1998 XJ EBrake question and opinion

[jimmydaux]

Good morning gals and gents.

I need your opinion and am completely aware that I will catch some grief for this little situation.

I have a 98 xj that had the c 8.25 axle that I had been running swapped Grand cherokee disc brakes. I have since purchased a set of axles (D30 and C8.25) that had 4.56 gears. Once that set was installed, I discovered that the 8.25 rear end needed to be rebuilt. I pulled that axle to do a rebuild, and purchased a lockrite adorned early 90's dana 35 with 456 gears to get me by until I can complete the rebuild on the 8.25. This Dana 35 axle has equal length ebrake cables that are obviously not compatible with the 98 style offset ebrake cable box on the undercarriage.

So, here is where your advice comes in. My long term goal is to get my 8.25 back under my rig, but I need to figure out a way to get my ebrakes hooked up in the interim.

SHould I:

A) Try to swap my Discs from the aluminum housing dana 44 from a grand cherokee onto the Dana 35 (currently on the c8.25 and I have e brake cables that work with my rig)

B) Buy and swap different length ebrake cables that will allow me to use the current location of the ebrake cable box on the underside of my rig.

C) Relocate and modify the ebrake cable box to a central location and add cable spacers so that I can use the existing Dana 30 Ebrake cables?

I am looking for the cheapest, quickest and most simple solution to get my ebrake to be at least somewhat funcional, as I need to get this thing through a safety inspection.

Your insight, expertise and problem solving skills will be greatly appreciated. THank you in advance

 

[jimmydaux]

Im at a loss on this one, any insight would be more than appreciated.

 

[Devilfrog]

Option 1 - swap your old disc brakes over ... hell there won't be any need to modify them and it should all work as it's supposed to. Might need a new set of brackets (which would simply bolt up this time) but I get full disc setups for $50 at the JY so it's pretty cheap.

Option 2 - go buy a set of '98 XJ ebrake cables (or pull out your old stock ones if you didn't toss them) and spend the next few weeks thinking you should have just swapped the brakes over. Last time I priced them it was ~$80 for the set

Or ...

Option 3 - reuse driver side D35 cable, it's a little long but not in a problematic way. Go buy new passenger side cable for your 98, install, call it done ... and spend the next few weeks thinking you should have just swapped the discs over. Think the one long side was ~$55

Take my prices witha grain of salt, I'm Canadian so everything costs more (although I've never had a $15 weak-ass single Rum and Coke in Canada yet, the Vegas strip is a wee bit pricey, Fremont was much better ... but that's a tad bit OT).

 

[jimmydaux]

Will the brakes from the aluminum grand Cherokee Dana 44 swap directly onto the Dana 35? It seems that I will have to buy or build a bracket of some sort but I can't find much good information on going this direction.

 

[Devilfrog]

You'll need to check fitment, but if they were mounted on an 8.25 ... the D35 is very similar in pattern to the 8.25 so the disc setup you used on the 8.25 may just swap right onto the d35.

 

[jimmydaux]

So I tried to go the Disc Brake route. I discovered three things:

1) I have a Dana 35 that does not have C clips
2) I am glad it does not have C clips- Why you might ask? Because whoever installed the lockrite in the Dana 35 removed the Center pin retaining bold and replaced it with a roll pin. The problem with this is that there is no pin on the opposite side of the carrier through which you can punch out the roll pin. That might be a permanent fixture unless I get reall creative.

3) Disc Brakes from a mid-late 90's grand cherokee that will fit on a Chrysler 8.25 after boring out the center hole will NOT fit on a clipless dana 35. The bolt pattern for the backing plate on the brakes is very different than the flange on the axle.

So, next option... I am hopefully going to buy some e brake cables for a 98 and HOPEFULLY those will work on the Dana 35 drum brakes.