Hi, Still trying to work out the exact route to 33" tires, is it possible to install the Full Traction 4" lift kit with the supplied transfer case drop hardware and run the existing slip yoke and driveshaft as an interim before going to a SYE and CV driveshaft.
The original plan was OME 2" lift 1" Bodylift, but the articulation will be far better with the FTS 4" configuration. However the OME lift would have allowed me an interim period being able to use the existing slip yoke/driveshaft.
Any help or comments will also be greatly appreciated.
I'm not sure what knid of rig you're talking about here, however, where lifts are concerned, time and time again I've seen folks go for a shorter lift for expediency, etc., then regret it. (This is also the voice of experience!)
Save your money for the SYE /driveshaft kit and do it all at the same time. You'll likely also have to regear...to do it right is not cheap!
I'm going to be putting a 4" lift on this weekend. With the drop tubes, I shouldn't need an SYE kit should I? I'd like to go that route eventually, but don't have the cash.
While it's *best* and always *recommended* that a person doing a lift of over 2" does the SYE and CV tailshaft at the same time, yes, you should be able to get by with it in the interim. You'd be even better off if, along with the t-case drop, you did a 1" engine motor mount lift. That can help ease driveline angles as well (provided you angle your pinion afterward to point parallel to the angle of the t-case output).
Be aware, though, the vibration that could result will eat your u-joints faster, and will accelerate any possible deterioration of your t-case output bearings/seals and your differential input bearings/seals. That said, I went for a year like that before putting in my SYE kit, and only when the vibration started getting worse (u-joints about to give up the ghost) I finally did the SYE conversion. The heavy duty SYE conversions replace the output bearings and seals, so I didn't care if they'd been damaged during my year-long "interim". My rear diff did begin leaking from the input seal not too long after (about 3 months later I noticed it); it wasn't bad enough to really concern me (no pooling), but that's an easy fix (the seal, that is). The bearings may have been bad, too, but by that time I decided to do my gears/lockers, and had install the rebuild kits (new bearings and seals, etc.) at the same time.
So, while you can get by with it, just make sure you don't intend for your "interim" to be too terribly long. I'd try to do the SYE within at least a year of the lift, to ensure it lasts awhile. I think mine was lifted for about 2 years before I did the SYE kit, as I recall.
You'll have to post your experience with the FT kit. I've been thinking of one day converting my short-arm 4" lift to a FT either 4" or 6" long-arm setup...
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