Rear Axle Upgrade worth it?

I am planning to go from 31's to 33's and adding lockers F & R. I have a 30 up front and a 29-spline 8.25 in the back. Is it worth upgrading the rear to an XJ-44 or Explorer 8.8? Axles for the 44 are 1.31" 30-spline, but the 8.25 is 1.21" 29-spline. The axle tubes are larger on the c8.25. The 8.8 sounds nice because of the disc brakes. Would it be better to keep the 8.25 and adapt discs, swap in a 44 and adapt discs, or swap in a 8.8? Worth the time/money? Leave as-is and throw in a locker? Help me decide.

Take the most cost effective route, see what deals you can find on used parts.

are you going to stay with 33s? read this: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51252

the 8.25 is almost as good as the D44. I wouldn't trade it out for that reason but if you want disc brakes then go the 8.8 route as it is much stronger. I did it (8.25 to 8.8) just for the discs and cuz I could. I got it pretty cheaply but it does vary from local to local. The D44 isn't close enough to being a lot better than the 29 spline 8.25 to make it a good swapout candidate. The 8.25 gear swap can be tricky so go to somebody who knows what they are doing if going in that route. All the above opinions are mine only and from personal experiences.

for 33's your 8.25 will be just fine. Throw some dutchman or Yukon shafts in it and your good for 35's. I run mine with dutchman shafts and locked on 35's on the rubicon and fordice and a lot of other rock trails with no problems at all.

BrettM said:

are you going to stay with 33s? read this: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51252

Click to expand...

Great link, thanks for the help guys. I'm going to lock the 8.25 and look to upgrade axles. This way I have no custom fabs. If I eventually go 35's, I will probably build a d60. Its a daily driver now, so discs would be nice on the 33's. Any good write-ups on the disc swap from ZJ to C8.25 XJ? BTW, I plan to have regear/locker install done by a pro, but I want to at least watch so I know how to attempt to fix it should it break.

http://cherokeekid5.tripod.com/zj_discs_on_a_xj.htm
http://www.akappler.com/document_serve.cgi?root=jeep&doc=rear_disc
http://www.electronicimpulse.net/~vissagoth/jeep/tech/disks.htm
http://jeepin.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=006330

That enough for ya... Just a FYI: '95-98 are all the same, in '94 the pads are different - as are the caliper mounts (I have '94 components). So if you can find a '95-'98 you'd be better off for parts... HTH

Will.

I am running the 8.25 in my '99 with 4.56/Detroit/Yukon Shafts and 32" tires. After 1 trip to Moab this is what it looked like after a week on Golden Spike, Hells' Revenge, and Moab Rim.



I suggest welding the tubes as a precaution. After that it should be good to go. When I upgrade I will go to something like a 35 spline 9".

Greg