Hi all. Go easy on me. First Cherokee after many years of "other" off road rigs. I bought a winter beater at a great price, and among some little things, i see I need to change pinion seals (front and rear). Didn't think to look or ask, but told by auto parts store there were 3 rear ends available with my 96 Cherokee classic i6 4.0. With a 5 spd. How do I know if it's the Chrysler, or which Dana?!

And for that matter was there more than one front axle, or am I safe with that selection at least?
HELP.....thanks in advance for not laughing.

 

It'll either be a d35 or Chrysler 8.25. Either will have a round diff cover. The 8.25 is bigger and will have a flat area cast into the diff case. If the case is round it's a d35. If the bottom of the case is flat it's an 8.25

 

1996 only came with the high pinion dana 30 front axle
as for the rear axle, if it's 8.25 it may be either 27 or 29 spline. you will have to count to find out

 

This should help.

 

Well, based on this, I'd have to conclude the D35, because it seems totally round on bottom of the case. Thanks!

Now which budget 3-3.5 lift to I get while I'm already under here?

 

Awesome! It's the D35 for sure. HUGE help. I love pictures!

 

If you planning on doing anything more than VERY moderate wheeling you're gonna want to dump the D35 and swap up to a Chry 8.25. Search for comparisons between the two and you will find a plethora of knowledge. There's a reason it's known as the Turdy-5!

 

the older square body 96 and later should be 27 spline and the 97 -01 should be the 29 spline

 

For now it will just be my winter Daily Driver. I know once summer comes agin, I'll get itchy and start throwing money at it to make it more capable than to take me through snow.
Oh, the joys of a bone stock machine...here I go again. Someone stop me

 

actually I read that the 96 changed over to 29 spline half way through production
so half of the 96 chryco 825's are 27, other half are 29

 

Don't be scared of upgrading rears either. Sounds big and expensive but it's really not. I am going d35 to 8.25 right now and here's my costs

Complete 8.25. $50.00
Trac lok. $150.00
Bearing/seal kit. $100.00
Truss. $100.00
Kj disc swap. $50.00
Assembly. $150.00

Some people question the trac lok choice but I have a goal of being able to do some of everything... Comfortably. Which rules out automatic locker because of snow/ice. The trutrack would cost me about 3x minimum what my trac lok cost. The trac lok was swapped out almost new and only has 150 miles and I got it for $150. Easy decision

So for $600 I am building a trussed disc LSD 8.25. That's not bad and a lot more cost effective than other $600 mods.

 

spent too much on the truss

 

True... You can do a truss for almost free. If you want it pretty they are $100-$200