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[charger]

I have been told on the US jeep forum you need a Front Driveshaft Conversion Kit to lift 4" if you have CV joints. Iron Rock Road say you are ok up to 4" any one have any ideas on this???

[Mike Pavelin]

The already fragile CV joint on the front prop is likely to explode with too much lift. The ball joint on top of the rear diff also needs spacing or it ends up running out of travel.

[charger]

The already fragile CV joint on the front prop is likely to explode with too much lift. The ball joint on top of the rear diff also needs spacing or it ends up running out of travel.

The expense of all this makes me want a landcruiser why does a jeep with live axles have to have such a crap ride height.

[Dave69]

it's down to what they are designed to do and for, they probably not expected people to lift them that much when it was designed

[scrw]

Yep, i think I will stop at 3" until I get a front prop sorted, CV is noisey as it is LOL

[charger]

Yep, i think I will stop at 3" until I get a front prop sorted, CV is noisey as it is LOL

Did you get the Iron Rock Road 3" lift, they told me just to buy the 4" lift & it would be ok
I'm close to giving up on lifting it passed 2"

[scrw]

OME 3" springs are currently being fitted

[charger]

OME 3" springs are currently being fitted

Where are the from I didn't know they did a 3" did you get new shocks?

[scrw]

Diesel HD springs give 3" on a petrol

[charger]

Diesel HD springs give 3" on a petrol

where you getting them from

[scrw]

Ordered them from TBRUK, rears currently fitted, waiting for the spanner monkey to finish the front off so I can go playing on sunday 

[Bishops Finger]

Arr..

[charger]

I have been told if you have a cv joint 4" of lift is ok if your prop shaft has 4 balls in it any thoughts on that

[scrw]

cv on 4" is very dubious, suck it and see, you can run your jeep without a front prop if it blows 

[scrw]

I am currently at around 3.5"ish, deffo more than 3" though, and the front driveshaft says no, just about to take it off so I can used the Jeep until a replacement arrives

[williecba]

This summer I put a 2 3/4 inch Kevins lift on my WJ and having fitted it I destroyed 2 front prop shafts in the space of 4 weeks. I had a rather suspect front axle on at the time and I thought that bad bushes on this might have been the cause.
However, somewhere on the web I came across a description of drive shaft damage being caused by the front axle driving away from the vehicle as it comes to the crest of a hill. WJs have very low transfer cases and you must be familiar with mounting a slope and then at the top grinding to halt as the transfer case and rock sliders hit the ground and cause the vehicle to shudder to a halt. I seem to recall a scenario similar to that each time I broke mine. Its a big problem here where most of the sites we can play on are mainly used by short wheel base Landys.
My problem may have been exacerbated because I have heavy steel bumpers, rock sliders, roof rack and a front winch as well as a heavy V8 lump so my 2 3/4 lift only gained me 2 inches. Certainly when I examined the second shaft it gave every appearance of the shaft and inner part of the joint having been pulled backwards out of the casing.
Jeep UK wanted £500 + vat for a new prop shaft so I decided to get a custom shaft from Tom Wood in the USA, $620 US for a top of the range Multiple Double Cardon shaft and 2 yokes plus shipping and duty. Less than that for a simple Double Cardon shaft. Go to: http://www.4xshaft.com    The website was really helpful and made it easy to order the shaft. The service was great and my stuff shipped 24 hours after the order was confirmed. One time I got to chat to Tom Wood himself on the phone and the whole experience was really good.
As I was going to have to buy one new shaft anyway I put my old hockey pucks on my springs and got a 4 3/4 inch lift, put adjustable control arms on, and did front and rear shafts but then: Just Empty Every Pocket!!!!!

[scrw]

Why did you need the rear shaft doing? People running 6" lifts are still using the stock rear prop. My spacers are going back in as soon as I get the new front shaft, UCA's, A arm spacer and shocks....

Was under the jeep today and with +3" the TC joint in the front prop doesn't have much travel left, with discos it would bind up and go pop

[williecba]

Referring to the original question I spent many hours scouring the US websites and often the advice was contradictory. One has to bear in mind that modifications are never usually made alone so what might be OK by itself will introduce new complications in conjunction with another modification. Some sites have people putting a 4 inch lift on a Jeep so they can run big wheels and tyres to look cool but never take it off road. Others want to modify as much as possible to tackle extreme terrain. A lot of people write of their modified vehicle having to also be their daily drive, some just use them for off-roading.
At 2 3/4 inches I had broken two front drive shafts so there was obviously a problem there. I tried running front discos as well and my front left spring fell out twice in one day so that was another problem I had not been warned about.
Before I ordered any parts I put the pucks on with the springs to have a good look at the vehicle. While I was jacking it around the rear axle dropped, the prop shaft half fell out of the t/case and got stuck. I had to undo the prop shaft to get it unstuck. I was not sure if being off road I would duplicate those conditions precisely but having got it stuck once it seemed I might do it again so why take the chance.
Some people and sites recommended changing some said stick with it.

I read up every site I could find referring to drive shafts, pinion angles and steering geometry. Although I had an A frame spacer already it seemed that by getting an off set spacer I would have little trouble rotating the rear axle to get the pinion angle right for a Double Cardon shaft and would move the rear axle away from the middle of the vehicle ready for 33" tyres. Since the new A frame spacer alone would push the axle back 1 1/2 inches it was obvious that the chances of the old drive shaft fitting were very slight.
Add to that the old shaft was 11 years old I and deemed it better to change. I also wanted as little to worry about after the lift as possible.Given the cost of control arms what was a new rear drive shaft?