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XJ Rear disc swap with Pics!

98xjjeeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
nc
Just finished swapping rear discs into my cherokee. I can now stop on a dime! Best $100 I have ever spent. I got the backing plate, caliper mounts, and calipers from a grand cherokee in the junkyard. My guess is a '95. I then bought new rotors and parking brake pads from advance auto.

Junkyard parts- $20
Rotors, pads -$76
Total so far- $96

Heres the Junkyard parts cleaned up and stripped down...

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First thing I did was remove the axle shafts which meant removing the C clips...

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Once I pulled the shafts I started removing the old brakes...

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Next was enlarging the new mounts and backing plate to fit. It doesn't take much at all...

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I then put the new mount and backing plate in place...

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Then I assembled the new brakes...

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And your done! Just hook the soft line out of the caliper to the hard line, which you have to bend to make for a good fit. The only thing else to do is hook up the parking brake cable which I will do tomorrow.
 
is that a dana 35?!?


its been a while since i payed attention to the inside of a 35, but that looks more like an 8.25 to me. (plus the plates from a zj 35 will bolt on to an xj 35 without needing to open up the center hole).

also, for the benefit for those searching, pull the studs and nuts that go from the axle housing to backing plate. they are longer than the stock xj studs and fit better with full thread engagement. a punch and bfh make sort work of removing them).
 
cool. any one do this with the xj dana 44 and the zj aluminum d44?
 
i did some searching and only came up with the 8.8 swap
 
Wow its about time someone did a proper job on the write up with EXCELLANT PICS that were NOT taken from a cellphone and were in Focus!!!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Wow the Junk Yard sold you all those parts for 20.00 Damn! Lucky!
 
Wheres the E-brakes?
 
i did some searching and only came up with the 8.8 swap

I too have searched, and can't find much on a Dana 44 rear disc... esp. a Dana 44 from a 87-90 XJ... esp a Dana 44 rear disc w/ ABS.

I'm sure it's possible, from what I've gathered from 3 or 4 different threads and combining all the steps... just haven't seen it clearly, all in one thread.

you two should be ashamed, this topic is covered often, and theres tons of good writeups, this is the one i used... http://www.jeepin.com/features/cvdiscs/
 
I put in the longer Liberty backing plate studs, glad i did, but wish i put in longer KJ wheel stud too. I read I did not need to with steelies but while it is OK as is I would feel much better with my thread depth closer to stock.

Josh
 
I too have searched, and can't find much on a Dana 44 rear disc... esp. a Dana 44 from a 87-90 XJ... esp a Dana 44 rear disc w/ ABS.

I'm sure it's possible, from what I've gathered from 3 or 4 different threads and combining all the steps... just haven't seen it clearly, all in one thread.

XJ D44 ABS thread (it is for drums, but the disk part is just about the same):
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=998638

my xj 44 abs swap is just about done
 
i did the swap from drum to disc and my dana 44. i used the Tera Flex disc brake kit.about the same amount of work. you have to have the axle bearings pressed off the shafts because there is a spacer that goes between the bearing plate and bearing.i also ran into the rotors did not fit over the snout on my axles. had to have the center hole bored out by a machine shop. had to go to a tool type machine shop.the parking brake doesn't work right. and the stopping power is about the same as the rear drums were.everyone who i have talked to has said doing the swap with grand Cherokee parts makes a big improvement.i have contacted Tera flex. they said the kit was designed for the wrangles.they adapted it to work on the Cherokee.they even admitted over the phone that there guys in the shop had to do some tweating to make it work decently on there Cherokees.so if i do another one i will find Grand Cherokee parts.also note mine is an 87 with a single diaphragm power booster. from what i have seen all Cherokees built from 91 on have a dual diaphragm power booster.that maybe my next step. oh yea i did cut one coil out of the proportioning valve spring. took forever to get the air out of the system. it no longer nose dives and pedal feel has gotten better.hope this helps
 
ZJ aluminum D44 brakes are the same as ZJ D35 brakes.

just about. the axle tube is a little larger on the ZJ D44A than it is on the ZJ D35. either can be used with nearly identical modification on a XJ 8.25.

I put in the longer Liberty backing plate studs, glad i did, but wish i put in longer KJ wheel stud too. I read I did not need to with steelies but while it is OK as is I would feel much better with my thread depth closer to stock.

Josh

i used the stock ZJ mounting studs and then upgraded the wheel studs on my shafts to those for an XJ D30. i put new studs and lug nuts on all 4 corners thanks to the :dunce:'s at big o tires. the D30 studs on the rear disk brakes have enough thread engagement. they are incredibly easy to install and you can do it without a press- use a BFH to knock the old studs out of the axle flange. remove shaft and put new studs in using a method similar to installing u joints...
 
Hey thanks all for the comments! Yes its a 8.25. I should have gotten longer studs but I feel like there is enought thread engagement to be more then fine. As for the parking brake...You can modify the stock one, which i was going to do but the pass. side got messed up from wheeling and didn't work. So I am either going to buy new stock ones or by liberty one. Most likely I will go with the Kjs.
 
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