One of the last things to be built was the custom trans cross member. This was built to bring the drive line down a bit(I know many shy on this, but it worked well.) It was also easier to deal with front driveshaft clearances with this custom piece.
A Tera Flex D30 high steer arm was added to take some of the angle off the drag link. A very good investment if you have a lot of lift under your YJ, TJ, XJ, or ZJ.
It's first day out of the shop. Still some bugs to work out at this point, but for the most part complete........................ and looking SWEET! (except for the broken mirror.)
Along with the custom crossmember came a need to change out the front output shaft of the 231(233 actually) transfer case. I used a 94- up full size Dodge Ram 241 output shaft which is nothing more than a beefed up 231 with a 1.5" chain vs the 1.0" in a standard 231 case. Originally I had planned on using the Dodge output flange and stock driveshaft, but it hit the electronic shift motor on the 233. So, I just bolted up a stock Cherokee front output yoke. Done.
If you look closely you can tell that the front axle is slightly forward. The radius arms were intentionally built 3.5 inches longer to move the axle forward. This helped with fender and frame clearances. It was also good to stretch the wheel base just a tad seeing as this was only a 2dr. The extra inches allowed the use of a completely stock XJ front drive shaft. No special cut shaft needed.
