XJ's

79Stomper

79Stomper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Gladys, VA
Not new to wheeling but new to the Jeep world of modification and such. My question is where are the weak spots of an 87 XJ? Axles or such? I have an 87 XJ and well I just sold my Jimmy not too long ago and have the itch to modify the XJ. All ready has 3" or so of lift and 3.73's in stock axles, which I believe are dana 30's but not too sure. Any help or advice appreciated or what you have ran into with your XJ.


TIA

James
 
I don't have one, but have seen many. Over all good machine. It has( I think) a D 35 or a D44 in the rear) The D35 in a c clip axle, break the axle, loose your wheel. The D44 is the better of the 2. 8.8 rears from some fords is also a desirable swap. Lower gears, taller tires, a winch and you are pretty good to go.

The no frame isn't the best, but many use em and they do go well.
 
upnover said:
I don't have one, but have seen many. Over all good machine. It has( I think) a D 35 or a D44 in the rear) The D35 in a c clip axle, break the axle, loose your wheel. The D44 is the better of the 2. 8.8 rears from some fords is also a desirable swap. Lower gears, taller tires, a winch and you are pretty good to go.

The no frame isn't the best, but many use em and they do go well.
Click to expand...



Probably not a Dana 44 in the rear. Those rears exist, but they're scarce. It's most likely a Dana 35 NON c-clip. Anomalies do exist though :D

It's a Dana 30 in the front. Check into installing a posi-lock for the front axles vacuum disco contraption. It's prone to fail, and 4x4 goes out the door if it does.
 
This year cherokee has the non c-clip dana 35. Any mods depend on what you wanna do. There are lots of weak points depending on what and where you run. Anything specific? I would be glad to help with any questions. You can ask here for the benefit of the group or pm me. -Josh :)


79Stomper said:
Not new to wheeling but new to the Jeep world of modification and such. My question is where are the weak spots of an 87 XJ? Axles or such? I have an 87 XJ and well I just sold my Jimmy not too long ago and have the itch to modify the XJ. All ready has 3" or so of lift and 3.73's in stock axles, which I believe are dana 30's but not too sure. Any help or advice appreciated or what you have ran into with your XJ.


TIA

James
Click to expand...
 
Automatic or 5 speed? If it's a manual tranny, then it has the less desireable Peugot BA5/10. Weak shafts.
 
Well it has a strong, and I mean strong 4.0 and the automatic OD transmission in it. As far as what I want to do with it well I want to be able to go to URE and have no problems and a Tellico trip with few problems on obstacles. A lot of technical trails mainly. I used to have a Jimmy on 40's (digital camo one you have seen on here) and want to be able to go most places I went with it. Is there a link somewhere on here so I can do an axle id on it to determine what axles I have? Also with the stock axles would I possibly be able to run 33's or 35's with them? Like I said I am new to the Jeep area of modification but have about 10 or so years in the fullsize GM modification. All help appreciated.
 
If it has a factory tow package it probably has a 44 in the rear, they are scarce but in 87' they used lots of them, more than any other year.
 
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/
http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/TECHNICAL.htm
http://www.tntcustoms.com/webv2/default.asp

Here are a few sites of interest. Also check out NAXJA.org and the forum over there. You can go to Uwharrie with a stock jeep. Tellico- you want to get front and rear tow points i.e. strong bumpers and maybe a winch to boot. I'd say you will need to run about 6" of lift and fender trimming to fit 35" tires.(you may need to regear to 4.10 with 35" tires) You will want to lock at least the rear so the d35 is gonna have to go. Some candidates for replacement would be an 8.8", cherokee d44, 9", or maybe larger in the d60,70 variety. The 8.8 is nice because it has disc brakes, cherokee bolt pattern, not a full width, and 125% stronger than the d35. The weak points are the carrier-throw in a detroit, the tubes-weld them to the housing, and it is a c-clip axle-but you should be able to drive out with the calipers holding the wheels in. With 6" of lift you will need a sye on the 231 transfer case-not hard to do and pretty cheap. Also, with that amount of lift the control arms will limit axle droop. Two solutions- run long arms, or get drop brackets. I put a link to TNT customs who make some sweet arms for the cherokee. There are many other nice things to have but these are the basics that you will need to run at tellico.
-Josh

79Stomper said:
Well it has a strong, and I mean strong 4.0 and the automatic OD transmission in it. As far as what I want to do with it well I want to be able to go to URE and have no problems and a Tellico trip with few problems on obstacles. A lot of technical trails mainly. I used to have a Jimmy on 40's (digital camo one you have seen on here) and want to be able to go most places I went with it. Is there a link somewhere on here so I can do an axle id on it to determine what axles I have? Also with the stock axles would I possibly be able to run 33's or 35's with them? Like I said I am new to the Jeep area of modification but have about 10 or so years in the fullsize GM modification. All help appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
Armor up for Tellico, other than that the only weak link is the rear. A 8.8 out of an Explorer is a good swap, has discs allready. I have ran all of tellico on 31's locked f + r, but beat the snot out of my armor.
 
Thanks for all of the info so far. I have been browsing a few site and think I am going to 4 link the rear with about 8 or so inches and run 35's under it. More than likely will do the 8.8 swap in to it. Any years I need to stay away from? It would be nice to find a small full floater to throw underneath that thing but I think that would be a little too much overkill for the weight of that thing. I also got to looking through some of my old Petersons and seen the exocage so might try that as well as a few other little odd and end things. I have a few 9k winches left over frommy last project so will incorporate those into the front bumper I plan I have rambling around in my head. Just need to find time to get out there and start pulling some parts off to take a look and the mounting points for other stuff.
 
I think the years of explorers and mountaineers you want to look for are '95 to '01. Any earlier and you will find drum brakes. Stay away from ranger 8.8" because they have 28 spline shafts instead of the 31 spline of the explorer. You can get a variety of gears, so might as well look for one with 4.10's if you wanna regear. They also come with or with out limited slips. Average price you can pay is between 200 and 300 for an axle. Four links are very cool. Have fun and post pics.
 
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