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Good to know. I’m going to measure the thickness of the material and see how much could be safely ground before I slice it open for a plate. If it doesn’t have to be structural and if the material is thick enough, I may make an actual access plate.

Engine is out. Transmission has it own workspace prepped for the upgraded parts and rebuild. I’ll need to add the washers to the pivot ball side of the throw out bearing fork to space it a little closer to the clutch. Also marked the offending areas of the quick draw bell housing where it makes contact with the firewall. Going to remove some material there and make a flat surface. Possibly by welding in a plate.

Makes sense. Lots of factors at play when it comes to handling and an ifs MJ would have a whole new set of equations I’m sure.

This . Rear axle width doesn’t play into the equation. Front axle pivot points and wheelbase are the factors here. It is perfectly acceptable to have a slightly wider rear axle or front axle. It will be one of a great many factors that determine the handling characteristics of a vehicle.

The 8.8 housing is a decent bit larger than the ring gear and, compared to a D35, will loose significant clearance. Normally in the order of two tire sizes. So if you’re getting an 8.8 to run 33’s, vs 31’s on your existing d35, it’s a zero sum game. The 8.25 is also larger than it needs to be but does provide more room to shave the bottom of the pumpkin than the 8.8. Other than that, they tend to be higher priced and harder to find now than liberty axles. They are narrower and can rub on the frame rails of an MJ, the tubes are prone to spinning with large tires, they max out at about a 35 in stock form, still have c clips, still need shims to setup the gears. They’re not horrible axles but they just aren’t as good of a swap candidate for an MJ. And they come with a hefty weight penalty. If you’re running 31’s there’s a solid argument for keeping a d35. Up to 35’s and there a solid argument for the 8.25. The argument for the 8.8 just isn’t as convincing as it was 10+ years ago and more so for an MJ.

I just picked up a nos module. Wondering if it will work correctly . Any idea to keep a good one from failing? Does it need to stay cooler? Or is moisture killing them?

KJ 8.25 is about 2.5” wider than the XJ model. Fits the rear of an MJ very well since it is a bit wider at the bed. Lots of brackets to remove but that’s not any real issue. Fairly easy to re-gear since it has side adjusters and a crush sleeve. That being said, rock auto has your bolt in d35 1541 axles around $150/ea. Also check with revolution axle and gear. They still had them last I checked. I’d stay away from an 8.8 for only 31’s. Too narrow on an MJ and with its large pumpkin, you might as well run 29’s on a d35. As for what ratio to run, plug your numbers into grimmjeeper gear calc and see what your rpm’s will be. And measure your actual tire size to use as your number. It’s likely 29”-30” true size

Happy to help. Can't tell you how many other builds have been inspirations to mine as well. Looking forward to your build thread

Mine was about 2k. There are some pics in my build thread of it installed. I think I got some extra options on mine but don’t recall what they were. Haven’t seen my truck for a long time.

Just to follow up on this, @Pete M can we move this to the DIY section for easier lookup?

An excellent option is the truck covers USA cover. It’s a retractable aluminum setup. They have custom made an MJ specific cover for at least a couple of us here on CC. It’s definitely not the cheapest option but it is phenomenal.

Sounds great!

Definitely

Nice! Just sent you a PM

Value you it at what it would cost you to replace it along with your time and investment. The market just isn’t what it was even 5 years ago so a decent replacement will be costly. With insurance, that shouldn’t be your cost to bear. It’s nice to have a cash value that would make it easy to find another vs having to scour and haggle to find one.

I am! Are you on island?

Here is my .02: Use only rubber mounts as mentioned above if you go brown dog. The poly’s are quite horrible. Remember that you need flex at the transmission mount as well so stick with the one rubber mounts here. Personally, I went back to one rubber mounts for the engine as well. As for the radiator, same as others posted. The tank doesn’t diminish cooling by any significant amount. Keep in mind it’s plumbed through the radiator to also pre-heat the tranny fluid not just to cool it. BDS suspension is a nice company to deal with. You will have to mod their add a leaf to fit the MJ spring pack correctly but it’s not difficult. Rebuilding a spring pack is a task though, especially when it come to removing the factory bushings. Hesco is the opposite of BDS imo. Clifford is similar. Once great companies. I’ve had nothing but horrible experiences with them. Perhaps hesco can build a nice stroker engine still but who knows. KJ disk brakes are an easy swap on the 8.25. Possibly worth swapping. There is a thread on brakes in the DIY section that may help you decide. The firewall is pretty integral to the structural integrity of the body. If you did swap the entire firewall, you’d want to separate it at the factory seams and secure it exactly the way they do or even better. The better approach is to graft in the panel sections that are needed. You will need to have these welded by a competent welder. They could be mig welded but tig would be preferred, again to maintain as much structural integrity as possible. I’ve ran a variety of 4.0 headers and ultimately ended up using either the Gibson ceramic coated one or the late style one manifold with the flex connection for the front and rear cylinders. 2.25” single exhaust is easy enough for any shop to fab. Be sure they add a hanger or anchor point near the crossmember as well to relieve the weight of the exhaust on the header. If the header supports too much weight plus the heat, it will likely develop cracks. The next questions would be, are you swapping to the entire 99 powertrain and electronics? If so, you will need to sort out an appropriate fuel system among many other items. This is often overlooked in these swaps. You’ll need a way to run a turbine style pump and return less style fuel delivery from the MJ tank. You could also swap over the transmission, transfer case and axles but keep your jeep Renix. No dash swap either as that 99 receives a canbus signal from the ecu for gauges. The doors and front end could still be swapped if you like. Just some food for thought.

Nice project! And a very fitting title It’s so nice to have MJ specific build experience when disassembling parts on our trucks. Clean work as always. Can’t wait to see how your project turns out

Can you let us know what the lift is when you install them? Assuming you’re coming from stock springs that is

On the crossmember/lower radiator support

TJ shafts and any single piece XJ shafts will work. XJ’s with ABS tended to have single piece shafts even pre 97. ZJ shafts are mostly cv shafts but there are a few that had u joint shafts that work.

Just a note as well if you do end up trying to source another front axle, late production XJ’s also went to the low pinion Dana 30 axle which is less desireable. A KJ liberty 8.25 is a great axle but will require a decent amount of cutting and welding to get it to fit as will most axle swaps. A rear YJ axle should be pretty close to bolt-in as well but were also just D35’s, though up to 89 they had bolt in axles.

Me too. Truly have to have this finished within about 4 months. Should be plenty of progress starting in a few weeks.

Regearing is a bit of a trick but not horribly difficult. A few specialty tools needed like a dial indicator with magnetic base, a micrometer (not a caliper), a press and possibly a good bearing puller. If you're driving in snow or ice truetracs are the way to go front and rear. Lockers will try to kill you on icy roads . You could always go with some good quality 31's also instead of regearing. 31's are kind of a sweet spot on Jeeps of that era with a great cost to benefit ratio