Newb questions sorry... please bear with me.

Hello,

I have been thinking seriously about picking up an XJ. I currently have an older Nissan 720 4x4 king cab but its not quite big enough for my wife, daughter and myself to fit comfortably in. Also it is IFS and I really don't want to do a solid axle swap on it.

I had pretty well had my mind made up to get an XJ until I started doing some research on the net about them. Let me explain myself a bit here. My future plans for one would be to lift it enough to run at least 33's, install lockers more than likely ARB's front and rear, winch front bumper, roof rack and most other normal mods.

What has me worried the most is the bad rep the front and rear axles have in these things, also bad stories of the front steering linkages once you lift them and the slip joint rear axle out of the tcase. Also I have read nasty things about the unibody getting twisted up causing doors and liftgate to not shut right anymore.

I guess what I am getting at are these items being blown out of proportion by people or are they really that bad? I see one person say that both the front and rear axles won't hold up to 31's and another say that they will hold up to 35's.

So I am looking for a bit of input from you guys who are out trailing these things. Would I be wasting my money to to the mods I mentioned above to a stock XJ without doing axle swaps? Is the frame gonna twist like a pretzel?

This will be used 90% for backroad/trail use and a fill in 3rd vehicle for the wife and I incase we need it.

Also are there a prefered years, options, problems to keep an eye for when shopping for one?

Thanks guys,
Chadd

The dana 30 is stock for all years, but some XJ's have a 35 or 8.25 in back, and of the ones with the 8.25 some are 27 spline and some are 29 spline. Im not sure of the years, but im sure someone will post on that. If you only want 33's you should be able to get away without a SYE or new driveshaft, and anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5" of lift will work well enough. Considering you said it would be backroad/trail use i wouldnt worry about the strength of the axles if your running 33's. If you can i would deffinatly try and get at least a 27 spline 8.25 in back if not the 29 spline. If you can find an 86-89 with a dana 44 in the back that would be more then strong enough for your setup.

youll get beter response to this in the modified tech forum

You want a good backcountry rig? Get a 96 XJ put a 44 in the rear and gear the axles. Get at least a 6 inch lift and put 33's on it. Good to go. Winch and whatever you want.

This is the word as gospel. Anything else will be less sufficent.

XJ_Vikings said:

If you can find an 86-89 with a dana 44 in the back that would be more then strong enough for your setup.

youll get beter response to this in the modified tech forum

Click to expand...

Can you tell what axle is in one by checking the VIN?

Thanks,
Chadd

XJ_Vikings said:

If you can find an 86-89 with a dana 44 in the back that would be more then strong enough for your setup.

Click to expand...

Actually they were offered from 87 to 89 with the tow package.

For the 8.25, mid '96 was the switch from 27 to 29 splines.

Any of the stock axles can handle 33's. Just depends on what you use your rig for.

The rear axles are easily identifiable. Search on the different ones offered, and look at the pics of them to distinguish the differences.

Ive wheeled mine perty damn hard, and the doors and liftgate still shut like intended so far.

You may or may not need a SYE. Depending on driveline vibrations, you might get away with shimming the rear, and a TC drop.

Re: Newb questions please bear with me.. "crosspost sorry"

a lot of your axle questions will be found in here...

http://www.naxja.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=165

Its late, other wise I would type more, but welcome!!! You'll enjoy it!

Re: Newb questions please bear with me.. "crosspost sorry"

what you have described sounds fine. the steering issue is easy to correct with aftermarket or fabbed parts, as is putting a fixed yoke on the back of the t-case.

as for what to look for, my recommendation is a 97 or newer (newest body style) with the Chrysler 8.25 rear end (no Dana 35s). you'll have the larger, more desirable 297x u-joints in the Dana 30 and a 29 spline rear axle. these should both be fine with 33s as long as you drive with some sense. it's all about the terrain and one's driving style when it comes down to what size tires will work on certain axles.

the unibody can get tweaked. however, i've been wheeling my 98 for 6+ years and the only door that doesn't operate is one that i mashed on a rock. a couple of the doors do sag when i open them though. the only issue i've had with the hatch is trying to open or close it when the jeep is twised up on the trail. adding a cage early on would be a good idea to help stiffen things up.

HTH.

