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looking for another rear end

Boos96

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Texas
Newbie hear, My daughter asked me if she saved 1200 bucks could she have a say in her first ride , of course I said yes. Fast forward and we scored a 1997 2wd XJ with 120k. This thing was rough in the fact that no one took care of the mechanical failures for 100k of the 129 ....:bawl: Part of the deal was if she picked a old XJ ,then she had to work on it with me , so we have done that . She has helped with almost every thing from throttle body clean to vacuum leaks to suspension replacement . All of has been great , but then there was a 8.25 Chrysler( AKA chain saw). I am not a gear guy and took it in , 400 bucks later the chain saw was restarted. Anyway I am looking for any rear end that in good condition and plan on just replacing the axle. If any of you guys/gals have one in DFW that's collecting dust and want to part with it , please let me know.
I am just wanting this little ride to dependable for her. We are only running a 3inch lift with 31s( cool looking 2WD), so i am thinking even a dana 35 will work?
 
Unless you get the 35 for free, don't waste your money.
With some minor modification a Ford 8.8 out of a 95-00ish Explorer with install with ease. You will also get disc brakes and most likely limited slip.
 
Axle assemblies complete from drum to drum are about $89 at the local U-Pull-It, and about $100-200 at the full service junkyard. Find a low mileage example and it should be fine.

You can also try www.car-part.com
 
Unless you get the 35 for free, don't waste your money.
With some minor modification a Ford 8.8 out of a 95-00ish Explorer with install with ease. You will also get disc brakes and most likely limited slip.

Again with un warranted d35 hate. Unless you are running a lot of power or absolutely huge tires a d35 will be absolutely fine, so if you find one cheap go for it, just know you will need the right driveshaft because the length is different. Seeing as how yours is 2wd that may be hard to come by.

Check car part.com they will show salvage yards with rear ends available near you. I have an 8.25 sitting around waiting for someone to trade me a d35 but im like 10 hours away from you.
 
I have a 2001 XJ 2WD with the 8.25 and am nearing 400K with no failures, and that is with a lot of towing and I have had an Aussie locker in it for most of it's life. I did change diff fluid regularly though, and there is quite a bit of driveline slack, but that is understandable. Point being, the 8.25 should be more than sufficient for a 2WD daily driver.
Yeah, the drum brakes do suck. I replaced all the drum brake stuff at approximately 200K and there was still material on the shoes, so I don't think they do a whole lot.
 
I've had quite a few 8.25's and never had any issues with them.
 
8.25 is a good axle. What's wrong with it?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the replies , there is a lot of knowledge w/ experience. I will see if i can find a 8.25 just to make it easier ( no offense to any of the suggestions). This little Jeep has been really cool for a D&D project. Thanks again , and i will update yall on how it goes.
 
Finding another 8.25 should not be hard. As has been mentioned, swapping to a D35 would require a change in driveshaft too. Life will be easier if you stick with an 8.25.

Just in case you are not aware, the gearing is 3.07 for a stick and 3.55 for an automatic. If what you have is a stick you may actually want to change the gear ratio, but if you have an automatic you certainly do not want to get 3.07s.

It probably isn't important in this situation, but the 8.25s in '97+ XJs have 29 spline axle shafts, while '96- have 27 spline axle shafts. (Actually, the split occured sometime late in the '96 production.) Probably a non-issue in this application, but you should at least note the difference for future reference should you ever need parts to service the rear end later on.
 
Found another rear end at the junk yard, 8.25,3.55 27 spline ...plug and play... I haven't had time to tear down the old one,but i can tell you it did not want spin even with a cheater bar.
I may rebuild it just to see if i can ..Thanks again
 
Plug and play is good to minimize downtime, nothing at all wrong with that. That's more axle than a mostly-street driven 2x4 on 31s should likely ever need.

Tnce the old axle is now "on the bench", doing at least an autopsy should be fun/educational - a nice little weekend project for you and your daughter that doesn't require taking a vehicle out of service (or climbing under a truck) .

Besides, if you don't at least open it up, won't you always wonder just what happened to it?
 
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