• 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.

X-Factor.... JK axle swap in my XJ

XFACTOR

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Vancouver BC
Hey guys, new member here! hi to all!!
So i though id start a build thread about my truck. Its a 2001 XJ i picked up a few months ago, and i immediately started doing research on what direction i would like to go with this build. so the idea i have in my head is to build a expedition vehicle!! something light weight but yet capable. so after taking a closer look at the truck, there were a few obvious things that needed to be addressed. the suspension was all worn out and the axles were no better. brake pad to brake pad they were done!!! not even worth throwing a dime at them!!! So this is what i came up with... A JK D30 and a D44.. i know some may say that its not much of a upgrade, and others might say that for all the work theres better choices out there. but i got them for $500 and i couldn't rebuild the ones i have for that price and the work doesn't scare me!! So why not have a little fun?!?!

Some of the pros:

-almost new axles, no need to rebuild.
-6" wider than stock overall
-HP D30 the stock D30 is a LP
-bigger brakes all around. 12" and 12.5" rotors i think
-D44 with disc brakes for the rear, stock is a D35 with drums

there are some other internal benefits but I'm no mechanic so I'm not gonna try and sound like i know what I'm talking about.. on another note the D30 is known to have its issues, but i think with a few gussets and trusses i might be able to avoid those. remember I'm trying to build a expedition vehicle, not a hard core rock crawler, probably gonna only run 33s.

The Build:
-2001 XJ Sport
-Rough Country 4.5" Long Arm Lift
-JK D30 Front
-Jk D44 Rear
-JK 17" Wheels
-33" Tires
-Bushwhacker Flat Style Fender Flares
-Front and Rear Bumpers
-Winch
-Head Lights

and the list goes on and on and on.....

so here she is!!! feel free to comment!! or if you have any questions about the swap



120.jpg



123.jpg



126.jpg



128.jpg



130.jpg
 
Last edited:
a few more pics of progress


133.jpg


ready to go in!!

136.jpg


stuffed!!

137.jpg



139.jpg


just got the ABS to figure out and need a pitman arm off of a JK..

142.jpg


thats a 4.5" Rough Country coil

145.jpg
 
Last edited:
have a few things to finish up in the front.. but for now on to the back!!!

149.jpg



Free D35!!! will ship anywhere!! lmfao!!

153.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just a thought.. You may want to relocate those front brake line closer to the shock. Full stuff while turning.. The tire will yank those clean off.
yea, getting kinda tired of fixing those on the trail lol.
 
Just a thought.. You may want to relocate those front brake line closer to the shock. Full stuff while turning.. The tire will yank those clean off.
hmm good point!! ill have to make sure i check that when i do some flex testing. they seem to be alright with plenty of slack but dont want those to be my famous last words lol
 
yea, getting kinda tired of fixing those on the trail lol.

Fixing other peoples that is LOL

hmm good point!! ill have to make sure i check that when i do some flex testing. they seem to be alright with plenty of slack but dont want those to be my famous last words lol


Yeah its not the flex or droop that will do it. Its the back edge that turns into it bending and braking the connection between the hard and braided lines..
 
gonna reuse the lower shock mounts off the D35. move them up and out as far as i can. not sure but might need new shocks to make this happen. the ones that came with my kit are 16" fully collapsed, i have 21" from mounting point to mounting point if i relocate the lower mount. not sure if 5" of up travell is gonna be enough...


167.jpg
 
Last edited:
I wasn't sure from the pics - what if anything did you have to change as far as control arm brackets, track bar brackets etc?

Seems like a darned good axle choice to me. Lots of parts support guaranteed cause it came in a wrangler + can be had newish used.
 
I wasn't sure from the pics - what if anything did you have to change as far as control arm brackets, track bar brackets etc?

Seems like a darned good axle choice to me. Lots of parts support guaranteed cause it came in a wrangler + can be had newish used.

upper and lower control arms will bolt in "but!!" upon install i noticed that the lower control arm mounts on the JK are 90 degrees to the axle tube, the XJ mounts are angled in.. this was very noticable from the front. the control arm mounts did not look happy!! so this is what i did, there are three welds on the lower control arm mount. one on each side and one on the top. i cut the inside weld and the top weld, cut a little material away from the inside, bolted up the lower arms, they pulled the bracket to where they needed to be and i tacked them in place... after this was done everthing looked great!!! from the photo below you can see the angle lower control arm mount.. before they looked bound up. you will also need to move the coil buckets, swaybar mounts, and track bar mount... i found it to be easier to just cut off the old XJ ones and reuse them.


134.jpg
 
Looks great, nice work!
It's always nice to see someone who had an idea and "just did it". :)
 
Swap looks awesome so far! I always wanted to do a jk axle swap in mine but already have to much coin into my axles.

Only thing I dont like is how low that tie rod sits, I'm not sure what options you have but I would do some kind of over the knuckle/high steer setup. It would suck doing all that work just to bash the crap out of the stock steering setup, might as well look into it while ur doing everything now.
 
Swap looks awesome so far! I always wanted to do a jk axle swap in mine but already have to much coin into my axles.

Only thing I dont like is how low that tie rod sits, I'm not sure what options you have but I would do some kind of over the knuckle/high steer setup. It would suck doing all that work just to bash the crap out of the stock steering setup, might as well look into it while ur doing everything now.

i been looking at it for some time... kinda makes you wonder what jeep engineeres were think with that one lol fliping the tie rod doesnt seem to be the problem.. just reem out the nuckles and put a cone insert in.. its the drag link that gonna be the PITA!!
 
Last edited:
got these done!! but after i was... i decided im gonna make new upper plates with bump stops off the side.. these are the stock ones drilled out for 9/16 hardware

165.jpg



166.jpg
 
Back
Top