sheeks175
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Woodinville, WA
:moon: I just finished my 8.8 swap yesterday. Unfortunatly I forgot to take pictures of the procedure, but here it is all installed. Let me tell you a little bit about it. I found this axle at a local junkyard for $220 pulled. Well the junkyard was retarded and pulled the front IFS assembly out of the explorer, because the rear axle was already gone! So they ordered me one from another junkyard and I got that one. It is a 98' Explorer V8 8.8 with 4.10 gears 31 spline shafts and a factory limited slip. The junkyard didn't bother to give me the calipers brakelines or rotors. I had to spend a lot of $$ on calipers, so if you end up doing the 8.8 swap get one with calipers! Here is a little mini write up of what to do.
1. Once you have a good canidate for your 8.8 axle swap, cut off the spring under mounts and sway bar mounts with a grinding wheel.
2. Clean the axle off and paint it with a good primer and a nice gloss color preferably black.
3. Buy or build spring and shock mounts. Buy the 8.8 flange to jeep U joint adapter. I got mine from More offroad. What I did was make my own spring mounts out of 2 inch square tubing using a plasma cutter to cut out the arches for the axle tubes in welding class. I also bought universal spring mounts for $6.50 a piece at Olympic 4x4.
4. Get all the fluids and brake parts to start your swap. Drop your dana 35 or whatever you have and roll in the 8.8 on tires. Set the spring mounts under the leaf springs and point the pinion directly towards the transfer case output. Check and double check your axle to make sure it is in the right spot. Tack on your spring and shock mounts. Make sure they look good. Roll the axle out from underneath the Jeep, remove the tires so you can weld on the spring mounts easily, and weld away.
5. At this time you should weld your axle tubes to the center housing, but it is hard, because the center housing is cast iron. Is this true? For cast iron it is recommended that you heat up the area you are welding with a torch, and then weld it together. I only did this for parts of my welds, because my friend left and I just decided to get it done quickly.
6. Get your brakes all figured out. Turn your rotors, make sure your calipers are in good condition. Also you need to get a female male adapter in order to reuse the jeep T block line that bolts to the frame. Connect the adapter to the driver side rubber line and the other end into the jeep T block. Connect the T block to the 8.8 steel line.
7. Bolt your axle in place, fill it with fluid, seal the cover, bolt the drive shaft up, and bleed the brakes! Now your done.
I know this is a sketchy half ass write up, but I hope it helps! Post in the thread or PM me if you have further questions. The whole install only took me about 6 hours over the period of 2 days. Now I have to install my new dana 30. I picked it up with a aussie locker, 4.10 gears to match the rear, and alloy usa shafts.
I know my welds aren't great.
1. Once you have a good canidate for your 8.8 axle swap, cut off the spring under mounts and sway bar mounts with a grinding wheel.
2. Clean the axle off and paint it with a good primer and a nice gloss color preferably black.
3. Buy or build spring and shock mounts. Buy the 8.8 flange to jeep U joint adapter. I got mine from More offroad. What I did was make my own spring mounts out of 2 inch square tubing using a plasma cutter to cut out the arches for the axle tubes in welding class. I also bought universal spring mounts for $6.50 a piece at Olympic 4x4.
4. Get all the fluids and brake parts to start your swap. Drop your dana 35 or whatever you have and roll in the 8.8 on tires. Set the spring mounts under the leaf springs and point the pinion directly towards the transfer case output. Check and double check your axle to make sure it is in the right spot. Tack on your spring and shock mounts. Make sure they look good. Roll the axle out from underneath the Jeep, remove the tires so you can weld on the spring mounts easily, and weld away.
5. At this time you should weld your axle tubes to the center housing, but it is hard, because the center housing is cast iron. Is this true? For cast iron it is recommended that you heat up the area you are welding with a torch, and then weld it together. I only did this for parts of my welds, because my friend left and I just decided to get it done quickly.
6. Get your brakes all figured out. Turn your rotors, make sure your calipers are in good condition. Also you need to get a female male adapter in order to reuse the jeep T block line that bolts to the frame. Connect the adapter to the driver side rubber line and the other end into the jeep T block. Connect the T block to the 8.8 steel line.
7. Bolt your axle in place, fill it with fluid, seal the cover, bolt the drive shaft up, and bleed the brakes! Now your done.
I know this is a sketchy half ass write up, but I hope it helps! Post in the thread or PM me if you have further questions. The whole install only took me about 6 hours over the period of 2 days. Now I have to install my new dana 30. I picked it up with a aussie locker, 4.10 gears to match the rear, and alloy usa shafts.
I know my welds aren't great.
assgas:
