[Arya Ebrahimi]

Dusty, you want the axis of the pinion and the axis of the transfer case output to be parrallel. This will keep the u-joints happy. With your offset pinion you do not want a CV shaft as the u-joint at the pinion will be very unhappy. If you need more input on this, let me know and I'll try to explain better.

For the DS, I think you should finish setting up the suspension and cycle it w/o the springs and see how the DS is behaving. I'd imagine it's not going to slip all that much. Whatever the case, figure out what the max extension is and then how much spline engagement that correlates to. With that info we can better judge your situation. If you do need to lengthen the shaft, I'd suggest having it retubed longer with thicker tubing than making a spacer. I just retubed my rear shaft on my trail rig this past weekend and it took me all of 2-3 hours with some 2.5" Schedule 40 pipe(nice and beefy).

As for the rear joints, I don't know. I know that I used 9/16" bolts(Rubicon Express joints) for the two attachment points of the front radius arm suspension on my old Jeep Cherokee, but that rig weighs a full ton less than an 80.

Looking good so far!!! Keep up the good work, and congrats on the new addition!!!

Ary