Crash

For snow, some kind of LSD in the front is your best bet. Unless you go with something like an ECTED, which is LSD until you flip a switch, then it's locked. Driving properly with a lunchbox locker in the rear is just fine on road. Pick up a lokka locker or some kind of insert locker. No point in spending TONS of money on a D35, honestly.

Consider picking up a junkyard block and swap it in. And then have your engine checked, and maybe rebuild it.

The later model, at least 96+ T-case is sealed unlike the early ones. SO that would be a good solution for that. Not 100% on it, but I would think that the sealed back piece of the t-case could be bolted on to the older case. Thus, sealing it.

Non-CAD D30 http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/images/F12407537.jpg CAD D30 will have large cast piece under the passenger side UCA mount.

performance-curve.com has high flow universal cats for cheap. They also seem to have reasonable prices on mufflers as well. Otherwise, buy a muffler of your choice and maybe a universal cat from amazon or wherever. cutting them out and using good clamps will be fine. No welding required, unless you feel it necessary. But, by Federal law, removing any factory emissions equipment is a no no. I think one of the only exceptions might be for an "offroad only" vehicle. But, most places require some sort of spark arrestor. SO, even if you decide to run cat-less. At least run some kind of muffler.

I have 265/70R17 AT tires ( Approx 31.5" )on JK Moab wheels. Stock height 2WD, Renix MJ. Front end has been converted to 97-up, including trimmed fenders. Seems to be all right, except rubbing at full lock on LCA's. Rear stuff fine.

Back in the day there where a handful of vehicle with a divorced transfer case setup. Basically uses a 2WD trans, connected to transfer case via a short driveline.

For the aluminum cover maybe. But the stamped steel cover has rubber inserts with metal "bushings" inside them, that go along with the gasket itself. Unless there is a specific gasket that takes those out of the equation.

A really good local exhaust shop will have a mandrel bender. Have them make it how you want.

Moog makes ball joints that are called "problem solvers" I think. They are slightly larger to work with what you are dealing with.

Make sure you keep the metal inserts from the old grommets. The new VC does not come with the inserts, just the rubber. For a renix or earlier HO, with an aluminum valve cover the gasket is different, but felpro makes a nice rubber gasket for them too.

The TRE taper is the same between XJ and WJ, it's just the WJ TRE shank is larger. The knuckle mount on the WJ is slightly lower, so a slight drop pitman arm may be necessary if you have issue with bumpsteer.

Looks decent. At some point I remember seeing a write-up somewhere using a standard relay. But, as long as that works.

Picking up a complete WJ D30 with steering and an aftermarket diff cover for relatively inexpensive price. I did some quick measuring on parts heeps I have in my back yard as far as front axle mounts WJ vs XJ. The CA mounts look to be in about the same place as the XJ. The coil buckets are mounted a little wider apart, so I would gather that replacing those and maybe an aftermarket trackbar mount should get it to fit.

Since I work at a parts store, one thing I need to do, since I thought about it anyways. From what it looks like, the hub mating surface height of the Renix-era UB and the WJ look VERY close. If they are the same or VERY close, then you wouldn't have to use wheel adapters, unless you planning on that anyways. On another note, blackmagicbrakes.com sells dual drilled centric rotors for XJ and WJ lug patterns. Not sure what the Spidertrax spacers/adapters cost. But synergy makes nice ones, and poly performance is a vendor on pirate, so some kind of discount can be had. You do not need to go 2" spacers, unless you want to. I think the Synergy spacer/adapters, at least most are 1.5"

Honestly, do yourself a favor, buy new UB's, stub shafts, pads and rotors. Keep those as spares. If it is cheaper or easier, you can use 4WD outer stubs as those seem to be more common/available. Heck, if you wanted EVEN BETTER brakes, you could go the WJ route. 2WD would not require welding the spacers to the knuckle for steering alignment.

I know that my friend had a set of Deaver's for a ranger he was going to install in his XJ. But it would have pushed his axle back 3" or so. Not sure that the leafs are going to be long enough for MJ, unless SWB is that much shorter than LWB leafs?

At some point, the XJ's went to a UB and stub shaft vs the spindle. Basically, If you have the late model 1-piece knuckles, use 2000+ UB, rotors, calipers, etc and an outer stub shaft in side the UB so it doesn't fall apart. Pretty sure the ball joints are the same.

If they are adjustable, than in theory they will work..

WJ are about 4" wider than XJ/ZJ/MJ axles, IIRC. JK axles are slightly wider than WJ axles. IF you want a wider stance, and to run JK wheels, and can get them for a reasonable price you can go that route.

That is the correct number for renix UB's. IF you go to your local Carquest/Advance auto parts the premium bearings are made by moog. IIRC, they have a lifetime warranty as well

Not sure if the post above was talking about your work, or what the OP could do for the bumper. Since, not everything is equal, and it seems you know that also that it was more an idea on tying in the bumper to the hitch.

From what I have gathered from a handful of people is that the 95/96 Booster will bolt to the Renix-era Master. Thankfully, I have access to all of the brake system of a 2001 XJ, so I will be using the front hard lines when I do the swap. And I can get an SAE to metric adapter line at work for the rear brake line.

Was not aware BA10/5 was an option in the YJ, but good to know if so. IIRC, ALL BA10/5 were 21-spline. So, the 88 T-case should be plug n pray.

IF you have the older 2-piece renix-era knuckles, then you need renix hubs. If you have the later 1-piece knuckles, then as long as you have matching rotors for them it does not matter which of the hubs you run. Not sure about here, but I know at naxja and a couple other forums there is a way to tell the difference, it involves hub lip height and rotor hat height. IIRC, the taller lip on the HO hubs is for 2000-up (technically 98.5 or 99 I think also) and the shorter one is for 98-down HO hubs. IF you have the 1-piece knuckles and are planning on replacing everything, just get 00-up XJ/TJ hubs and matching rotors. Pads are the same for all HO years.