WJ rear disc's on my D44 XJ

i picked up a wrecked WJ for the motor (going in my 2000 WJ with the 0331 head) and plan to swap the knuckles and steering over to my 89 XJ... well since the front brakes are swapping over to the 5.5 lug pattern i was thinking about swapping the rear disc brakes over also! ive read all about the ZJ, crown vic, and explorer swaps but figured since i had the WJ stuff i may as well give it a shot... im wondering if anyone heres done it or know anybody who has... i posted this question up at cherokeeforum.com but got no hits on it all... probly the same here but figured id try anyways... yes i know about drilling the front rotors to the 4.5 pattern but thats not what im interested in... ive got the parking brake stuff and wheels from the WJ still so i can rig all that to work... im just trying to find someone thats done it or has tried that can help any... Thanks for the time guys!

I don't really know all the details of how exactly you'd go about doing this, but what jumps out at me is that even if you have all the WJ rear brake parts, your rear axle shafts would still be XJ and would therefore be 5 on 4.5 studs. If you have (or add) aftermarket shafts that are drilled for the 5 on 5.5 pattern, that would at least get you headed in the right direction. I'm sure there would still be some fabrication required to get everything to bolt up right.

ha crap... i didnt think about that... why the heck didnt i think about that? reason the front changes is cause i changed will have changed the knuckles... duh me... hhhmmm i could find a rotor thats the same size and shape but has a 4.5 bolt pattern... but at that point im still keeping 4.5 bolt pattern and may as well go with crown vic brakes or something... dang it... what to do... i think the WJ 35 is a wider axle also... would be awesome if a WJ d44 had the same shafts as the xj d44 with the other bolt pattern... i found one on craigslist cause i was thinking maybe it would be easier to swap the brakes on... got measurements on the bolt patter to the caliper bracket and the top bolts are the same but the bottom bolts are alittle off... be nice if there was a list of spline count, thickess, length, and bolt pattern of several different axles out there... lol...

If you want disc brakes i would recommend the explorer swap, it is by far easierthan i expected it to be, the only thing you need to do is buy spacers from teraflex and have a shop press on the bearings and retainers. Sweet idea with the wj swap though, I always love new ideas!!! You may also want to swap over the booster fromyour wj into your xj as well

XJ=Fun said:

If you want disc brakes i would recommend the explorer swap, it is by far easierthan i expected it to be, the only thing you need to do is buy spacers from teraflex and have a shop press on the bearings and retainers. Sweet idea with the wj swap though, I always love new ideas!!! You may also want to swap over the booster fromyour wj into your xj as well

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Get the 03-05 jeep rubicon rear retainers for the 44 you just have to weld up 2 holes and redrill for the xj pattern unless you do not have access to a welder,then get the teraflex spacers.I used the explorer set up and it works real good and easy to modify,when your at the jy get 2 explorer passengers side park brake cables.They are quite long though,I just looped them around the underside of the body.I also did the wj booster swap as well.:: style!!

oops fer got to mention use 98 zj rear rotors-otherwise the explorer may interfere with pad contact and/or hub center fitment.I looked into this swap before i did it as well and found the zj rotors mentioned -- no problem thats what i ran-also if you use steel rims the studs work fine.If you have allum wheels then get front hub studs and put those in the rear.stock front on xj unibearing studs.

yeah ive read all about the swapping the ZJ and exploreres and all that... i planned on getting my spacers from JKS for the front... not sure if ill need them for the rear with WJ brakes though... i am going to look into what garr said... i havent lost hope yet... ill see what yukon can do but i think thatll cost me a arm and a leg for something that "might" work... may just have mine drilled... that would be nice... i need to find a good local machine shop anyways... this is a better option for now since if something else doesnt work out im not out anything really and can still use my stock shafts... the bolt patterns for the caliper bracket are lookin pretty close... we will see... i gotta finish getting this motor in the WJ though so i can get it out the shop and my XJ in... lol... oh yeah and i kept the booster and MC to use... as well as all the parking brake stuff, center console, and front and rear black leather seats... which playing around with the rear seats it looks like its gonna be alot of fabbin and moving the seats forward which is not good... probly just sell them all and loose the back seats all together...

Who uses the back seat anyways??? LOL... Just gives more room for storage of tools, trail spares and other trail supplies.... Not to mention more room to use to haul parts from future JY trips... That is sort of my plan...

i was trying to keep them so i ca load the buddies up and ride around town and raise cane with folks but oh well... they can just sit on a cooler... lol...