Matt Rabe

What year axles will swap directly into a 1998 4x4? Need help mine is bent, trying to find a quick fix. 96? found one on craigslist

OleBlue

2000 and 2001 are Low Pinion dana 30s.

If your jeep isnt lifted an older High pinion dana 30 wont work because your driveshaft will rub the exhaust.

If your jeep is lifted 4 inches plus, youll be good to go with any dana 30 84-01. I recommend 95+ as they have no vaccuum disco and the bigger u joints. There are some non disco before 92 also. Also make sure the gears are the same as yours. Stock auto trans is 3.55. Stock manual trans is 3.07.

If you have abs, try to find an axle that has the abs crap on it too.

Hayden98XJ

Your current axle is a low pinion dana 30. You wanna look for a high pinion dana 30 that has the gears intact. I'm pretty sure the late model (96-98) all had high pinion axles in the front. I'm completely sure about earlier years. Although it's simple to look at the axle and be able to tell if your looking in the junkyard.

XJwonders

Why do u say that he has a low pinion? He's asking for what axle to swap INTO a 98 Cherokee Won't that mean he already have a high pinion?

Hayden98XJ

I must have misread it. Somehow i assumed he had a 00' or 01'.

skife

Low pinion started sometime in 2000
4cyl is 4.10 gears.
92 and newer never had vac disconnect. Are you sure about drive shaft length?
I don't believe there is a difference in drive shafts. Either way a ball peen hammer will make clearance

salad

On a 1998 any XJ, TJ, or MJ front axle will swap right in. 95-99 are more desirable as a whole unit, but if you just need to replace the housing because you bent a tube and your shafts are fine then any year will work. If you find a <91 axle with the vacuum disconnect you need to remove the seal and vacuum motor junk in the passenger tube and install the inner seal right in the differential. I would encourage avoiding 00+ because of the low pinion and 'standard'-cut gears.

Don't forget it HAS to be the same gear ratio. Unless you want to shell out the bucks to regear.

skife

are the "c"s bent or the tubes? you can strighten the tubes with a heavy chain and a bottle jack.

Atmos

good luck!


craigslist search: dana 30 jeep
scroll scroll scroll, click, call, done

skife

its really not terrible to do. :P


Cheap D30s are out there. I picked up a Complete HP D30 with big joint shafts for $75.

going to truss it, regear, and replace bearings, seals, and ball joints.

OleBlue

Whoops I I missed the 98 xj. I looked at ops profile and it showed an 00 xj. Thats why I mentioned his was a LP.

I didnt say driveshaft lengths were different, (though they are between autos and manuals), I said it would hit his exhaust because on a LP the diff is lower to the ground, and HP is higher. Hence the term, HIGH pinion and LOW pinion. So therefore his DS would be mounted higher to the HP diff.

Anyways, the answer has been stated multiple times in this thread=D The 96 will go in the 98 perfectly.

Matt Rabe

Thanks for the help everyone. It's actually a 99, I found a 96 on craigslist, that I hope I can get cheap.

skife

So the exhaust is different between the 99 and 00?

salad

Yup. California/50-state emissions package is very bulky

skife

Never said anything about California emissions, just the difference in exhaust between 99 and 00.