Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
It’s still around waiting for a drivetrain. I’ve got plans to build it one day. Currently rotting away in my buddies back yard
Pearl: The Oddball 2 Door XJ
- Thread starter Buddy Holly
- Start date
It’s still around waiting for a drivetrain. I’ve got plans to build it one day. Currently rotting away in my buddies back yard
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
In other news I got some 33s and spacers today. And added Ironman4x4 shackles in the back to level the ride height out finally
scotch737
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2015
- Location
- Greensboro
Just read through this tonight. Haven't had much time lately to post much other that buying/selling. I bought a 2 door XJ a few months back that was in pretty bad shape to make a good "parts truck" out of. Love the build.
sammi_davis
Sawzall Surgeon
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2005
- Location
- Eden N.C.
Looking good Lucas!
GotWood
Sayer of Fact
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2007
- Location
- Maiden, NC
4:10 and 33x12.5 and i can set the cruise control at 70 in 5th gear and still climb hills.
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
With the 31s I loved it, fuel economy wasn’t great (17 on average) because of higher rpms on the highway but man was it fun to drive in traffic. The 33s didn’t make a huge difference but I do notice it’s less zippy. The new axles will have 4.56 gears. I want my hot rod back
I’ll have the Jeep on the Ohio project and probably will have the 31s on it for the trip since they are quieter and smoother. You should drive it and see for yourself how you like the gearing .
dlcrawler12
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2016
- Location
- Hickory
What size spacers did you go with?
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
I don’t actually know.
They came with the tires/wheels. I traded a friend some jk axle stuff for the spacers and tires. I think they’re 1.25”
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
I guess I’m due for an update now that I’m back to working on Pearl. The KJ liberty axle is stripped of its brackets and cleaned up. It should be just the right width at 63.25” wms-wms. With the spacers my front measures just a hair over 64” wms-wms.
I welded the tubes to the casting. Preheated to 400, then ran a root pass with the TIG and capped with the MIG. Wrapped with my welding jacket afterwards to control the cool down. Leaf perches just showed up from Barnes today so the only thing left to order is the rear driveshaft. I’ll measure for it today and get an order into Tom Woods. Next up is pulling the existing rear out of the Jeep and gutting it for the posi carrier and the adjustable shock mounts I made.
My tig welds aren’t great, but I’ve only done it a handful of times. Going to tig as much as I can from now on to get more practice at it.
The axles are staying 4.10. After driving with the 33s and 4.10s for a couple weeks I don’t want to go to 4.56 as my highway rpm would be a bit high. I have a good used 4.10 oem gear set for the 8.25 and will keep my existing 4.10s in the 30. Once the rear is geared and installed, the front is getting an Aussie locker I have laying in a parts axle and new bearings throughout. I’ll eventually upgrade to a front selectable, but that will be for later this year. I ordered an ox locker for the rear, but ox was so far behind on orders it hadn’t shipped in three weeks so I cancelled the order and decided to stick with the posi for now. I don’t really need lockers front and rear. Locked front/posi rear will be just fine.
All of the stuff is here to do a dual battery setup. Barnes optima battery box, 25ft of red and black 1/0 cable, and the isolator switch. The plan is to cut a hole in the passenger rear cubby area behind the rear fender and stick the battery and my 1200w inverter there, with the remote outlet for the inverter and hookup for my fridge freezer just above.
Next on the list is sorting out the winch situation. I love the Boostwerks comp mount, which is a hidden winch with a built in steering box brace. It’s designed around the Warn m8000 though, so I have to see if I can fit my cheap Chinese winch in it first. The mount requires rotating the clutch housing 180 degrees. As long as I can make that happen I think I can make it all work.
I also threw in some 7075 Johnny joint LCAs from Stinkyfab Racing too.
I welded the tubes to the casting. Preheated to 400, then ran a root pass with the TIG and capped with the MIG. Wrapped with my welding jacket afterwards to control the cool down. Leaf perches just showed up from Barnes today so the only thing left to order is the rear driveshaft. I’ll measure for it today and get an order into Tom Woods. Next up is pulling the existing rear out of the Jeep and gutting it for the posi carrier and the adjustable shock mounts I made.
