hello all i bought a pretty decent cherokee manual shift 4.o with lift kit today its setting on 33's drives pretty nice has rebuilt engine and a ton of other new parts but 1 thing the previous owner failed to do was change out the rear gears he said they were stock so now i would like to know how do i find out which rears i have and which gears i have the cherokee is a 1994 with 0 rust any help would certainly be appreciated joe

 

I just went through something similar. Check out the bottom of this page and you should be able to figure it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Cherokee_(XJ)

 

That wikipedia page isnt always accurate from my experience. There were so many variations with the axles and gears that i've seen jeeps come with stuff it wasnt suppose to lol. the only way to really know what gearset you have is to pull the cover and check the stamp on the ring gear.

 

thanks guys i already know i want to change the gears as i can tell there pretty high Ie...stock 355 ??? i want to go to something better for off road and reasonable rpm wise at 55 on road probably something around 410 im mechanically pretty good with my hands and have been a shade tree mechanic for 20 years but ive never done rear end gears so i have no idea where to start im pretty sure i need to baically know my rear type ie dana 30, 60 etc... and i need to buy ring and pinion gears but what else is there to know

 

Wikipedia is the most unreliable website on the internet dont trust a word u read from it

 

3.07 for a manual 4.0

 

Gears aren't a bolt-on job. A few thousands off can trash your new gears in a hurry. Search (google, CF search sucks like a vaccuum) write ups for doing gears. You will find that you need expensive tools and a some time for a first-timer. If you can't afford the down time or don't want to run the risk of messing it up you're better off having a shop do it.

 

X2

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the info. Guess this project is on a temp holding pattern. Joe

 

I got an 89 0 rust

 

if you change the gears in the rear you have to change them in the front too!

 

Yeah you have to change them both. U want your axles spinning at the same speed don't u? Lol 4.10s are a good choice just make sure your axle shafts can handle it. The 94 came with weak ujoints on the shafts. If u have a rear Dana 35 like most did, you would probably be snapping those axle shafts too.

 

I don't plan on getting to crazy with the off roaring. What I want to do is some trails with at most some intermediate type trail. I'm assuming of course that snapped axles would most likely be a result of terrain calling for excess power / torque.