pre-97 parking brake cables in a 97+ XJ

I was reading ehall's "beater!" thread, and it reminded me of a loose end I've been meaning to tie up.
He picked up a 97+ axle for his pre-97 XJ - but can't use the parking brake because of the cable differences.
I didn't want to clutter his thread with my inquiry, so here it is.

ehall said:

Only thing keeping me from swapping it in is that it's from a 99 so the parking brake cables are wrong.

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I put an 87xj d44 into my 97xj.
So I have the same problem as ehall, reversed.
My old d35 went to the yard along with its parking brake cables.

* On 97+ xjs the cables from each drum are both routed along one side of the frame rail.
* On pre-97 xjs the cables are equal length and run under the body above the rear drive shaft.

I'd like to use the equal length cables from the d44.
Mostly because I don't have access to my old cables and I'm not sure the d35 e-brake fittings would fit in the d44 drums.

Seems like I need to do two things to make this work with my 97xj and 87 cables:
1.) fab up some guide brackets on either side of the driveline tunnel
2.) attach the pre-97 equal length cables to the 97+ brake handle/cable assembly

An advice on this?

Maybe it actually is simpler to go find some d35 cables at the salvage yard and fit them into my d44 drums?

Much, much simpler to just get some 97+ cables regardless of the source. The D35 cables will work fine. Its a little tighter squeeze when trying to install them on the D44 due to the little coil spring deals on the ends, but they will definitely work. Too bad you got rid of them.

what's it like to ship stuff in and out of Canada? Wanna trade cables?

ehall said:

what's it like to ship stuff in and out of Canada? Wanna trade cables?

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painful.
yes.

: )

fyrfytr1717 said:

Much, much simpler to just get some 97+ cables regardless of the source. The D35 cables will work fine. Its a little tighter squeeze when trying to install them on the D44 due to the little coil spring deals on the ends, but they will definitely work. Too bad you got rid of them.

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Okay, thanks for the tip!
I would like to get discs on this d44 someday like you have done..
..that day is not near.

Oh, no discs for me either. I'm just the XJ D44 ABS write-up guy. Discs are on my not so near future list as well due to their simplicity/reliability and better ability to handle water/mud, but I'm perfectly happy with the stock 10" drums on my D44 in regards to stopping power.

ehall said:

what's it like to ship stuff in and out of Canada? Wanna trade cables?

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Does the 8.25 share the same cables as the d35?

Update:

I got a few days off from work, and decided to finally get these drum brakes squared away.
I haven't known their condition since purchasing the axle from WAXJA_SKIER in January.
However, the bigger drums provided the same stopping 'feel' in my brake pedal, even in their deteriorated condition, so it hasn't been a danger nor a priority for me.
(We swapped this d44 for my d35 hastily in his driveway, and his parts rig was taken to the scrapper, along with my parking brake cables!)

Ehall and I worked out a deal some time ago, and this nicely coiled set of e-brake cables arrived at my door:

I forget what year they are from, but I'm pretty sure they are 8.25 cables.
Ehall may chime in here...

I made this diagram to show the differences in early/late model cable routing.
The older style uses equal length cables routed through brackets on the uni-body.
The newer style cables split at an adjustment junction mounted to one of the frame rails.


The cable ends are the same length WHEN COMPRESSED, so I didn't have to do any modification.
I recall fyrfytr1717 used a dremel to cut down the cable coil springs, when he did a similar modification to retain abs.
At first thought I may have to as well, because I was having trouble getting the shoes back on, and the new cable is slightly longer when uncompressed.
However, after a few test fitments, I felt satisfied to leave them as is.
The newer cable has a slightly tighter coil and is a bit longer, but it is made of thinner material.
Therefore, when compressed, it is the same length as the older, shorter, thicker coil.

These cables worked out perfectly, and they have better backing plate weather seals to help keep my new brake components dirt and debris free!

I also took this opportunity to get rid of the redundant brake line hardware I had zip-tied to the underside of my rig.
since I couldn't use the old cables, they were zip-tied to the top of the axle.
We didn't want to deal with pulling the drums and brake components apart to disconnect the cables inside the drums during the rushed axle swap back in January.
And I didn't feel it was worth the effort without doing a full brake job, so I procrastinating on tearing into these guys for a year.
I also had the abs wiring dangling around, and hadn't put the new line in the stock body bracket.
Cleaning up this mess was kind of therapeutic.



I still have to find a properly sized vent-tube grommet, then this axle swap is finally finished.
This d44 has a smaller vent tube than the one from my d35, and I'm unsure the thread pitch.
I'd really like to sort it out, and get my soft/hard-lines junction block secured to the axle once and for all!

Any ideas about the vent tube threads on a 1987 XJ d44?

The Dana 44 uses a little push in plastic nipple for the vent tube, I don't believe it is threaded at all. The Dana 35 brake block vent bolt is 7/16"-20. Your plan of attack will depend on whether or not you tossed out your D35 hard lines along with the e-brake cables.

A little excerpt from my ABS wirte up...

fyrfytr1717 said:

Next up is the brake lines. This really has nothing to do with the ABS swap, but I thought I’d include it anyways. The brake lines on my D44 were pretty corroded and I like the combination brake block / axle vent the D35 uses better than the crappy plastic nipple the D44 uses for the vent tube.

The following quick step solves two problems at once. It gets rid of the plastic nipple, and if you hadn’t already noticed, the brake block on your D44 is a little further outboard as the vent occupies the position used for the brake block on your D35. This means that if you’re going to use your D35 brake lines, the driver’s side will be too long and the passenger side will be too short unless you relocate the block. On the flip side, if you plan on keeping your D44 brake lines, do not take the following step as your lines will be the wrong lengths.

Drill out the vent hole on the D44 with a 25/64” (3/8” worked just fine too) and use a 7/16”-20 tap to thread it. Make sure you get all the shavings out of the axle tube before putting it back together. The brake block from your D35 should now thread right in. You’ll also want to plug the hole that the old brake block threaded into.

Also, I don’t know for sure if it is necessary, but you may want to shorten the vent/bolt a little before threading it in. The end of it appears to be contoured to the shape of the D35 shafts and I figured since the D44 shafts are thicker, it would probably be a safe bet to shorten it up a bit. The larger diameter of the axle housing on the D44 may compensate for the thicker axle shafts, but I really didn’t want to chance it so I just ground the bolt down a little.

Next, you’ll need to gently reshape your lines as the contours of the D44 are a bit different than the D35. I found the easiest way was to first straighten them out, and then gently bend them to the proper shape, making sure not to kink the lines. At this time you’ll also want to reinstall your ABS sensor wires as well as your e-brake cables. You’ll notice that I have attached the ABS sensor wires to the brake lines and secured the brake lines to the axle housing using all the original clips and hardware from my D35 axle.

Driver side

Differential

Passenger side

The whole shebang all mounted up. If you have a later model XJ with the e-brake lines routed down the driver side of the unibody, you’ll have to re-use your old e-brake cables as the ones used in ’87 were equal lengths and will not reach the passenger side brakes. The ends look a little different but they work perfectly. Incidentally, you can re-use the little metal bracket that secured the passenger side e-brake cable to the top of the differential housing on your D35.

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Thank you for posting that information here!
One day when I have a garage, I hope to clean up my d44 like you have.