tkdtim

Pulled the trigger and bought 2 new axles for the Jeep today. They are cutting them out and going to call me when they are ready.

Dana 30 front from a 98 grand cherokee - bigger u-joints 3.73 gears
Ford 8.8 rear from 96 Eddie Bower exploder - 3L73 baby limited slip and disc brakes

$110/axle + $25 to cut each out rather then spend all day doing it.
I got alot going on this summer so the plan is to work on them in my spare time, the one day just swap them both out. That way I can keep my 4x4 with 3.07 gears in the meantime.

I'm going to outsource the spring and shock mounts to a local shop, shouldn't cost much.

tkdtim

Need some jeeper support here guys. Everyone at work and my girlfriend all think I'm crazy. There starting to make me feel buyers remorse!

xSUx SGT BAKER

For $135 an axle . I would have bought 4. The 8.8 swap is great, I did it about a year ago. The disc brakes alone make the swap worth it. I have an easier time stopping my 33s with discs then my 235s with drums. don't forget about the drive shaft though. The 8.8 uses a flange, but its easy to make a drive shaft that will work.

tkdtim

Great! I have a secret weapon, a person on here thats already done it!
What I'm worried about is making the brake lines work. Do you remember how you did that?

Did you run stock rims? I wonder if I can get by with them, or if they will rub the leafs.
Did you use a kit for the perches, or did you re-use the ones from your axle?

xSUx SGT BAKER

The brake lines are easy. I just ran all new lines from the center hose out to the wheel cylinders. It was an easy enough job, it took maybe 15 minutes. If you do not have the tools to double flare the lines, you can rent them from pep boys or autozone.

You will have to come up with a way to hold the end of the center hose to your axle. I just welded a stud onto the axle and used a nut with a washer. Do you have access to a welder by any chance? I found it easier to have the axle under the truck with the shocks in place to decide where and how you want to hold the hoses in place ( there are 3 of them)

Also, while im on the brakes, depending on your lift height, you might need an extended center brake hose. I have 4.5in of lift, and I put a brake hose from a dodge dakota. It has plenty of slack.

EDIT============================================== ==========================
NAPA PART NUMBERS:

FRONT GM LINES
38620
38621

1996 4x4 Dakota center rear brake line
38636
/EDIT============================================== ==========================
Im not 100% sure on this, but i do think that you can use your factory wheels. I will check around for later to confirm.
I ended up making my own perches out of square tubing (I have access to a machine shop). I could have reused the ones off of the dana 35, but I was too lazy to grind on them

Btw ,if you want, I can get some pictures of everything next time its not raining.

jd4x426

brakelines should bolt right up not sure about the wheels depends on what you have and i would recomend getting new spring perches as they hard as hell to cut off nicely to reuse just buy a new set its well worth it and good luck witrh the swap

tkdtim

Good news. I called them since their web pricing hadn't been updated since they changed their prices.

Went and picked them up for the old price; $99 each +$10 core.

Score?

xSUx SGT BAKER

For an axle? Did i mention that I paid $250 for my 8.8

tkdtim

So I came to my first snag. On the flange adapter someone had 3 of the bolts started to be removed and I found out why they didn't finish it. The 4th bolt is rounded off.

I tried vice grips and hammer, but its not working to well. Any advice? Its soaking in PB Blaster atm.

It looks like I can just cut it off and rotate the flange adapter and use a different set of holes on the little circle plate on the yoke. Confirm?

xSUx SGT BAKER

Im not sure that the other set of holes are the same pattern.... after all, why would they put two sets of holes with the same pattern? They might be different threads too?

jd4x426

on my f150 both patterns were the same i think there is an extar set to make it eaier to line up the driveshaft flange but you can cut it off flush then drill it out and retap it if need be

xSUx SGT BAKER

Did your f150 have an 8.8?

Also, did you try heating the flange to get the bolt out. i would try that before i ground the head off.

01LimitedXJ

weld a nut to the top of the rounded bolt

4.3L XJ

Sears has a great set of special sockets that remove rounded bolts. I bought them and I can tell you they work better than I thought they would.

jd4x426

yea it had an 8.8 it was full width obviously and had 31 spline axles but i would think that the pinion would be the same