SYE and Tom Wood's driveshaft

Shawn at Tom Wood's said:
@CNYJeeper There are typical lengths of drive shafts for different types of vehicles but for many vehicles I would never use the word "standard" as there can be quite a few different possibilities. This is in part to the stock vehicle having several different options but more than anything due to the fact that if someone is ordering a drive shaft they probably have a modified vehicle. The modifications further create variables. More on that can be read here https://4xshaft.com/blogs/faq/why-do-i-need-to-measure?_pos=1&_sid=e4536e7ce&_ss=r.

The reason we or Adams or others require a length measurement is because we know that's the surest way to get it right but more importantly it is because we have the advantage of being able to build the shaft to whatever length a customer needs. Large off-road parts companies don't have that ability. They have to stock stuff in a warehouse so they go with a more broad brush approach of stocking/selling the length of drive shaft that fits most of the time with a particular application. They have to take a more one size fits all approach where the drive shaft manufacturers can tailor fit the shaft to fit your vehicle. Pretty much what @rasband said above.
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Thanks to both for your responses!! I understand the importance of trying to get something measured for the specific vehicle.

My main concern was the wait time between having the shop install the SYE and determining the yoke-to-yoke measurement ... to then waiting for fabrication & shipment of the rear DS.

I suppose another option would be to have the shop install the SYE & front DS, and then I just drive it around in 4 HI for a bit until the rear DS comes in. At that point, I could install the rear DS myself. Thoughts??

It's not a daily driver; barely a monthly driver. Just slowly working on it.
 
@CNYJeeper There is a 3rd and better option. You can measure as shown in whichever photo below is applicable to your vehicle. I don't know what vehicle you are working on but a tj will be the top photo and a yj will be the bottom photo. This math applies to almost every SYE on the market. Notable exceptions would be a Super Short or Extreme Short SYE and a hack and tap SYE. But if you measure as shown below and add or subtract as stated, you can order the correct length shaft ahead of time and have it ready to install when you install your SYE.

tj rear sye not installed.png

yj pre-sye measure.png
 
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CNYJeeper said:
Thanks to both for your responses!! I understand the importance of trying to get something measured for the specific vehicle.

My main concern was the wait time between having the shop install the SYE and determining the yoke-to-yoke measurement ... to then waiting for fabrication & shipment of the rear DS.

I suppose another option would be to have the shop install the SYE & front DS, and then I just drive it around in 4 HI for a bit until the rear DS comes in. At that point, I could install the rear DS myself. Thoughts??

It's not a daily driver; barely a monthly driver. Just slowly working on it.
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It doesn't take long. When I've ordered from TW, my shaft shipped out the next business day. I was only one state over so shipping might have been faster, but waiting on the driveshaft has never slowed me down. I just did the SYE first, then got the control arms and track bar sorted out while I waited.
 
Shawn at Tom Wood's said:
@CNYJeeper There is a 3rd and better option. You can measure as shown in whichever photo below is applicable to your vehicle. I don't know what vehicle you are working on but a tj will be the top photo and a yj will be the bottom photo. This math applies to almost every SYE on the market. Notable exceptions would be a Super Short or Extreme Short SYE and a hack and tap SYE. But if you measure as shown below and add or subtract as stated, you can order the correct length shaft ahead of time and have it ready to install when you install your SYE.
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Thanks!

So ... next question ... since I already have adjustable control arms installed (all 8), do i adjust the rear CA so the pinion angle is "guesstimated" where it will line up to the future DS?? Hope that question makes sense.
 
CNYJeeper said:
Thanks!

So ... next question ... since I already have adjustable control arms installed (all 8), do i adjust the rear CA so the pinion angle is "guesstimated" where it will line up to the future DS?? Hope that question makes sense.
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Yes. You can get it pretty close by "guesstimating" what the angle of the drive shaft will be. You can maybe use a string line or a piece of pipe or something then just hold it up to where the double cardan (cv) will be and measure the angle of that. The pinion angle adjustment doesn't need to be 100% spot on. You ideally want the pinion to be about 2 degrees less than the angle of the drive shaft. If you miss the mark by a degree or two the shaft will almost certainly still run nice and smooth.
 
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@Horita
Ideally, but at a certain point we are really splitting hairs. A 1" t-case drop probably only affects the drive shaft length by about 3/8". So you can either estimate and add in that 3/8" to account for the removal of the transfer case drop or remove it before you measure.
 
Thanks. I’ll be ordering this week. Since I’m in BC, it’s nicer to order the SYE and the dc driveshaft at the same time so I only deal with customs once
 
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