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1979 f150 Axle swap

xjhayden

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Columbus Georgia
I have a 1996 xj that has an 8.25 in the rear and a dana 30 in the front.
I have a ford 9 inch rear axle and a ford dana 44 rear axle that I'm looking to swap into my jeep.

im wondering what all will have to be done to the jeep and these axles to work on an xj.

Any information will be a help.
thanks.
 
A lot to get two rears swapped in...all joking aside, what is your experience level? Do you have metal working tools? Do you plan on keeping stock suspension up front or building from scratch? Is the rear going to stay leaf sprung? What size tires? You may want to regear them while they are out of the vehicle.
 
It all depends on your fabrication abilities and what you are really building the jeep for. I would suggest like POSJ said to do the gearing and everything while they are out of the jeep.

With the axles being from 1979 they have the cast wedges on them meaning you are pretty much stuck with keeping those and just modifying the factory ford arms. If interested i have a build thread of my jeep where im putting in the exact swap you are doing and keeping the factory ford radius arms and just modifying them.

http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1107470
 
Old thread but wanted to add some 9" info.


To swap in a 9" you will need to cut off the stock perches/mounts. I used a couple Diablo 1mm cutoff discs and a grinding disk on a 4.5" grinder. Then used a 60 grit flap disk to smooth everything down and clean up the tubes.


I then put the 9" under the XJ and used my jack handle with an angle finder to find the correct pinion angle needed. This was ~20 so I set the pinion angle at 18 degrees according to various driveshaft manufacturers wanting it ~2 degrees under. XJ leaf spring perches are 44" apart center to center



My 9" is 65" wms to wms so I measured in 9.25", set the perches on the tube with the angle finder on them at 0 degrees (pinion tilted up 18 degrees from horizontal). Then tacked them on.


My XJ at my buddies garage and my welder is at my house so I will bring the axle back and test fit it. If I need to adjust it's very easy to knock the perches off and reposition them before fully welding it.


Once it's test fit I will then cut out some 1/4" thick shock tabs.
 
pinion angle depending on lift obviously...

i just bolted my leafs to the axle using the U bolts and perches, then set the vehicle weight on the axle (carefully). dont recommend crawling under it, i also put jacks under the chassis for safety. set pinion, make sure its centered... i dropped it to make each adjustment to take load off the axle and make it easier. do a final check... tack, tack... pull it and burn in.
 
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