Transaxle 4wd linkage

[Cajuncrawler]

I made a bone headed newbie mistake. After rebuilding the differential of my 1999 TJ I removed the skid plate to put the driveshaft back on. The skid plate was dirty and rusty, so I left it off for cleaning and painting. Being anxious the test out the differential improvements I took it for a test drive.
Yep, without the skid plate.
Bottom line is that I think everything is ok. What alerted my attention was the driveshaft rubbing on the 4 wd shift linkage. I think I may have bent one of the mounts in the process.
I jacked the trany up and took a picture.
Could someone look at the picture and tell me if everything is in the correct location and orientation? I feel the linkage seems really close to the driveshaft. I have a 2006 Rubicon and the linkage on it is above the driveshaft.

 

[macleanflood]

Looks pretty normal to me...what is it not doing that makes you suspect something?

Get the skid plate back up and the transmission bolted down. You should be fine.

If you want an upgrade look at the Savvy or Stienjager transfer case shift cable.

Plenty of folks run the stock linkage.

-Mac

 

[Cajuncrawler]

Looks pretty normal to me...what is it not doing that makes you suspect something?

Get the skid plate back up and the transmission bolted down. You should be fine.

If you want an upgrade look at the Savvy or Stienjager transfer case shift cable.

Plenty of folks run the stock linkage.

-Mac

I haven’t driven it yet. Still cleaning the skid plate. I can move the shifter through each position with the trany on a jack now, but the mount on the trany side looked a little bent and the link seems really close to the driveshaft. As I mentioned it’s different than my 2006 but perhaps that was changed in the later models.