^x2
With only 31-32 inch tires the 27 spline 8.25 will handle most trails, if the OP uses a little finesse in his wheeling.

 

Yeah I don't have any welding experience and I certainly don't own a welder or torch. The reason I want to drop a 29 spline c8.25 in is because it is an easy and relatively inexpensive upgrade to my rear end that should hold up to the driving I plan on doing. If I can find one for a reasonable price I'll drop a XJ D44 in. I do intend to upgrade the drums to discs before I swap the new axle in.

Pretty much I want to keep my build as "bolt-on" as possible.

Here is another question: I'm picking up an engine hoist/stand in the next couple of months and a 4.0 longblock. I'm kinda sorta thinking about building it as a 4.5L stroker instead of just a straight rebuild. Will a 29 spline c8.25 with 32s hold up to the torque?

Also, what exactly needs to be done to an axle after upgrading it that costs so much at a shop?

Thanks!

 

a 29 spline 8.25 = an XJ dana 44 stock to stock you'll be fine with a 8.25

 

Just a quick question here getting back to the locker install and everything. If you decided for some strange reason you wanted to install lets say and ARB which would require a different carriers and you wanted to change out all your bearings while you were in but wanted to keep your same old gears isn't it a wise choice to check your backlash before you pull everything out to get it as close to where it was running in the past again? I have only set up a couple gears in my time but they were all new gears in semis. But once you have already established a wear pattern isn't it better to get it back as close to the original running clearances as possible?

 

If you are asking me I have no idea. I too would like to know the answer.

What would be so strange about an ARB? When I have the thousands to do it that's what I am planning on putting on my front and back. Too bad there isn't an Ox for the 8.25.

 

The 8.25 is a good axle and definitely worth keeping with 32's. Although I've sunk money into mine(ARB, Alloy USA shafts, disk brakes), I've never had an issue with 35's. I broke two D44 shafts on the same trails with 33's.

 

That's EXACTLY what I wanted to do. If you don't mind me asking, after all is said and done, how much did money did you end up sinking into your rear axle? Did you go with the dedicated 12v compressor for the ARB or go with a larger one so you could use it for other things on the trail?

 

well the ARB is $850-$900 on it's own without compressor ( sorry IMO just go with a mechanical always a locker, locker in the back and OX the front)

 

Never really added it up...but I paid $599 for the ARB waaay back. $149 for their small compressor. Alloy USA shafts were $150. I've done one junkyard brake conversion for $150, and done one new kit for $450, so pick your price there.
I've put a ton of miles on the ARB's and never had one problem. You can't beat their street/trail manners, especially sidehills in snowy weather. I've run a Lockright and Detroit in the past, won't be going back with a street and trail rig.

 

Well, this subject was brought up a few months ago (and probibly many times before that), so if you want some good info do a search for the 8.25...

Ill tell you what I pulled away from it. First thing is to get a good guage for what you want to do with it. A lot comes down to the driver as well. The group I go wheeling with tends to wind up breaking quite a bit of stuff no matter what they have built thier jeeps and toys out of. The common idea is that when you move away from stock, you can upgrade and upgrade and end up chasing your weakest link. Stronger axles and you may break a driveline or tcase shaft, or a ring gear (the common items those guys break are ring gears and u-joints/burfields). Anyway, point with that is how far you want to take it.

What kind of trails are you going to tackle? If you stay away from rocks and 24" holes next to tree roots even the 27 spline axles will be ok in most cases. On the road, well if you break an axle on road in an 8.25 you probibly weren't doing anything legal. Teo of my jeeps have 27 spline 8.25s and Im extremely happynwith them. Also, theres a lot of them around so getting a spare/replacement for them is cheap or free in some cases.

There arent as many 29 splines around, but if you can find one its as direct bolt in as you can get if its from a cherokee. As far as upgrading Id try to just find a whole axle to bolt in instead of changing out axle shafts and carriers. The only problem here is making sure you match gear ratios. Some manuals are not the same as some automatics, and this is true with all years of xjs.

For me, the dana 44 is kind of a unicorn. Theres a guy on here that seems to have a knack finding them, but I've never seen one, even in the comanchees with tow packages that were supposed to come with them. It was special order, so theyre rare. That guy was selling one in the classifieds for a moderate price. If you can find one, great! Its a direct bolt in, but again you have to watch gear ratios. Its a little more, but if you can swing it you can just get front and rear axles and you will be sure to have matching gears.

