Worth Fixing Front End

[1993country]

Thank you everyone for all your input. I got more information from my mechanic(Local guy I trust). I am going to try to explain everything as best I can, excuse my lack of proper terminology. The rust is not what is causing the death wobble. My mechanic showed me my bad ball joints, tie rod bushings and axle u-joints/knuckles (causing major clicking/grinding while in 4WD). The rust is on the lower control arm bracket and suspension bracket on the drivers side. He said he can fix the death wobble without replacing the entire front end but he doesn’t know how long the brackets will last before breaking. He is actually trying to save me money, he doesn’t want me to put the money into the death wobble just to have the bracket break off and have to replace it anyway. I did some research (google) and I am pretty sure I can get a bracket and have somebody weld it in place. However, I think it may be cheaper if I find a complete front end with all parts I need, rather than repairing axles, ball joints, tie rod and the brackets. My mechanic said it would be 300 in labor to install the new front end if I find one. I took pictures, I will upload ASAP. Thanks again for everyone’s help.

 

[1993country]

Pictures, sorry for the quality (take with cell). I also took a picture of the numbers identifying what type of D30 front end I have. I have a 5-speed, I dont know if the front ends are different for manual and automatic. Any help tracking down the parts I need would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Matthew Currie]

Yikes. Never seen that before. Time to start prowling the junkyards.

 

[1993country]

Yeah its the only really bad rotting on the jeep. All floors are solid, frame is good and only body rust is on the rocker panels.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Yuck!

Agreed, time to round up some buddies and hit the junk yard. Because of your gearing with a 5 Speed, and the difficulty of finding one in the yards, I would go ahead and pull both a front and rear axle from an automatic XJ as new as possible, up to the 1999 year. After 1999 they went to a low pinion (little weaker) front axle. For a stock daily driver, it wouldn't really matter, but if you plan to lift and wheel the Jeep at all, you'd want to have the high pinion front axle in place.

Plus if i'm not mistaken, you currently have a 27 spline rear end. I forget what year they switched, but newer models have a 29 spline rear end. That is, if you have the Chrysler 8.25 rear end. Again, a small strength upgrade to consider, while you're going to the trouble of swapping stuff out...

 

[ehall]

You are asking for other options so here are a couple.

For one thing you can buy an axle from a junkyard anywhere and have them ship it to you--I bought my new one from the next state and with the $100 in freight it was still less than the local yards. Do a regional search on car-part.com and specify 3.07 gears (shown on the tag), and call to ask. Kind of risky buying stuff unseen but it can save you a few hundred dollars.

Another option is check the regional chapter subforums on this board and any local jeep clubs. Lots of people part out jeeps. Just get the gear ratio matched.

Also worth considering just to replace the failing parts. People bend and break their axles with off-road activities and there are a lot of options for replacement parts. You could buy a whole truss from TNT for what the junkyard is charging, and it would have all new mounts and brackets on the truss. Piecemeal parts are available too, for example check ruffstuff and ballistic fab in the vendor sub-forums for fabrication parts.

$300 is a fair price on the labor. It is physically difficult and time consuming, and there is a fair amount of skill involved.

 

[David_Bricker]

Axles out of an Automatic, 1997-1999. This should give you high pinion front Dana 30, with 29 spline rear Chrysler 8 1/4, with slightly lower gears than the 5 speed standard. This will give you a bit more lively acceleration, though gas mileage might suffer 5%.

Make sure the rear axle does NOT have ABS brakes - units with ABS had the Dana 35 axle in the rear, which is not as strong.

If you can't find those years, then go older, not newer. You want the front axle to be a high pinion unit, which last year was 1999. For street use, the rear axle, in Chrysler 8 1/4 was 27 spline before 1997, and isn't a huge strength difference.

Even with a axle from the junkyard, depending on mileage, you may want to carefully check ball joints and all bushings for potential replacement. But the physical swaps of the axles is not extremely difficult. Rear is even easier than front.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[1993country]

Thank you guys for all your help. I was able to get the XJ back on the road for $600, including labor and parts. I had a little help from "90XJay". Thank you guys for all your advice. Hopefully the jeep will last me another couple of New England winters. THANKS!!!