My tig welds aren’t great, but I’ve only done it a handful of times. Going to tig as much as I can from now on to get more practice at it.
The axles are staying 4.10. After driving with the 33s and 4.10s for a couple weeks I don’t want to go to 4.56 as my highway rpm would be a bit high. I have a good used 4.10 oem gear set for the 8.25 and will keep my existing 4.10s in the 30. Once the rear is geared and installed, the front is getting an Aussie locker I have laying in a parts axle and new bearings throughout. I’ll eventually upgrade to a front selectable, but that will be for later this year. I ordered an ox locker for the rear, but ox was so far behind on orders it hadn’t shipped in three weeks so I cancelled the order and decided to stick with the posi for now. I don’t really need lockers front and rear. Locked front/posi rear will be just fine.
All of the stuff is here to do a dual battery setup. Barnes optima battery box, 25ft of red and black 1/0 cable, and the isolator switch. The plan is to cut a hole in the passenger rear cubby area behind the rear fender and stick the battery and my 1200w inverter there, with the remote outlet for the inverter and hookup for my fridge freezer just above.
Next on the list is sorting out the winch situation. I love the Boostwerks comp mount, which is a hidden winch with a built in steering box brace. It’s designed around the Warn m8000 though, so I have to see if I can fit my cheap Chinese winch in it first. The mount requires rotating the clutch housing 180 degrees. As long as I can make that happen I think I can make it all work.
I also threw in some 7075 Johnny joint LCAs from Stinkyfab Racing too.
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
Axle is in and everything is done except for the calipers. Once those and the hoses show up tomorrow I’ll be back on the road.
This generation of 8.25 originally used metric ring gear bolts (10mm versus 3/8). Most aftermarket 8.25 gears are double drilled for both bolts. The only difference internally between this 05-07 axle and the 04 and older axles are the ring gear bolts in my experience. The pinion seals, bearings, races are all the same. I used a 97-04 master install kit and my old carrier with 3/8” ring gear bolts with no issue. The shafts are indeed 29 spline, and the 02-07 KJ Libertys all were 5x4.5.
The parking brake works. I used the factory liberty cables with the xj adjuster. Everything works as if it were factory. The liberty cables are equal length so on the driver side I had to loop the cable to take up some length. It still tucks up nicely and out of the way.
I made my own hard brake lines. I used the xj style soft hose from the frame and ran a hard line out to each end with an explorer 8.8 right hand brake hose on each side. I used a 20” hard line on the driver, and a 40” line on the passenger and just bent them to fit. Oddly enough the brake calipers for the KJ axle are the same as on the 02-05 explorer and 04-06 TJ/LJ. Thought that was worth mentioning. The whole brake setup on this axle looks eerily close to the setup on an 8.8. All the part numbers I looked at for parts also applied to tj/lj brakes, so nothing here really is uncommon.
The KJ uses a flange style yoke. I was able to rob the stock flange adapter off the driveshaft in the junkyard to use with my new Tom Woods CV shaft. The KJ uses a 1310 joint at the axle so everything worked together. I did mis-measure when I ordered the shaft. The flange with the adapter is 1/2” longer than the xj 1310 yoke, so I should have ordered the driveshaft to be 1/2” shorter than when I measured it with the stock 8.25 in place. This isn’t a huge deal but it’s worth noting.
The WMS width on this axle with rotors is 63.25”. With a 1.5” wheel spacer on the front to make it 64” wide, the rear is just a hair narrower than the front which works out perfect.
Hope this helps clear up some of the unknowns about this axle. Time will tell if it holds up. I don’t baby my stuff.
Pictures don’t show much but I know everyone loves pictures
This generation of 8.25 originally used metric ring gear bolts (10mm versus 3/8). Most aftermarket 8.25 gears are double drilled for both bolts. The only difference internally between this 05-07 axle and the 04 and older axles are the ring gear bolts in my experience. The pinion seals, bearings, races are all the same. I used a 97-04 master install kit and my old carrier with 3/8” ring gear bolts with no issue. The shafts are indeed 29 spline, and the 02-07 KJ Libertys all were 5x4.5.
