Im planning on making my 2wd 98' XJ 4wd, but I have some questions on how to do so. What are all of the parts I will need? I know I will need a transfer case, front axle, and new drive shafts. Ive been told that the tcase bolts right onto the 2wd tranny, someone else said I will need a whole new tranny, and someone else said I could just get a new tailshaft housing. Can anyone set me straight? And what else will I need?

 

You'd come out cheaper just finding a 4wd XJ but if you are set on converting yours your best bet will be to find a donor vehicle. There are lots of little parts that will be a pain to find and that way you'll have everything you need. And no you can't bolt a t case on the back of a 2wd tranny and it's possible to swap out the rear section but much easier to find a 4wd tranny. Not trying to be discouraging but it's a ton of work to end up with what came stock on tons of other vehicles.

 

You have to change the output shaft and tail housing which takes a trans rebuilt almost to get to it.Honestly i would sell your jeep and buy a 4x4 one they are cheap enough.Or buy a 4x4 one with a blown engine and drop yours in it.

 

4wd tranny w/ t case - get the wiring with it. The NSS, both other plugs, the CPS, and make sure the kickdown cable isn't bent. Spares are always a good thing. Like mentioned, swapping the tail shaft requires pretty much rebuilding the thing. Much easier to swap a new one in.
Front axle with matching gear ratio or whatever you're going to do with gears
Driveshafts - I went ahead a did a SYE since I was lifted and used two of the same driveshafts
Shifter linkage - floor plate, shifter handle, and Boostwerks shift kit. Don't waste any time with the stock stuff.

Replace the two external torx bits on the top of the bellhousing with 2 grade 8 3/8-16 x 1-3/4" bolts.

 

Yup just buy a complete wrecked 4x4 XJ is really the only way to go and the cheapest plus you will have spare parts left over, like we all need to have with this old of XJ's around.

 

I pieced mine together for ~$600. I couldn't ever find a $600 4x4 XJ in the ATL area.

 

I guess that I'm lucky as there quite a few in this area of a 100 mi. of me. Same for parts there must have been a lot sold in this area, in fact still a lot of them on the road stock we know the reason for this.

A complete XJ would save him a lot of headaches in doing a complete swap with a lot left over. His area may be like yours I don't know but I sure would travel a good distance for one if it were me.

 

Its actually very easy to convert to 4x4 and if you have all the parts you can do it in a weekend. Everything will bolt directly in you only need to drill 4 holes in the floor to mount the shifter. The bolt hole locations are dimpled into the floor from the factory so it hard to mess up. You will need a transmission, tcase, both drive shafts, front axle and dont forget the tcase shifter and all of its parts bolted to the floor. A donor is best but if you shop around you can pick it up a piece at a time for not too much money. I have around $300 converting my MJ but I did use my original 2wd trans and swapped the tail shaft housing on it. Not sure what trans you have or how hard that is to do on the later transmissions.