Your doing about the same as me......3rd vehicle, family, moderate trail stuff. Because Im in Mi. I needed to by as new as poss. because of salt damage. Mines a 2000. It uses a waste spark ignition system. One igniton pack, three built in coils, no distributor/wires/cap/rotor. I like that. One bad thing is it uses a low pinion dana 30 in the front. Im going to swap over to a high pinion 30 before I regear it. This probably isnt really a big issue but I have heard that with a lift the front drive shaft could touch the exhaust. I plan on running 33's, probably 5.5 tnt long arm (no or minimal trimming), sye. To me its a matter of either go with 31's and 3in max lift (about $900.00) or jump to long arm 5.5 and 33's (about $4300.00) I dont see the point in running 4.5 with the control arms at such a steep angle. BUT remember everyone likes to do things a different way so Im not stepping on anyones toes. Some of the main GOOD points of an XJ are Family room but not too big, Easy to work on, cheap parts, (ex. 2 rotors, 2 drums, pads, calipers, wheel cyl, rear shoes, about $225.00) . Availability of parts, look at ebay and others. Tons and tons of parts and zillions of them in the junk yards. Depending on the mileage, plan on the crankshaft seal leaking at some point in time, it seems to be common. Not that hard to fix. I have had people say this or that about xj's and cj/tj's but like I tell them ITS A JEEP and a JEEP is a JEEP. A guy at work bought a Yamaha road bike and talked about going to Sturgis, Im not a biker but I told him when he woke up at 3:00 am and heard them yelling and having a good time around the campfire, it was just about the time they rolled his Yommie into the campfire. He didnt go. Its a Yamaha not a Harley. A Harley is a Harley. A Jeep is a Jeep.

I forgot the cylinder head thing. Someone else may help me out but I think the 2000, 2001 had the heads that could crack. I think a good year to buy would be a 1999, high pinion, better head?, likely not rusted bad? So why didnt I buy a 1999? I had found naxja while I was shopping but I hadnt stumbled onto the cyl. head thing. I didnt care about the low pinion because I would just buy a high pin., build it and then swap it and then sell,trade the low pin.

To answer the questions first, yes, you can twist it up, but I wouldnt be TOO worried about that, especially if you plan on caging it. I have no issues with my liftgate is still working fine, passenger door works fine, and drivers door has a bit of sag to it. Thats because the previous owner was a dumbass, broke the lower hinge pin somehow (snapped it in 2 places, or in 1 and it lead to it breaking in a 2nd) and just ignored it, causing the hinges to wear out and now they are loose. With newer XJs I wouldnt be too worried about something like that because of the different style hinge, I havent heard too much about them sagging.
Addressing the T-case issues is as simple as getting a SYE and driveshaft, which you can either do dirt cheap or spend a fortune on, all up to you..
Axles.. I run 33s and have the d30 front and c8.25 27 spline rear. I havent had any issues yet.


As for actually building it once you have it... It all also depends on if you want to and if you are willing to do some trimming and such. Different rigs are built differently.

KarlVP said:

You want a good backcountry rig? Get a 96 XJ put a 44 in the rear and gear the axles. Get at least a 6 inch lift and put 33's on it. Good to go. Winch and whatever you want.

This is the word as gospel. Anything else will be less sufficent.

Click to expand...

I personally dont believe that that comment applies at all. Personally I run trails through the woods more than anything, and I would never consider a 6" lift. I wouldnt push it past 5" at most. I currently have 3.5" and have done a deal of trimming, and I am running 33's and with the exception of when the wheel is cut decently hard in one direction I can stuff em w/ no problems (soon to be fixed with more cutting). I plan to go to a 4.5" soon enough so I would recomend starting with a decent long arm kit, a 4.5" - 5" lift, 33's or so, bumpstopping... you get the idea. You cant base your rig off of the norm or what someone says will suit you best. My personal way of working is keep it as low as possible, and get the biggest tires you can on the minimal lift to keep the COG low

Here's my standard answer...although I didn't end up with what I exactly wanted, I scraficed a few things for the price

I would get the 97+ with the 8.25 rear end. This will give you a 29 spline axle that is reportedly almost as strong as a D44. As far as the transfer case, it depends on what your application is going to be. If you want to drive in 4hi on the street (even in snow and rain) I would go with the NP242 because it gives you a full time option. If you only want to use your XJ for off road, then the NP231 is a good choice becuase there are a few 4 to 1 options for it (note: there may be some 242 options, but I am about as new as this guy, so I haven't looked for em yet) If you can get it, get one that had the FACTORY towing package. This will give you a factory tranny cooler.

In summary:

Look for 0331 casting number on the head = Bad (1999 only)
Engine: 4.0 L
Transmission: AW4 (automatic is what I preffer)
Transfer Case: NP242 - "Selec-Trac" (NP231 is fine too depending on your application)
Front Axle: Dana 30 (no choice)
Rear Axle: Chry 8.25 (97+ had 29 spline, <97 had 27)
Stock Armor (although I've heard mixed reviews on their durability)

Some of the posts I found said 0331 heads went from late 1999 through 2001. I talked to a couple local rebuilders and they had never heard of the problem.??????????