Bought some je reel shafts at a great price both for 479 only 5 months old and had dana slicers put in them! went from a 4 inch to the 2.5 lift to accomodate the shaft pinion align better but I will tell ya I wasnt sure I was gonna like the squat look, but I think im diggin the lower to the ground look with the 35s and the tube fenders!

 

So the JE REEL shafts wouldn't take the 4" lift pinion angle? I thought that's why people change from OEM to REEL shafts? were you running OEM shafts with the 4" lift?

 

After doing lots of searching, there seems to be alot of people with transfer case failures with lifts 4 and over and aftermarket shafts, because of pinion align and shaft balancing.....

being I dont want my case to go boom on I95, ima just adapt to better geometry angles!

 

i've been rocking stock shafts with a 6" lift since march with no problems..*knock on wood*

 

3 1/2yrs with a 4inch and stock shafts and no issues yet- I know several people said they had issues but been keepin an eye on it and no rubbing or riping- ill rock it till the boot tears

 

thats what control arms are for, though, to correct pinion angle.

 

you can only correct pinion so much to where your caster make the jeep flighty on the highway!

and guys the key words you used was, stock shafts, not double cardans!

 

Would you happen to have any pics of the tcase ends of both shafts? I'd be curious to see what they look like.

 

Do the double cardans help relieve the stress on the T-case?

I'm new to Jeeps (having come from full size trucks). Usually when you lift a full size truck you have to clock the T-case with an index ring to keep good pinion angles. I know a few local peeps with 3.5 & 4 inch lifts with stock shafts (all pavement pounders) - all are still running stock shafts.

I plan on doing a lift, but my luck means I will likely have a problem with stock shafts.

 

Im no pro but I have done alot of net research while purchasing my shafts, this is what I came away with........
youl be fine with the stock rzeppa joints on the shaft, they can hit greater angles but the boots stress and crack once that happens the shafts will throw the grease and be good for about 100-200 miles as long as the boots hold up your ok!, the double cardans in a 1310 shaft are good for like 34 degrees as the 1350 shaft is only good for 30 degrees at the t case, problem is your pinion has to be 1 degree or less using these style shafts or you will have vibes, not good on our pot metal t cases! when adjusting the arms for the pinion you will throw your caster off (rotating all your steering components foward the ground), making flighty steering at highway speeds, an option is the pro rock where the housing and pinion is set right for caster and all.... from 3 inches up lift on a jk with aftermarket double cardan joints at t case and with u joint at pinion you have a tough time with caster and stress on the t case, do a yahoo or google search and type in jeep jk transfer case explosion or failure and take a look around, it will shock the heck out of ya!!! and many aftermarket shaft setup questions will be answered for you.....