Yeah the ABS isn't an accurate way of telling what axle you have as the D35 came with or without ABS. I've never heard of an ABS 8.25 though, so if you DO have ABS it I'd be pretty positive you had a D35.

 

I looked at the pics and have a very good photographic memory. And unless the top and bottom of the housings on D35's are flat and parallel with each other, I have an 8.25". The axle tubes on mine are very beefy and I know it's not a D35. I can also tell by the shape and contour of the diff. cover. When I look closely at the dash I see where the ABS light comes on when there is a system failure. I can also tell during hard braking that I have ABS. Maybe mine is an oddball. But it makes NO sense to me why they wouldn't include ABS as an option on the bigger of the two rear axles. That'd be like an automaker offering a turbocharged car, with two different engine sizes/HP-TQ ratings and putting a weak cooling/intercooler system on the larger engine.

BTW - I'm not trying to start an argument and hope you don't take offense to this.

 

No offense taken, I was just under the impression that they never made an ABS 8.25, but as you clearly have one in your XJ I stand corrected. So with that in mind i guess that further proves that ABS isn't a very good indicator of which axle you have. It's probably best to just study photos of both axles and just figure out which one is in the Jeep in question.

 

Yeah. The D35's seem to be fairly round and the 8.25"s look more boxy when viewed from the rear.

 

The 8.25 has the extra steel "bar" that hangs under the diff cover...

 

Everything I have ever read says 8.25= NO ABS... so post up.. we all wanna see.

 

I was calling around to some junk yards looking for axles, and a guy that sounded pretty knowledgeable about Jeeps and diffs. said that ABS was also installed as a "two-wheel" version on some XJ's but we didn't discuss the years. I wonder if this could be the case?

 

Mine is A Dana 35 I believe by the look

 

I'll take some and post them tomorrow, don't worry. I don't know if you expect to be able to see where the ABS lamp is from a picture but I'll try to capture it. Hell, who knows, maybe it just has front wheel ABS. I'm positive that I have an 8.25" though.

 

Take pics of your brake booster and master cylinder you can tell by looking at them too

 

i can solve this problem very simply just send me your VIN number and ill tell you everything your jeep has and doesnt. hell ill even tell you where it was built.