You can just leave it in the jeep and just take the cover off. That will allow you to take the shaft out and save your knuckles and the time to completely drop the Transfer case.
2X
That does sound so much easier
you guys, you guys are so smart 
good idea, didnt even cross my mind. that will save me a shit ton of headaches
Sheesh. Do you have to give away all the secrets!
SUCCESS. kinda. tried first to pull the tail housing to diagnose, but in doing so i broke the tcase oil pump when trying to remove it ($50 courtesy of Clare Jeep). so at this point i just assume remove the entire tcase, which wasnt a huge deal accept for that one FUCKING nut being all the shift linkage. upon disassembly, i found the the tcase and sye to be assembled correctly…the first time around. so i musta used one of the old snap rings. but lying in bed the other night whilst staring at the ceiling, i remembered the first time around, when i removed the tcase i lost a lot of tranny fluid. so, after reassembly, fluids (including one additional qt of tranny fluid) and another maiden voyage, problem solved, no more chattering. so, had i not had my head up my ass, and thought about it a bit. i could have saved $100, a days worth of work, and just added some tranny fluid.
but now your a pro at SYE swaps…
glad everything worked out. see you next weekend!
all’s well that ends well
Glad it all worked out for you.