OK only after market axles were 30 spline

 

My '91 doesn't have it. I guess they were phasing them out throughout the year or something

 

Not all XJs thru 91 had the vac disco. The general rule is XJs with the NP231 tcase are vac disco and XJs with the NP242 are non vac disco.

 

Its funny how many "general" rules there are with XJ's. Mine's a '91 non vac disco with the NP231.

 

It's like JeepCoMj said earlier, and as I have learned by being corrected for posting a "should or must" statement. It's a Jeep and anything could be possible.

 

I wasn't taking issue with your statement I was just commenting on how many situations with these silly things that there are exceptions. Sometimes is seems like they just got whatever rolled up on the assembly line next to the body. I guess its more when they're changing stuff around like in '91 and '96.

 

I know you were'nt, no problem. I find it funny myself. I got my first XJ 4 years ago and I started studying everything I cold get my hands on. Repair manuals, books on upgrades and modification, customizing, and anything I could find on the web. I crammed every bit of knowledge I could in my beer soaked brain. By the time I joined this forum I thought I was in the know about every aspect of the XJ. Damn was I wrong. That's why I love this site, the more I learn, the more I can help the newbies.

 

Ok cool. The first XJ forum I found was Naxja but some of the guys over there are kinda crabby sometimes (especially with newbs) so when I found this one I liked it alot better. Thats why I'm careful not to step on anyones toes. We can all help each other out if we don't get pissy over silly things like answering the same questions more than once. I have been a mechanic for about 6 years now but I can't get enough of the XJ knowledge. Especially the cheaper DIY stuff like has been covered in this thread. As my tag says, I'm on a budget.

 

I'm going to attempt to clarify all of this... Winston tried, but nobody noticed.

I have a 1991 2WD 2-door Sport (exactly the body I wanted, stripped-down beauty)

I started a 4wd conversion... I pulled an AW4/NP231/D30 from a crashed 1996 XJ (I was unaware that the D30 housing was tweaked)

All of the internals of the D30 are beautiful because the owner did not drive any further after crashing.

The Pull-A-Part here in Nashville has several empty vac-disco D30 housings (I didn't see ANY 1991-and-up solid housings). I want an empty housing because I don't want to buy extra parts that some other Jeeper could use... also the empty housing is much cheaper.

I have heard of vac-disco owners doing the "solid-axle conversion" installing later axles in the disco housing.

I needed to know what to do with the gaping hole in the housing and whether there is a machined land in the center (pumpkin) area for the original inboard axle-seal to live.

I know to get rid of the short-axle, bearing and disco-box seal.

Here we are

 

Yep, fab a plate and block it off.

 

The plate should be simple... I have some .250" aluminum in the garage.

I'm going to look at the housings tomorrow and see if there is a machined area for an inboard seal at the carrier-end of the axle.

 

What time are you going? I may be taking tommorow off work (we are slooooowww right now) and going out there myself. That's if I don't go today.

 

I'm going first thing... I hope to be there when they open at 8.

After I get the housing, I've got to go back to the shop and swap transmissions and build/install that diff. I am off on Fridays and they give me "shop access" for my toys.

Maybe I'll see you there... I look just like that bass player in my avatar

 

Another thing you guys have to take into consideration is the versatility of the parts. If you pick up an XJ with over 100K on it. You may not have the OEM stock combination your XJ came with. Like my XJ has the rear D44 from an 87 XJ, the rear tire carrier from an 89 XJ, the skid plate kit from an 87 XJ, the aux. tranny cooler from an 88 XJ and the washer/wiper switch from a 90 XJ.

 

Hmm, starting to sound like mine, FrankenJeep