I'm starting to plan out the budget for pretty much rebuilding my Jeep from the ground up. My goal is a good, but not top of the line off-roader, with some okay road performance. There are many parts I'm pretty sure about, but one thing that I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around is my pinion angle. I've read how to set it and such, but if I do a large enough suspension lift, then maybe rotate my D300 and get a longer tranny, it seems like I'd have to angle my rear axle up quite a bit, and then angle my t-case down to match it like

but how is the t-case angling or lowering accomplished? The only thing I've found so far is a t-case drop kit like

but it doesn't look like that hardware could re-angle or even lower my t-case without needing the engine and tranny lowered also.
It's probably a very simple explanation, but I'm at a loss.
Thanks for any help!
-Ron <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

What vehicle is this you are building? How much lift are you adding?

You can change the pinion angle, but I don't think that you can angle the t-case.

Sorry, looks like my siggy got cut off when I edited the post to make the images show up.
It's an 82 Jeep CJ7. Thinking about an SOA with maybe 4 additional inches, which would give me about 6 1/2". Not totally decided on that part. Then my t-case will be set back about 3/4" with a swap from my T5 to a TF727. Not a ton, but every little bit could matter I suppose. Then a D44 front and either a D60 or Ford 9 rear.
-Ron <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

I'd talk to either SD on this board or someone at Sunray Engineering in Texas. They (either one) could build your new rear axle, and even if they didn't i'm sure they wouldn't mind your questions. Good People. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Yeah SD can prob answer your question better than most on here.

It would help the angle to get a high pinion 60 or 9" rear. You should look into a TRUHI9. Apparently they have the highest pinion outta the 60's and 9 inchers.

Also, 4 inches in addtion to SOA would give you about 8-9" of lift, not 6 1/2". That's quite a lot of lift. What size tires do you want to run? What type of wheeling do you want to do with the Jeep?

Thanks for the info, I'll look up SD. As for the lift, if it gives me 8-9" I'd probably back down a bit on the lift. I was thinking that SOA would only give me around 2 1/2". I'm probably only going to run 33s or 34s at the most (at least at first). The types of wheeling would be pretty varied, as I'm pretty new to the stuff and really want to experience whatever I can push my Jeep through. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> I know for sure I want to get dirty, possibly try to drown my Jeep a few times, and since I'm a rock climber I should also do some rock crawling.

I especially don't want to go high enough to require a $2k axle... lol. <cheap azz> I pretty much want to do everything myself, including fabbing my own bumpers/skid plates/whatever. But there's no chance I'll be able to fab my own gears. My wife would kill me if I started ordering machining equipment. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

-Ron <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

Howdy Ron Why not start out with a lift kit and some 33" tires and change the gearing to 4:11/4:56? You should be able to get waaaay up the mountain with those changes..
THEN after you see what it MAY be that your rig won't do make futher changes.
The spring over is considered radical for most jeepers.. It would be a last resort for extreme climbing for most.
The rig I have outlined with some good mudgrips would carry you a long way into the wilderness.
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

I just found the directions for the installation of a t-case lowering kit and all it does is lower your skid plate with spacers. I guess that may benefit me at some point, since that would tilt the whole engine->tranny->t-case line back a little, ending up with the t-case tilted down towards the rear axle, allowing me a higher pinion angle. Of course, everything is a trade-off, so I'd have less ground clearance in the middle, but it may be worth it. I'll see when I get my axles and lifts.
-Ron <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

Ron, I'm one of those people who disagrees with lowering your t-case. First, you're giving up some of that precious ground clearance that you're trying to obtain. Second, by lowering the transfer case, you're placing a constant downward tilt to the rear of your engine. This can place stress on motor mounts, and it can interfer to some dgree with the gravity fed portion of the engine oiling system.

If you wind adding enough lift where your rear driveshaft is vibrating, a far better solution (in my opinion) is to take your driveshaft in to a driveshaft shop and have a CV joint (double cardan joint) installed at the front end of the shaft.

There are a lot of people who have lowered their t-cases, and they'll probably feel that I'm being overly cautious, but that method has always worked for me.

By the way, you only need about 4 inches of total lift to run 33" tires on a CJ7

Thanks for that info, BobRowe. I think I may agree with you there. As it was I was thinking of rotating my t-case and putting in a custom skid plate for extra clearance, a lowering would negate that. I also took a look at my engine and the back of it is resting against my firewall as it is. Of course, I don't have the t-case or transmission in it right now, so that could be why. Heck, the engine is almost the only thing in my Jeep still. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So if I go with a CV joint (tho I probably won't need to if I'm not going to jack it up very high), what are the downsides? Any idea how much it would run for a 'good' one? (I doubt putting a CV joint on there is something I'd want to tackle)

-Ron <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />