II T-18 (or was it T-19?) output and adapter in his Ford T-18, behind a Dauntless. I've got a FSJ T-18 with a Ford input behind my Dauntless.

Here's a couple mopre things I learned when mixing and matching T-18 parts:

Angle of the synchro on the input shaft (4th gear synchro) could be different from different years of production. Gotta match this up when swapping in a Ford input shaft. One way will fit but will pop out of 4th (made this mistake myself once), the other way won't fit at all. The difference is obvious. You will be able to tell if you pay attention. I didn't

If you have a T-18 with reverse right and down, obviously some of the parts won't work with a T-18 that is reverse right and up. If I ran into this again (see above mistake), I'd keep the Ford T-18 intact except for swapping in the Jeep output shaft and adapter.

 

I thought the CR CJ and I6 FSJ have a different stickout, but I didn't know they both used the T15 bell. It would be easy for someone here with a '72-75 (76?) CJ with the 258/T18 combo to measure the adapter thickness and confirm the stickouts are the same. I understood that the different stickout lengths on the FSJ T18s were meant to put the shifter in the right place in the cabin, not simply an adapter to the T15 bell.

Interesting to read your experiences - thanks.