The parking brake works. I used the factory liberty cables with the xj adjuster. Everything works as if it were factory. The liberty cables are equal length so on the driver side I had to loop the cable to take up some length. It still tucks up nicely and out of the way.
I made my own hard brake lines. I used the xj style soft hose from the frame and ran a hard line out to each end with an explorer 8.8 right hand brake hose on each side. I used a 20” hard line on the driver, and a 40” line on the passenger and just bent them to fit. Oddly enough the brake calipers for the KJ axle are the same as on the 02-05 explorer and 04-06 TJ/LJ. Thought that was worth mentioning. The whole brake setup on this axle looks eerily close to the setup on an 8.8. All the part numbers I looked at for parts also applied to tj/lj brakes, so nothing here really is uncommon.
The KJ uses a flange style yoke. I was able to rob the stock flange adapter off the driveshaft in the junkyard to use with my new Tom Woods CV shaft. The KJ uses a 1310 joint at the axle so everything worked together. I did mis-measure when I ordered the shaft. The flange with the adapter is 1/2” longer than the xj 1310 yoke, so I should have ordered the driveshaft to be 1/2” shorter than when I measured it with the stock 8.25 in place. This isn’t a huge deal but it’s worth noting.
The WMS width on this axle with rotors is 63.25”. With a 1.5” wheel spacer on the front to make it 64” wide, the rear is just a hair narrower than the front which works out perfect.
Hope this helps clear up some of the unknowns about this axle. Time will tell if it holds up. I don’t baby my stuff.
Pictures don’t show much but I know everyone loves pictures
Last edited:
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
All buttoned up and ready to head to Jersey tomorrow! I just got back from a 50 mile test trip. Pearl drives a lot better now. I’m shocked at how much quieter everything is now. No vibes, brakes are significantly better, and did I mention quiet? This thing will be very comfortable with the new KO2s whenever I get a set. The KM2s definitely are too loud for my taste.
sammi_davis
Sawzall Surgeon
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2005
- Location
- Eden N.C.
Good looking stance Lucas!
GotWood
Sayer of Fact
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2007
- Location
- Maiden, NC
What was the advantage vs 8.8 from an explorer?
Dawnpatrol
Jesse Higgins
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2016
- Location
- JoCo
He likes to be different. But really I think it was the fact he wanted to just run 33s and didn't want the offset pinion.
Looks good Lucas!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
What Jesse said. Exhaust clearance, width, and I like the design of the 8.25 over the 8.8 or the Dana axles. The side adjusters make setup easier. I didn’t want to redo my exhaust to fit the 8.8 and I’ll likely never go above a 33 on this Jeep.
StretchASU
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Location
- Creedmoor, NC/Claudville, VA
Just sitting here living vicariously through this project. Always had a soft spot for a 2dr 5spd XJ.
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
I started working on my dual battery setup this week. Almost done. Need to mount my outlets for the inverter and make a cover plate for the cubby hole. Though I’m not sure I want to hinder airflow to the inverter. I may use some perforated aluminum instead. A group 34 optima battery just barely fits inside the passenger quarter panel of an xj if you cut the cubby out and trim a little sheet metal. I mounted my isolator switch up in the switch panel on the dash. It took a little cutting of the hvac duct to fit but it squeezes together. I used a Barnes battery box with some 1x2 tube to use as feet to mount my 1200w inverter on top of the battery. Should have it all finished tomorrow and ready for some camping next week.
Buddy Holly
Professional Amateur
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Location
- Mooresville
Went wheeling today, headed to uwharrie tomorrow. I love this Jeep!
Blaze
The Jeeper Reaper
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2005
- Location
- Wake Forest, NC
I still can't believe this Jeep has come this far from the dirty little blown up thing at the shop. Looks awesome man.