Hey, I’m a long time lurker and decided to finally utilize the community here. I tried looking through threads and couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for so forgive me if this is already buried somewhere in the forums. I’m looking to upgrade my gears for 33” tires on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee xj. They currently have 4.10s according to previous owner and I believe I remember the guy telling me that the front axle was swapped from either a TJ or JK or something like that. I know that it’s a Dana 30 HP and can see some stamps on the axle that identifies it as so but I don’t know if whether it coming from a different Jeep model(TJ, JK, XJ) will change on what type of 4.88 gears/carrier I need to buy. Also I may just be an idiot and it doesn’t matter? I’m struggling to grasp axle/diff rules.

The rear axle is a crazy G2 Rock Jock XJ Dana 60 with an unusual looking diff housing so I’m also wondering if that will play a role in which type of 4.88 gears I need for it? Are there thicker gears for Dana 30 vs 60 for 4.88’s? Is there any difference at all?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I’ve always come to this site for issues regarding my Jeep so hopefully I can get some help here.

 

I by no means an expert. But if the Dana 30 truly has 4.10's the carrier you have should be fine for the 4,88 gears (reverse cut for high pinion) as the carrier break is 3.55 gears and under. 4.10s and higher you would need a different carrier.
The other axle I'm clueless. Sounds like you have a decent start on your rig!
I am in the same boat though.. as I have 4.10s /33's and am looking to put in lockers and 4.55 gears some day soon..
I am of little help but welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate your help. Yeah I think the carrier should be okay, I will keep it in mind when I finally open the diffs again. I read somewhere that 4.88’s can differ from axle model like going from a Dana 30 to a 44 and also possibly going from a Dana 30/44 from an xj vs a tj or jk? If so then that’s so confusing 😂

 

I wanted to bump this thread. Any gurus here willing to share some information? Looking to buy gears really soon and want to buy them right the first time without having to send them back because I missed something obvious.
Any help would be awesome.
Thank you