...The ford 8.8. I was able to pick one up for fifty bucks with disk brakes, but i probibly wont put it in this year. It takes a bit more work than an xj native axle. Besides working out the brake lines and ebrakes, the gear ratio will probibly not be the same as your front axle (4.11 is most common in an 8.8) so you may have to buy another gear for it or the front. Matching the front to 4.11 is a good choice for 31-32" tires in most cases.

Thats not all... You will have to move the spring perches in an inch or two and modify your driveline. The driveline isnt too bad, if you got the flange with the 8.8 axle you can mate it in place of the yoke of the old 8.25. In my case i will have to track one down. Its also a good idea to weld the tubes to the diff as they are only pressed in and held with plugs. In some cases this can allow the diff to twist on the tube under high torque.

There are some other things but it has been well covered on many build threads on this site. Id post them but it would take another hour or two to finagle it posting with my phone

It boils down to this:
D35: junk even for stock tires. Fought one on a grand cherokee and lost. Im forgiving and still spit on these. 7-something inch ring gear. Very common. Xj and other model native.
Chrysler 8.25, 27 spline: havent had any trouble myself. Less supported aftermarket, sturdy tubes, 8.25" ring gear. Common. Xj native. Can be upgraded to 27 spline chrome moly shafts or better, 29 spline shafts, and i believe ive even heard of a 30 spline. All but the 27 spline "alloy" shafts require multiple parts to swap. Can be had for $100 or less.

Chrysler 8.25, 29 spline: rarer than the 27 splines, but newer and less rare than a dana 44. About the same as a d44 in durabilty, but not as well supported in after market. Options the same as the 27 spline. Xj native.

Dana 44: ...lots and lots and lots of options... But you have to find one. Xj native dana 44 will usually have drum brakes as they were in 87-90ish era mjs and xjs. There are other options for procuring a d44, but you will need to do a lot more. modding than a direct swap in. I havent seen one for less than $300.

There is a fanciful other option... There is a guy that put a dana 30 front axle in the rear with 30 spline axles and added rear steer... This is extreme and special purpose, as well as about a thousabd dollars for the 30 spline upgrade.

Im going to be running 27spline chrys 8.25 this year on 34"s just to see how strong it really is. i will definately be posting results. I do plan on doing a bit harder wheeling than i suspect you plan, as you wouldnt do too much that may damage your jeep on trail if you rely on it for a daily driver or towing vehicle.

I figure if you arent getting any trail damage (rock dents and tree scrapes, and bashed undercarrage) and arent showing off, 27 splines should be ok with 31-32". I have quite a bit of damage on both jeeps and haven had a single concern with my axles yet. We will see after adding a locker or welding them.

As to driving conditions, if this is a daily driver, camping vehicle (camp trailer, boat, etc) and light trail (green dot and forest service road) driver, i wouldnt mess with the axle at all, unless its worn or you have disposable money to dump into it for extra insurance. Blue trails or mud and you probibly could start worrying about a locker. Black diamond or rocks and youre going to want bigger tires than 32s anyway, depending on what you are able to do with what you have. These days, cheaper is better, imo. Its all personal preferance of course.

Personal opinion: ARBs are just a way to show off that a person can spend money. There are many different options for selectible lockers that are cheaper, more reliable, and dont require a compressor. There are cable lockers and electronic lockers of a variety of good brands. If I were getting one Id get an eaton elocker for the front, lunchbox for the rear.

As to safety, its going to be a learning lesson of what you can and cant do no matter what you change, and all you can do is pick what you feel will do what you want and then drive it in whatever conditions you expect to encounter before you have to rely on it. All the guys i wheel with go cheap and put autolockers in, and I've niether seen one break or contribute to a safety issue.

Hope something here helped.

 

Well my monthly reading is takin care of lol jk good info i really like the 8.8

 

Damn that's a lot of info, and yes it did help.

I have put a lot of time into what I want to do with my Jeep and how far I want to go with it. Like most people I am sure, I went from "oo I want a 36" lift with 90" tires" blah blah then stopped and realized I would never actually use a dedicated trail rig. As you pointed out, I mostly intend to drive on service type roads and easier green trails. I do want a locker, however, as I've had a locked truck before and love the capability it brings even in stock vehicles.

