xcm
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Southern Oregon
First off, this thread is to document the installation of a later model ebrake system on an earlier style body. Usually done when installing a 29spl Chry 8.25 in an earlier model xj. I would consider this to be the high end of a bolt in swap, as the only modifications required involve drilling 4 holes thru sheet metal, 2 of which require to be tapped to 3/8-16. If possible, i would recomment cleaning the adjustment bolt/screw in the pull box with a wire brush and pb blaster, you want it to turn nice and smooth later on for the adjustment, and chances are, its full of road grime/crap.
As usual when doing OEM style "swaps", stuff is mostly close, but no cigar. Theres 2 things that need to be done, assuming the rear end is mounted with ebrake cables attached. First we need to mount the pull box to the drivers side frame rail. Obviously the holes are not there on an earlier body, but a simple self-tapping bolt and the right sized drill bit make short work of this. A tap would also work, I used 3/8-16 bolts as thats what i had close by. Hold it up, making sure to give enough space off of the fuel/brake lines, make the holes, drill and tap, then mount the box up. Because we're tapping into sheet metal, the front most hole should be positioned to go where two peices of sheet metal overlap for more thread bite. If youve got stiffeners, ovbiously this wouldnt be an issue, but i think it'll be ok.
From here, we move onto step 2, mounting the later model ebrake handle to an early xj chassis. 1 of the 3 bolts holes will find an OEM hole, so go ahead and bolt that one up. From here, you can see theres room to drill these guys. The bottom bolts tab needs to be massaged downward to fit onto the body a little bit.
From here, its time for your standard operation check, adjustments are made via the turn buckle in the cable pull box in an OEM fashion.
All things considered, im happy to finally have an ebrake, the early style is... well, less nice. The mounting seems sturdy enough, and the lever matches my mostly late model interior. Couldnt be happier.
As usual when doing OEM style "swaps", stuff is mostly close, but no cigar. Theres 2 things that need to be done, assuming the rear end is mounted with ebrake cables attached. First we need to mount the pull box to the drivers side frame rail. Obviously the holes are not there on an earlier body, but a simple self-tapping bolt and the right sized drill bit make short work of this. A tap would also work, I used 3/8-16 bolts as thats what i had close by. Hold it up, making sure to give enough space off of the fuel/brake lines, make the holes, drill and tap, then mount the box up. Because we're tapping into sheet metal, the front most hole should be positioned to go where two peices of sheet metal overlap for more thread bite. If youve got stiffeners, ovbiously this wouldnt be an issue, but i think it'll be ok.
From here, we move onto step 2, mounting the later model ebrake handle to an early xj chassis. 1 of the 3 bolts holes will find an OEM hole, so go ahead and bolt that one up. From here, you can see theres room to drill these guys. The bottom bolts tab needs to be massaged downward to fit onto the body a little bit.
From here, its time for your standard operation check, adjustments are made via the turn buckle in the cable pull box in an OEM fashion.
All things considered, im happy to finally have an ebrake, the early style is... well, less nice. The mounting seems sturdy enough, and the lever matches my mostly late model interior. Couldnt be happier.
