So last night I saw that my neighbor put up his 98 zj 5.9 limited for sale. My friend baught it for 2100 and its currently in my garage where it will sit until we get a lift and tires for it. Not much info on it that I could find and we want to start ordering parts for it asap. Could someone confirm if indeed all of them have Dana 44s and what is the gearing. It has the tow package I was told. We want to put 35s on it with a 4in lift. Not scared to cut the fenders as the body is not mint. Just wanted to know how this zj would take the 35s And moderate to intermediate wheeling. I know 35s are too much for a stock xj drive train which I own I am just hoping that the 5.9 is a different case. Any help or pointers would be great. Thanks.

 

96+ V8's have the rear D44a axle.. aluminum diff housing and 3:73 gearing.

Lots of guys swap in 8.8's with IRO or similar bracket kits.

 

OK . thanks. I found some info about v8 zjs having a d30 front axle. Did the 5.9 come with a different one. I taught it looked different when I looked at it last night. Oh well. If it turns out to be a 30 I will tell him to get 33s. We will not be doing any axle swaps BTW. As much as I would like to there just isn't enough time for that. Just trying to make it off road able.

 

All ZJ's came equipped with a LP D30.

 

Ok. 33s it is. For a second I was a bit excited about beefy 44 axles. Thanks.

 

One more question. What is a safe backspace for 15x8 wheels. The jeep will get a 4 in lift and 33x12.5 tires.

 

I run 33x10.5's on ZJ Canyons 15x7 with Spidertrax 1.25" spacers.

Here in Pa i need to keep my tires covered. Not sure how a 12.5 would work..

 

Four inches of back spacing seems to be the norm. Summit Racing has 15x8 black steel wheels with 3.75 inches of back spacing for less than 60 bucks each.

 

Thanks for replying guys. So its just like xj backspacing. Its just good to be sure. We will buy 3.75 or maybe 3.5 backspaced wheels to be safe. They don't need to be covered by flares here. I just don't want them to rub. I will probably order a wheel tire combo from desertrat.com