Axle swaps

Here's the deal, I have a 99 with an AX15 and the 3.07 gears SUCK with the 31's I stuffed under there. I dont want to dish out a $1000+ for new gears and what not si I was thinking it might be A LOT cheaper to just find a used front and rear with some lower gears and just swap em out. How hard would it be?

I think 8.8's come with 4.10 gears so you could swap that in the rear and just change the gears in your d30.

88XjLaredo said:

I think 8.8's come with 4.10 gears so you could swap that in the rear and just change the gears in your d30.

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Certain 8.8s did come with 4.10 gears. They are not that hard to find, nor that costly. An 8.8 swap would be a very good idea, they are fairly strong and easy to get parts for. The only downside is you would need to move the spring perches.

Regearing the D30 would not be hard, but it is not something you should just attempt to do. It takes specialzed tools and knowledge. Finding the front axle out of a 4 cylinder XJ or YJ or TJ should net you 4.10 gears, and be bolt in. Just watch out for the crappy vacuum axle disconnect style axles.

Don't you realize 400,000 other XJ owners have asked this exact same question this year. Look at the sticky topic at the top, or do a search would be killer. You will find everything you need to know.

Explorer 8.8's also have the same bolt pattern as XJ's, but are a little narrower. You'll need some spacers (3/4 of an inch I believe) to match your old track width, or some funky offset rims.

A lot of newer Explorer 8.8's also came with disk brakes too!

If your 99 has ABS it won't be compatible with the 8.8, even if it came from a truck with ABS.