DJeXeCute

My friend blew his front end on his 98 cherokee and Ive never owned a xj newer than 96 heck my first xj was a 84 with a 2.8 v6 carbed lol. We plan on heading to the junkyard this weekend but there is only a single 97 and a ton of 84-96 xjs there. I recall hearing from some where a while ago that 97+ are low pinion and can't be swapped with high pinions but I might just be thinking the difference for re-gearing lol. I might be totally wrong and the only difference with the older ones aside from gearing is the CAD the did away with.

MoparNJeep

97-99 are high pinion untill mid 1999 then went to low pinion.

884x4

84-99 are high pinion
95-99 have the 297x ujoints
Be careful for 87-90 they might have the vac disconnect
All abs have 297x ujoints

DJeXeCute

So If the 97s front end isn't usable or just not there I should be safe grabbing a 91-96 d30?

caged

97 is usable.

you can use 87-99 but remember, 87-95 uses small 260 u-joints if not equipped with abs. so if it has abs, it will have larger u-joints. but if his shafts are still good, he could always swap them in.
87-89 has bolt on caliper mounts, so those knuckles would have to be swapped out for his 96.

87-90 has vac disco with the smaller joints and no abs. dead giveaway.