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Were you looking specifically to go to a 8.25? What made you decide to go with the 8.25? At some point I know I want to change mine cause it has the 35 in it. Every time I go to the jy I keep an eye out for a 44 hoping I might stumble across one. I'm thinking I might find a unicorn first. This last week I stumbled across two correct year models with tow package but no 44's.
Were you looking specifically to go to a 8.25? What made you decide to go with the 8.25? At some point I know I want to change mine cause it has the 35 in it. Every time I go to the jy I keep an eye out for a 44 hoping I might stumble across one. I'm thinking I might find a unicorn first. This last week I stumbled across two correct year models with tow package but no 44's.
I originally thought that it would be easy to just upgrade the D35 and run 33s...then decided that I want to go 35s. I thought it would be cool to either find a D44 or MJ AMC 20 since it would be cool and different, the 8.25 was my fall back. But AMC 20 MJ axles are rarer than XJ D44s and D44s around here go for over $300. I found this '99 29 spline 8.25 with only needing to paint, new drums and adjuster hardware for only $100, I couldn't pass the offer up. I'm excited to swap out the D35 and selling the D35 to a buddy who's shop i'll be using to swap it out so I won't have to hold the D35 afterwards. My main argument for beefing up the D35 was that I could get new shafts for just $200 but even that's more expensive than what I got this 8.25 for and won't have to do anything to it.
So today after class I drove over to a buddy's shop and swapped in the 8.25. Made the rear go up a little, i'm probably between 4-4.5"s in the rear now. The stock driveshaft went back in with no issues and seems to be around where it was stock. I have developed some minor vibes around 30mph but nothing I'm going to really mess with honestly. Three things I did notice from the swap. First, wow the 8.25 weights a significant amount more. Two, the D35 might of had 10" drums over the 9" that the 8.25 has but the pads on the 8.25 are twice as wide. Three, setting up the brakes I can stop on a dime now compared to before. It was great, here are the pictures.
Thanks everyone. I'm thinking I want to replace the old Rusty's 3.5" coils with most likely IRO 4" or RE 3.5, I'm thinking IRO since they are cheaper and are set for my height.
Last edited by unidentifiedbomb; Apr 22, 2015 at 10:35 PM.
Bit of an update. So graduation is just around the corner on the 9th, so I wanted to get my self a little gift. I contacted Creepy Fabrication and asked Brad about making me a bumper so I could pick it up on my way pasted Reading, PA towards NJ on the 10th. He sent me pictures of the tie in brackets which use a killing 8 bolts! This is just a simple bumper with D-rings, I'll never have to worry about it getting damaged from anything. Also sent me a picture today two days after first contacting him of my bumper he's working on. The company is top notch for sure and can't wait to see it in person. I'll update pictures as I get them. I'm looking to add JCRs single wide hoop kit to it as well. Here is a link to his bumper https://sites.google.com/site/creepyfabrication/bumpers and here are the pictures of the tie in brackets and the bumper.
I'll probably notch a triangle out where the fender support bracket goes.
Last edited by unidentifiedbomb; May 4, 2015 at 09:24 PM.
Ordered JCR's single wide hoop today for the bumper, within 2 hours I had an email with a tracking number, just wow! Can't wait to get this thing all together.
That bumper is tempting.. way cheaper then getting one shipped. Wish it had a winch mount though.
I didn't want a winch but I'm sure Creepy would be able to work with you if you wanted.
So I picked up my the bumper and I fell in love the first sight I had on it, the quality and lines are amazing. I bought his spacer for the steering as well, all the bolts I'll need included so I have no worries on the install. I'll get my pictures later as the Jeep is packed from college and plan on welding on JCRs awesome hoop that came in the mail a couple days ago.
