Regear or swap axle?

I am planning to swap my D35 rear axle with a Ford 8.8. After everything is done I want to have 4.10/4.11 gears. I can get a Ford 8.8 axle with 4.10's so the only remaining question is what to do in the front.

I searched the forums and is sounds like the 4 cylinder Wranglers came with 4.10 gears. I also sounds like the cost of one of these axles is less then the labor to regear my existing Dana-30. So I am considering just changing the axle out but I don't really know what I'm getting into here.

Question One
What Wranger's came with high pinion axles and which ones came with low. I found some comments in other threads that at least the late model TJ's were low pinion.

Question Two
It sounds like the YJ and TJ axles can bolt right in to an XJ - is that true? If not what else needs to be done?

Question Three
What haven't I mentioned that I should be considering? I'm new to the idea of swapping axles so don't assume I know - I probably do not.

Thanks once again for all of the help.

-Brian

BTW: In case it matters I have a 1999 XJ with D30 front and D35 rear. It currently has ABS but that will be disabled after swapping the rear.

BrianJr said:

Question One
What Wranger's came with high pinion axles and which ones came with low. I found some comments in other threads that at least the late model TJ's were low pinion.

Click to expand...

YJ Wranglers (square headlights) had high-pinion Dana 30s, but they also had leaf spring suspensions, so they are not a direct bolt-in. TJ Wranglers (round headlights) all use low-pinion Dana 30s.

Question Two
It sounds like the YJ and TJ axles can bolt right in to an XJ - is that true? If not what else needs to be done?

Click to expand...

As noted, YJ are hardly bolt-in. TJ axles will bolt in directly.

Question Three
What haven't I mentioned that I should be considering? I'm new to the idea of swapping axles so don't assume I know - I probably do not.

Click to expand...

Have you forgotten that some early XJ 4-cylinder vehicles and all late XJ 4-cylinder vehicles also had 4.10 gears? Don't limit your search to Wranglers. Just be aware that prior to the mid-90s a 4-cyl could have 3.73s or 3.54s as well as 4.10s.

Also run a search on "hubs" and research the differences in hubs and rotors for the various years. If you swap in an entire axle, including hubs and rotors, everything will work. However, unless the donor axle uses the same hubs and rotors as your '99, you will then need to be very certain in ordering parts to get the parts for the axle rather than for your '99 model year. To avoid this confusion, it might be best to swap your knuckles, hubs and rotors onto the donor axle to keep everything compatible with the '99.

Good point on the 4 cylinder XJ's - I completely forgot about them. I also had not heard about the hub/knuckle differances. Another thread here listed the following as a complete list of hubs and knuckles:

Hubs:
84-89 p/n 53000228
90-99 p/n 53007449AB
00-01 p/n 5016458AA

Knuckles:
84-89 p/n 53000625 Left
.................53000626 Right

90-01 p/n 52067577 Left
.................52067576 Right

So it sounds like I should try and get a complete front axle from a 1990-1999 four cylinder XJ. If I go with a TJ d30 I'm stuck with a low pinion axle. If I go with a YJ d30 then I have to change spring mounts, control arm connectors, etc which sort of defeats the purpose.

Did I miss anything else?

Thanks again,
-Brian

Yeah, discoed vs non-discoed. I think '91 is the change point. Yours stock is non, the older ones have a vacume disco on the axle tube, and your XJ doesn't have the vacume 4wd system like the older ones. If the newer 4 banges had 4.11, find one of them, then the hardest thing will be jacking up the jeep.