• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

2WD -> 4WD

menos

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Moore, OK
So I started my swap last night. I'm swapping in the entire drivetrain and axles from my 4WD 2DR 91 into a 2WD 4DR 92....

I didn't really get much done last night other than clearing out the shop and making enough room for both trucks at the same time. Saturday I'll start with the axles and go from there.
 
It's not too bad of a swap, but there are times when you will just wanna set fire to both of them. I feel for you, but it will all be worth it in the end.
 
The one we did on jeepdog's rig wasn't too bad but we did have 10 people working on it at one time.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. It's mostly just gonna be me.
Any gotchas you guys ran across?
 
From my experience, I suggest swapping the front axle first, and get it completely installed. Then move on to the Transmission/Xfer case. Best thing about doing the axle first is you can always set it back down the tires, and still drive it if you need to.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm gonna start on the axles. Hopefully I'll get them done this weekend. The start on the prep work for yanking the motors. There is just a block (no head, etc) and tranny in the 4DR (new rig) so most of the prep has been done on it already.
 
Any gotchas you guys ran across?

Yeah, when it's time to disconnect the trans from the engine... The top 2 bolts holding on the trans should be torx bits. You will have to drop the rear of the trans down to angle the trans and engine to get to them. Also use a few extensions to get to them.
 
Might be easier to pull the whole engine and tranny out of the XJ with a cherry picker and then seperate. Do it the way they do in the factory.
 
My plan is to pull it all at once. Engine and Tranny from the new body and the Engine,Tranny and T-case from the donor. I've got a engine hoist plus the shop has a 5 ton overhead I can use if I need to.
 
I'll have some after this weekend once I get into it. If you want to see pictures of why I'm doing this.... Just look at the ice storm thread.
 
not a bad swap its what i drive... watch out for the t case f u pull it all at once. And goolouck with the torx bolts, i ditched them for bolts after just in case...
 
First weekend report......

I only got to spend about 6 hours on it over the weekend. I started out by dropping the front axles out of both rigs yesterday. Then today I yanked the motor and tranny out of the new rig and set it aside. Not a bad weekends work.

Next weekend I'll have a 3 day weekend to work on it all day every day (72 hours of wrenching :) ), so I should get it mostly done.

If you missed the reason I am doing this.

IMG_0102.JPG

IMG_0103.JPG

IMG_0104.JPG



Work done... In sequence....


11AM SUN
IMG_0106.JPG

IMG_0107.JPG

IMG_0108.JPG

IMG_0109.JPG




1:30PM SUN

IMG_0110.JPG

IMG_0111.JPG

IMG_0112.JPG





This........

IMG_0113.JPG



Is going in here........

IMG_0114.JPG

IMG_0115.JPG
 
Anybody wanna help next weekend (13-15)????? The jeeps are in Bridge Creek, OK ....
 
Last edited:
that roof looked fixable to me. I'm serious not joking here. Did you check some shops to see what they thought? To me it would have been easier to fix the roof, but then again I enjoy doing and know how to do that type of thing.
 
I'm pretty sure it is fixable, but it's a little worse in person than it looks in the pictures. Right along the roof edge, where it is bent in, it is creased pretty bad. The roof is bowed up all the way back to the rear hatch. If it were newer or I didn't pick up the other shell for so cheap I might be inclined to try to fix it. I can turn a wrench, but the last time I tried to fix some body work I ended up making it worse :) With money being as tight as it is, I'd rather spend the time than money.

Plus there were a couple of other issues. A 2DR was really becoming a pain in the rear with my kids. A 4DR is a lot easier to get them in and out of.

If anybody does want to fix it though I'll have a 2DR body available in a little while. :)
 
Last edited:
You can help me on my 4x4 conversion next year! :D
 
The front axle I'm swapping in is a CAD axle. I'm thinking that instead of trying to swap all of the vacuum lines over I'll just lock the selector in place until I can upgrade the axle shafts to the big u-joint shafts. Anybody see a problem with that?
 
Back
Top