The reason behind wanting to upgrade the axle is that I absolutely hate breaking down and definitely think the extra cost is worth the peace of mind. My idea, and correct me if I am approaching this the wrong way (I'm still pretty new to wheeling), is to decide how I want to use my Jeep, and then build it one step above that. I just didn't realize building up an axle required special tools/skills, but then that's why I put this thread up in the first place.

On top of the recreational use of the vehicle, daily driving sometimes does put me into some really tough spots. The other day I was going down a road that was in really bad shape from a recent storm and had to deal with some small boulders, some small felled trees and about a foot of fresh, powdery snow. Let's not forget it was about 14F outside so there were some solid blocks of ice to make it over too. So, in addition to wanting a capable vehicle I also need one.

Now, stroking the engine, that's purely for fun. I'm not sure if I'll do it yet, because it significantly increases the cost (both in the build and long-term in increase fuel cost), and cost is important, but I do love tinkering with engines.

I have found 2 XJ D44 axles in my area with just a quick glance through craigslist, but they are asking $400+++ so forget that noise. We'll see if a better deal pops up.

I'm not at all considering an 8.8.

I haven't found any inexpensive selectable lockers to fit the 8.25. Let me go have another run through Google and the forums and see what I can find. The Ox and ARB are the only reputable ones I have so far found and I sure as hell would prefer to avoid dropping over a grand just to get a locker put on.

My thoughts so far are on something like this:

RE 3.5" lift
32s with trimmed fenders
29 spline 8.25 rear with some kind of selectable locker and disc brakes (I am in the mountains a lot - I highly value good brakes and my XJs brakes are anything but good)
tom woods sye/cv
my TC might be going (random whine and clacking, gotta check the fluid but it should be good so think it might be the chain), so if I have to open it up I will just get a JB HD rebuild kit and be done with it. Otherwise I'd just keep it stock because the NP231 is a beast.
Other mods like brake boosters, larger calipers up front, doors from a newer XJ, etc. that anyone here would probably do.
I don't think I'll have to upgrade the front. If I ever do I'll put a locker of some kind up there as well.

I figured that was somewhat overbuilt for what I need but that should give me a decent margin for error.

Does this sound like a good plan?

 

Sounds like you have got a good valid plan with a lot of thought put into it. Sorry my post.was long, didnt figure it would be but I've been over the same debate with myself for over a year now...

I only have one other suggestion since you mentioned you liked tinkering with engines. Another thought would be to try and find a later model xj with the tcase and rear axle and doors you want, weigh out the cost/time effectiveness for which one will be the new main driver, and tinker with building the stroker on the spare engine. Depending on how much you pay for the donor/wheeling jeep, worst case scenario is you part the rest out get a couple hundred buck for the scrap. Of course thats if you have the room for it and whatnot. My cousin has picked up two jeeps for $100-200 a piece, gets a hundred out of the aluminum rims and $200-300 in scrap after selling off whatever he can. I hate to see xjs go that way but sometimes they get wrecked passed the point of fixing. Best case, you end up with a wheeler to play with (well some might feel thats its own bad thing, lol).

 

No apologies necessary! I gained a lot by reading what you had to say, and it helped to solidify plans in my head. It was very informative and I'm sure it'll prove useful to a lot of people. I'm sure I'll still be debating exactly what I want out of my Jeep until the second I buy the parts. Even then, I'll still probably be thinking of new things to do... *sigh* lol

I had intended to do almost exactly what you suggested with the engine! I don't have the room to keep a donor vehicle around (or I'd probably have several hehe), but there are plenty of people parting out XJs on craigslist locally so I can just ride around to get the parts I want. If I decide to build up my own engine, and right now it's very likely that I will, I'm going to get a long block from somewhere and stick it on an engine stand and build it in my garage in my spare time. Then all I have to do when I finish is spend a day swapping everything out and I'm done. No stress about unusable vehicle, blown engines while on the road etc. This will be my first full engine rebuild (I've rebuilt the upper on my wife's Neon and have rebuilt lots of small 2 and 4 stroke engines from RC planes) so I don't want to be rushed.