I have a 2000 Cherokee Sport with 124k miles on it. It is 4x4 and automatic. I had the rear end replaced under an aftermarket warranty a while ago. The mechanic got another 8.25 and put it in. I now need another rear end. The carrier bearings are all chewed up. My jeep is bone stock and it has never been wheeled. It mostly does highway trips to and from work. Have any of you guys had any problems with your 8.25? Any ideas why I keep going through them? Would beefing it up help or make a difference? I was thinking about putting a powertrax and yukon chromoly axles in it along with a yukon master intall kit. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

I believe I'm having the same problem right now, I wheel My Xj and daily it (not very smart I know) but she puts up with the abuse. I recently have gained a loud clunking noise going over bumps. Checked everything and there is some play with the passenger side axle, was wondering how you knew your rear end was going or symptoms you had.

 

I'm up to 180k on the original 8.25.

I've had pretty good luck with them.

 

Yeah I have 187k on mine was doing great until this weekend.

 

I have a constant droning sound. It starts from the second you start going forward and gets louder and louder as you increase speed. I thought it might be really bad wheel bearings, but the mechanic took it apart and said there is a lot of play in the carrier bearings. I haven't seen it myself because I work out of town Monday through Friday and I don't have the time to fix everything myself the way I would like so I'm just going on what I was told. I'm just trying to see if there is anything I should do or consider before I buy all new guts for the rear end.

 

Huh, haven't hear of the 8.25's having many problems, I have 260k on mine, no slop and no noise and it gets its fair share of abuse. How much do you trust your mechanic? Could be something else entirely causing your noise.

 

240K on a stock 8.25 . was the Jeep ever in an accident ? possibly the rear unibody tweeked and causing the axle to wear premature?

 

I bought my 2001 last winter with 58,000 miles on it, bone stock, well maintained, never wheeled. There was some noisy slack in 8.25 so my mechanic broke it down and rebuilt it - said it had junkyard parts in it??? He showed me the play in the cross pin?? Who do you trust? All I really know for sure is that it's been doing fine since then.

 

It has rear ended a vehicle twice. I let my sister borrow it for a week because she refused to drive the car I gave her that was a standard. She rear ended a lady and my insurance went up and so forth. I had never been in an accident before so since she jacked my insurance Murphy was bound to get his 2 cents in. Sure enough later down the road I rear ended a guy in heavy construction traffic. Neither time did really bad damage. Neither accident was high speed. When I hit that guy I checked everything under the hood and then drove it another 150 miles to work and then back a few hundred miles without any problems. I'm kind of at a crossroads where it's either keep it and fix it up to drive it another 4 or 5 years or fix it enough to sell it and get something else. Do you think the unibody could be tweaked? It's been a long time ago, but I am fairly sure that the first rear end was replaced before the first accident. I trust my mechanic. My jeep hasn't been to anybody else but him. It is a small garage run by two brothers and was formerly run by their dad. I went to school with his son and I have known their family for a long time so I am sure he isn't trying to take me for a ride. His son actually had a 2001 Cherokee and he said that they had to replace the rear end in it once and then put a new axle in it after that. I am not sure what axle it had in it, but it being a 2001 I figure it was an 8.25. What to do what to do ...

 

Slap another 100 dollar axle in it and keep going...