Does lifting your truck or Jeep change your drive shaft length?

How much does a lift kit change your drive shaft length? What's my driveshaft length after a lift? Do you need a new driveshaft after installing a lift? These are all common questions. The answers depend on a lot of factors. Generally though, lifting your Jeep or truck will change the length of the drive shaft, but often the change is relatively minor and insignificant and will not usually require that you replace your drive shaft. The main thing that changes when you lift your vehicle is the angle of the drive shaft. This is the number one reason people often need to replace their drive shafts after installing a lift, because the angles have increased and now they need a different type of drive shaft. More on that here.

When it comes to the length though, the longer and flatter your drive shaft starts off, the less the lift will affect the length. If your drive shaft is short and your angles are fairly steep, the length of the shaft might change by a significant amount. Below, we have created a calculator for you to use to calculate how much an increase in vertical height will affect your drive shaft length. This could be from installing a lift, raising your transfer case, or something else. Because of the other variables involved the actual results may vary so just use this as a general guide. In most instances, length changes of about .5" or less will not require any changes in drive shaft length. Whenever installing a suspension lift or making other major changes we strongly recommend that you do those things first, before you take a final measurement for the proper length drive shaft.