derf

Engine swaps are never cheap. And when it comes down to it, the cost of the engine is a very small part of it. It ends up being about the same cost to swap a V8 over a V6.

According to my quick Google searches: The 4.0 is 515 pounds. A Chevy 4.8/5.3/6.0 iron block with factory aluminum heads is around 520 pounds. An aluminum LS1 weighs in at around 430 pounds. A Gen I small block chevy with Iron heads and intake weighs upwords of 575 pounds. An LS V8 swap won't add any more weight to the nose of the XJ than the heavy 4.0 pig.

Another case to consider would be the Chevy NP241 that came in the 1/2 ton and some 3/4 ton trucks. It's an upgrade over the 231 (and 207) and bolts right up in place of a 208 that would have come behind the SM465.

All I want is a Pepsi and she wouldn't give it to me All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi And she wouldn't give it to me, just a Pepsi

Give him a break. At least he has a red flag on the oversize load...

The reason I'm looking into it is that I'd like to have more gauges than the factory offers. I can pack a speedometer/tach combo and a matching full size gauge with the 4 basics. That leaves me room for 4 more gauges that I can add for whatever. I can add a transmission temp gauge, an air pressure gauge for my OBA system, or even pressure gauges on the air lockers. Oil temp, which is usually not far off from water temp, is something useful to monitor. An air/fuel gauge is helpful as well. A fuel pressure gauge would help with diagnostics. If I do a diesel swap, having a boost gauge and EGT is essential in my book, The Cummins R2.8 comes with its own smaller gauge for engine status that I would need to fit. Sure, I could run the full factory dash and then find pods for the other gauges. But a well designed dash replacement with aftermarket gauges is cleaner and everything is all right there in one place. I don't have to look around the cabin to look at all of the gauges.

The 30 and 44 both use the same yoke. I just rebuilt a 30/44 combo to swap into my XJ. Bought two identical yokes with ubolts, one for each axle.

Pretty much all Dana 30 axles are 27 spline. There is a "super 30" kit that upgrades it to 30 spline axle shafts but he'd probably call that out in the description if that were the case. As far as the R&P, I would shy away from trying to install used gear sets. They never go in quite right. And just about all shops won't install used gears. The few that do won't warranty anything about their work. Since every axle housing is just a little bit off, you can't just reuse the existing shims that may come with the gears. The carrier sounds like what you need but I'd spend the few bucks on getting a brand new set of gears. Given the overall cost of a gear swap, the extra for good parts that can be warrantied is worth it. The rear Dana 44 has 30 spline shafts from the factory. The AMC20 would have 29 spline shafts, and the Dana 35 would have 27 spline shafts. The Dana 44 and 35 both have upgrades available to bigger shafts, but only in the aftermarket. I don't know what 95b means. May be a typo.

Oh, and one more thing that helps me. Noise cancelling headphones while I listen to music. They're great at blocking out distractions when I want to concentrate on something.

Coming home aching, sweaty and stinking isn't bad when it's after a day of wrenching on your hobby project once in a while. I wouldn't want to do it for a living.

The exercise would break up the day, which helps. And exercise is just good for you no matter what. Especially when you're physically idle at a desk all day.

Here's a better picture of the thing I'm looking at duplicating. I'd organize the gauges a little better than these are, more like the picture above.

I've searched on XJ gauges and have seen some things. I've been looking at fabricating an aluminum piece that can go in place of the dash cluster at least, and maybe the panel to the left of the gauges. It looks like there's plenty of room to fit gauges there. I found this picture on a google search.

I went straight through college to a desk job so I don't have any direct advice on the transition. I suspect you're likely to go a little stir crazy at first. One thing I do is to break up the desk work on a somewhat regular basis. Step away from your desk several times a day. I do a half hour walk each morning before lunch. Go somewhere else for lunch, even if you just go to a break room. You can even do a few minutes of stretching exercises at your desk a few times each day. If anyone says anything, just explain you need to do it for ergonomic reasons to help your back. Best of luck to you.

Fair enough. A donor TJ axle would be perfect to match in that case.

Add me to the list of "interested".

If you look back in AMC parts books you'll actually find the axle was the AMC 15 for a long time before it was called the 35. Turns out it dates back to 1962. It became the Dana 35 in 1985 when AMC sold the tooling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_35#AMC_15

Depends on being able to find a donor axle with 3.73's. If you can, it's pretty easy. But if you get a non XJ donor, you're dealing with a low pinion. If you want to keep the strength of high pinion, you're going to have a hard time finding a factory equipped 3.73 axle. 4.10 would be easier to find since that was the ratio for 4cylinder XJs.

I went and did a little research and confirmed that the MJ axle is a good one. More like the FSJ and less like the CJ. The only reason I wouldn't use that axle would be parts availability on the brakes. It appears they were somewhat unique. If I swapped over to discs or managed to find a good source of parts, I would use it as well. I had one of those axles in my J10 and it was a great axle. The only reason I swapped it out was because I upgraded to a full float Dana 60 from a J20 (along with the front HD Dana 44).

Swapping to 3.73 in the front Dana 30 is probably the best option if going that route. Swapping out a whole axle is a pain. And any donor probably doesn't have the right gears in it so you'd have to regear there. The only reason I'd swap out a Dana 30 would be to get rid of any axle disconnect mechanism or go from low pinion to high pinion. My question is what exactly that rear AMC 20 is. There are two axles that use the AMC20 differential. The CJ style (AMC20) and the Grand Wagoneer style (AMC23). The CJ version has weaker axle tubes, two piece axle shafts, and is generally not much of an upgrade over the Dana 35. The 23 is a full half ton axle that is comparable to the Dana 44/Chrysler 8.25/Ford 8.8. Being new to the MJ, I'm not up on which version they actually used or whether this AMC20 was swapped in from something else. If it's up to the M23 level, I'd use it. Otherwise I'd skip it and go with something else.

Safety is a part of it. But the Wrangler is a body-on-frame vehicle. And those always weigh more than a similar size unibody vehicle. Beyond that, every generation of the Jeep keeps getting bigger. The CJ5 was bigger than the 3, the 7 was bigger than the 5. The YJ wasn't dramatically bigger but it wasn't any smaller. The TJ was a little bigger here and there. The JK was a bit bigger. The JL is bigger still. And bigger = more weight. The CJ2A was 2,120 pounds. The 2dr JK was at least 3,760. The 2dr JL tips the scales at 4,076. We're getting to the point where the base 2 door Jeep is double the weight of the original.

The Rubicon D44 in the TJ and JK were the "Dana 30 with a Dana 44 pumpkin" axles that need tons of reinforcement. The axle tubes, inner C's, knuckles, unit bearings, brakes, etc. are all D30 no matter which axle you get. The TJ is even a low pinion but they did switch to a high pinion for the JK. So that's been going on for a good long while. The JL axles have seen the return of the Center Axle Disconnect system and people are swapping them out left and right. I don't know if they are "true" 44's or just a continuation of the D30 with a D44 differential. But no one like the big gaping hole in the axle tube and none of the aftermarket companies are using JL based axles. They're using the JK version with different brackets. the JT Gladiator has a max tow package with heavy duty axles. I don't know if those are "true" 44's in the front or not.

It sounds like he's only doing the work on one head and leaving the other one alone.

Got any pictures? How much?

I know I'm looking for a rainbow colored unicorn and may not have much luck at all. But I'd like to put a factory roll bar in my MJ. I may just end up bending up some tube and making one. But if by some strange coincidence, you happen to have a factory unit laying around, I'd be interested in it. It's for a SWB, if it matters. I'm in Denver, which will probably impact shipping costs.