Island XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- The Great White North
I didn't mean to sound critical, i'm just a redneck.Jeep839 said:island xj didn't mean to knock on anyone just wondering. but ok so people are saying that i can just swap out my 35 and put in a ZJ 8.25 right?? So the question is then what ZJ year would i want, do the gears i have in my 35 fit in the 8.25, does the mounts for the shocks fit and is the axle the same length which would make the mounting points for the leafs the same. please help bc i might just put this 8.25 in my jeep and then i would get the brakes and the good axle. So if this is good what is the axle name for instance i have a Dana 35 what is the Zj a Dana 8.25?
You can't swap in a ZJ 8.25 without some modifications to the axle. ZJ's are coil sprung in the rear end and yours is leaf sprung. You can bolt up an XJ 8.25 though if you can find one. They are pretty plentiful up here in Canada, but I have heard they are harder to find in the US. The 8.25 is a DaimlerChrysler rear end, and people often refer to it as the Chrysler 8.25. To match the gears to your jeep, you have to find one that came out of a similar vehicle. The automatics and the standards came with different gears. So if yours is an auto, you need to find an 8.25 that came with an auto. ( i can't remember what the ratios are but you can find them by searching this site for "stock gears", someone willknow offhand, I THINK its 3.07 with a standard and 3.55 with an automatic, and some 4bangers came with 3.73s, but i could be wrong - someone correct me! ). If you are planning on moving up to larger tires in the future, I would actually recommend finding a junkyard Ford Explorer 8.8" axle instead. It will also have to be adjusted to fit your jeep (new spring and shock mounts). The newer ones came with disc brakes and have a 4.10 ratio, which will work with larger tires on the XJ. the only downside is that you then have to regear your front axle to match the 4.10. You can also look for a cherokee or ZJ D44 rear end and make that work too, but some of them came with aluminum differentials that i think suck. There is quite a bit of research to do here in order to do this right. Its not terrribly involved to change out your axle, but you need to have the time, flexibiltiy and $ to do it right. I suggest starting to search and email people who have done it and ask what there recommendations are before taking it on. There are a million things you can do to an XJ to make it more functional, larger tires, stronger axles and lower gears are great ideas. I have a narrowed ford 9" with custom axleshafts on one of my XJs, if i had to do them all over again, I would find one that fits adn save the custom $.
just another 2 cents...