rcguymike

Yeah buddy! Welcome to the 8.25 team

Basslicks

Haha... I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely a lot closer. I highly doubt I'll get the swap done before I go on vacation. Way too much to do before then and way too many working hours scheduled.

Basslicks

Went to the junkyard on Friday for some parts for my wife's car. While I was there I figured I'd pick up a turn signal lense to shut you whiners up about it!




Y'all happy now? SHEESH!!!



Axle all finished up. Axle painted satin black, calipers are gloss cherry. All courtesy of Rustoleum.



The turd is out....



Good riddance, ya pile of crap! One thing I forgot to mention is that either the hub flange or the axleshaft itself on the driver's side is bent.



This is a couple months of brake fluid combined with dirt and mud.... yuck.



This is what the inside of the drum. Greasy, full of brake fluid, the shoes were worn so bad that the braking material was feathering off the shoe surface... kind of embarrassed I let them get that bad, but I've been procrastinating in anticipation of this swap.



The 8.25 is all buttoned up and the Jeep's back on its own weight.



Mush mo betta



I made sure to drill the yoke for those u-joint u-bolts too!

The verdict: if you're thinking about doing this swap, stop thinking about it. It's totally worth it. The Jeep stops better than it ever has. When I put it in gear, it doesn't lunge forward because the brakes are ACTUALLY HOLDING THE REAR WHEELS IN PLACE!

I also had been feeling a vibration in the rear driveshaft - a really bad one - at highway speeds ever since I broke the pinion u-joint. I suspected the front u-joint was possibly bad, so I replaced that while I had everything out. Smooth as silk now.

I haven't had a chance to try out the limited slip though to know if it's working with the 33's yet.... more to come on that.

I also have to take the driver's side rear wheel off and check things out too. Appears the caliper is sticking pretty bad. It's really heating up that wheel and has that nice "I'm burning my brakes" smell.

All in all, I'm couldn't be more pleased though.


And with that, all of the original drivetrain in my Jeep is gone. The front axle, both driveshafts, transmission, and transfer case are from the '96, and the rear is from a '00. Between that and the front clip swap, center console swap, and ZJ seats, pretty soon I'm going to have to name this build "XJ, One Piece at a Time"

unidentifiedbomb

Awesome! How was drilling out the yoke for the u bolts?

Basslicks

No trouble at all. Titanium-coated 5/16" drill bit, moderate speed on the drill, and some WD40 as lube/coolant. It only takes about 10 minutes tops.

Much easier than I thought it would be. Drilled out the yoke of the D35 when it was still under the Jeep, so drilling this one out when it was on the stands was even easier.

Basslicks

Well, the caliper quit locking up right around the time the "cold snap" hit here in North Florida.

Went to work on Friday night and it was chilly and rainy - caliper was dragging. Came outside in the morning and it was 34 degrees - caliper was no longer dragging

Hasn't dragged since. So I don't know if the piston finally just wore the ridge down in the cylinder of the caliper enough to retract, the pads wore down enough to quit making constant contact with the rotor, or if the cold weather is somehow effecting it and once it warms back up again I'll be smashing my head against the wall.....

Either which way, the brakes are working great! Now I'm ready for the DD booster swap. She'll stop on a friggin' dime then!

In other news, the TracLok is working. Does pretty well in sand and on wet pavement anyway (not that wet pavement is where you WANT it to work ha!). Verdict is still out on the rest, but that's better than I expected.

Desertfox1023

8.25 looks awesome man, keep it up she'll get there.

rcguymike

Just for future info Amazon has the turn signal lenses pretty dang cheap... http://a.co/hkyB6X1 with prime you get it in 2 days and don't have to go "junkyard diving". Not as high quality as OEM but that's what aftermarket bumpers are for And it indirectly supports my job

Edit: plus we can keep complaining, in a way, about your turn signals:P

SatiricalHen

I don't know about you, but I love going to the junkyard.

Basslicks

Thanks man! She's gettin' there. I know it's probably one of the least economical vehicles to drive, but I just love driving it! The howl of the tires, the motor sounds, the exhaust... I'm gonna miss commuting with it.



Yeah I know. I've already got a set of smoke lense picked out. But this lense was like 5 bucks

PLUS.....

THIS! lol.... it's like a grown up toy store. Except, I can drop a hundred bucks and come home with a trunk full here.... 100 bucks at Toys R Us will probably get ONE thing

rcguymike

Only ever been once, they didn't have a tire I could use for a spare that was worth getting. Plus now it's 15* and blizzarding...lols

Also there's only one around here worth going to, mostly craigslist or ebay for buying used parts. The other "scrap yard" offered me $75 for a running driving ZJ 5.2 with 160k miles...I kept that as a lawn ornament/parts rig instead.

Basslicks

Yeah we're pretty lucky where I'm at. There's about a half a dozen in my county alone, there's a few in Gainesville, a few in Daytona, a bunch in Orlando, and then there's LKQ in Crystal River (not a pull-a-part but they have just about everything).

Then of course there's craigslist and the local jeep groups that have just about every part too.

Basslicks

New tool coming soon to the garage:

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton...ess-60604.html



After the 20% off coupon and a hundred bucks in gift cards, it'll cost me all of $7

rcguymike

Nice, I've been thinking of getting one of those or one similar! Have you seen the finger break kit on bleepin Jeep's channel!? Really need to quit my job and go into full time lottery playing. Lol

Bugout4x4

Hey! a connecting rod press! lol They are handy. Mine is a 12 ton but a couple times I had to slide my 25 ton jack in there.