87 xj ford 8.8 swap

[geofsmith89]

background:
I am building a 1987 xj crawler 6.5" lift on 35X12.50X15 tires. it has the renix 4.0 with 160,000 mile and a peugeot transmission (going to swap to the AX15 soon).

Front:
I have a sleeved dana 30 with 4.88 gears. rubicon express 5.5 coils. long arm swap that i fabricated myself. with a modified radius arm that comes off of the driver side lower. i also have the ruff stuff steering kit. all are Heim Joints not tie rod ends.

Reari have most of the stuff but have not started on the rear yet)
I have a 2001, 8.8, 4.88 gears. chevy 63s. adams SYE/driveshaft kit. drop shackle adjustable relocators.

Questions:

when i do the 63 swap. i want to push the rear axle to the rear. i was thinking 2" back but is there a better length? (i dont mind cutting out my wheel wells.)

what is the best way to find out how long i need my shackle to be?

 

[831_xj]

You'll definitely have to fine tune with 63s. Move the hanger forward a ton in the front and probably run some sort of box in the back off the bumper or integrated.. that's some long leafs for xj. But I'm not 100% so don't quote me

 

[831_xj]

2" should be plenty of stretch. But we can't say what or how well you can read a tape measure to acquire that when moving the leaf mounting locations

 

[geofsmith89]

so i know that if yo move the front mount forward 9" it puts the rear axle at stock with 63s. it puts the front mounts under the floor board of the back seat. im just wondering how far back i should push it back!

 

[jbain08]

I inverted my stock springs and gained 6 inches.... where I wheel in WV it's alot of climbing and for climbing you need wheelbase. I also pushed the front out 2 inches and ended up a little over 109 inches....