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Drum 8.8

M

muddypunk

TOOL
Location
Coupeville Whidbey Island washington
So Im moving on to buy a 8.8 but Im not sure if I should head drum or disc ? I know I need a flange to make it hook up to my DS but what about a Brake metering block for disc? My rig is a 95 with ABS so I really dont want to eFF with any of the noodles for brakes if I can avoid it. Can I just swap a drum and not worry about the metering block and still have 31 spline and a 3.73? Any help would rock Ive read a few 8.8 build threads but nove have a answer to my thoughts?
 
All explorer 8.8's are 31 spline, even the drum brake versions. Just make sure you don't get a Ranger one and you'll be good. If you have ABS and want to keep it, and not mess with changing out the proportioning valve, then this is the route to go. Drums are a little more hassle to work on and maintain, but they stop just fine.
 
You're still going to end up screwing with things if you swap it on an ABS rig since IIRC the tone rings aren't compatible. So you're still going to need to either customize or delete the ABS to make it handle things properly... at which point you might as well just do the proportioning valve swap.

I can see what you're getting at but it just isn't gonna work out too well. Count the teeth on the tone rings on your rear axleshafts though - I believe they are 54 tooth.

The ford 8.8 uses a single tone ring on the ring gear carrier, some googling indicates it has 108 teeth. That's exactly twice the number the jeep tone rings have. So it clearly won't work if you just wire it up, but if you used a VR sensor signal conditioning chip (I'm experimenting with the LM1815 at the moment) and a divide by two counter built out of a 74LS76, you could probably get it to work fairly easily.
 
I believe someone here ground every other tooth off th tone ring, and wired both leads to the ford sensor
drawing a blank on,the s/n
 
That's actually a pretty nifty idea. Why the hell didn't I think of that? :doh:

If you go that route, make sure to clean the metal filings off everything before reinstalling the carrier... LOL

In fact I would go so far as pulling the carrier, hosing everything down with brakleen, then using a lot of masking tape and plastic to mask off everything except the tone ring. Then grind every other tooth, carefully blast all filings/abrasive dust off with air, and brakleen/parts cleaner again, then reinstall.
 
If you're not getting disks, IMO the upgrade isn't worth it.
 
ILLXJ said:
If he has ABS, he has a D35. It's worth it.

JIM.
Click to expand...

Not worth it compared to swapping in an 8.25, if he's looking at a drum brake axle.
 
IslanderOffRoad said:
Not worth it compared to swapping in an 8.25, if he's looking at a drum brake axle.
Click to expand...

The 8.25 has no ABS at all... modifying an 8.8 to work with the chrysler ABS would be easier than trying to make an 8.25 work, unless you found a Liberty 8.25 with ABS... and at that point, what are we really accomplishing here?
 
NotMatt said:
The 8.25 has no ABS at all... modifying an 8.8 to work with the chrysler ABS would be easier than trying to make an 8.25 work, unless you found a Liberty 8.25 with ABS... and at that point, what are we really accomplishing here?
Click to expand...

This makes me glad I don't have abs to deal with
 
NotMatt said:
The 8.25 has no ABS at all... modifying an 8.8 to work with the chrysler ABS would be easier than trying to make an 8.25 work, unless you found a Liberty 8.25 with ABS... and at that point, what are we really accomplishing here?
Click to expand...
no, no, and no.

Liberty ABS uses the same setup as an 8.8 IIRC, a tone ring on the ring gear. So you're not gaining anything there.
It also has coil springs and control arms. So you'd have to cut more crap off the housing.
Oh, and there's ways to put ABS on an XJ 8.25 at the wheels (not at the ring gear) with a bit of machining/lathe work. There's a thread on it somewhere around here. No need to swap a liberty axle for that.

I don't think the reasoning to use a drum brake 8.8 is solid, but he can always swap it to discs later, I think disc 8.8 parts bolt right on? Not sure.
 
ummm... there are disk brake 8.8s with ABS, tone ring on the ring gear. i had one. why is that not an option?

you can add disks to a drum 8.8 later if you want. but, if im swapping an axle into my jeep, i do a fresh brake job. if your like me, that would mean rebuilding drums, then adding disks later? doesnt sound cost effective.
 
kastein said:
I don't think the reasoning to use a drum brake 8.8 is solid, but he can always swap it to discs later, I think disc 8.8 parts bolt right on? Not sure.
Click to expand...

Yes, the 8.8 discs will bolt on. We did it on Haleyes's. I think his brake parts came off of a Lincoln. I think he paid $100 for the drum 8.8 & a 12 pack for the brakes.

JIM.
 
Ok Thanx but Ive cut out the ABS the Prop Valve has 4 or 6 brake lines coming out of it and I really dont feel like dealing with all that right now. Also Im going 8.8 because they have my funny gears 3.73 8.25 Never came with those in a XJ my rig is a 95 but my axles are first year 84.
I dont really want disc because I tow crap sometimes and disks heat up I could go on with reasons I dont want to do the disc but more important the drum is simple with not dicking with the brakes I just want to get my rig rolling again.
 
The advantage of the disc brake version is that if you should ever break a c-clip, the calipers will keep the axle shaft from leaving the housing.

Also, when adding rear discs, it's not neccessary to swap out metering blocks (proportioning valves), just take the guts (spring, piston and end cap) from a disc brake'd Grand and put them into yours and you'll be fine.....I have Explorer rear brakes on my D44 and that's what I did.

Hans
 
muddypunk said:
Yeah I just going with the Drums for a quicker easyer install
Click to expand...


Both require you to bolt up the lines and bleed them. I have a disk 8.8 and didn't touch the prop valve on my 97 XJ and it stops great. I don't see where the drum version is any easier to install versus a disk one....:dunno:
 
muddypunk said:
I dont really want disc because I tow crap sometimes and disks heat up I could go on with reasons I dont want to do the disc but more important the drum is simple with not dicking with the brakes I just want to get my rig rolling again.
Click to expand...

:huh:

Drums would retain more heat
 
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