KJ discs onto XJ chrysler 8.25 write up

[agoldxj]

Did the swap today minus the ebrake cables, I'll do them this weekend. Found a 05 liberty at a junk yard and got the backing plates, hoses, and ebrake lines off of it. This is a direct bolt on with the exception of putting 3/8 brake fittings on the KJ lines(they switched to a metric fitting for whatever reason). Anyways onto a quick write and pics..

Jack up the rear, set on stands, remove wheels, then pop off the diff cover and drain fluid..

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Remove 8mm cross pin bolt..

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Remove cross pin and push axles in to release the c-clips.

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Slide out shafts and remove wheel studs, replace with studs from dana 30 wheel bearing..

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Remove 4 nuts holding on the drums, get rid of all that crap..

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You will be left with this..

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Bolt on liberty backing plates, I put all the ebrake stuff on first. It was easier on the workbench.

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Add new rotors, and calipers..

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Run your lines, into the stock location. I welded the liberty brackets behind the leaf perches. Bleed your brakes and your done.

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Difference is night and day, I had a leaking wheels cylinder which I didn't know about. Total time was 3.5 hours and a hour or so re-flaring the lines and setting up the emergency brake pads.

[A-man930]

beautiful!!!!

[JeepinDev89]

Just curious.. why replace studs from a Dana 30 wheel bearing? I know it'd be a good idea to put new ones in, just don't understand why the dana 30 ones are used. Are they necessary?

Thanks

[Blue88Comanche]

Almost makes me want to swap my D44... almost.. Great write up! will do on one of my other MJs when i replace their D35s

[A-man930]

*sigh* if only they offered a selectable locker for the 8.25...

[Motion Offroad]

*sigh* if only they offered a selectable locker for the 8.25...

Uhm... they do...

[A-man930]

So I stand corrected; forgot about the ARB. I'd rather have an electrically actuated one but hey, maybe I will keep the chryco :idea:

[agoldxj]

Just curious.. why replace studs from a Dana 30 wheel bearing? I know it'd be a good idea to put new ones in, just don't understand why the dana 30 ones are used. Are they necessary?

Thanks

Yes they are longer than the 8.25 studs. You need the extra 1/4 " due to the thickness of the rotors..

[SW86]

i was just wondering about the studs again today when i just bought more 8.25 studs. i had some old d30 studs that are almost a half inch longer. IIRC we've talked about this here before but i could of swore someone said running normal studs was fine :dunno:

[agoldxj]

It maybe fine, but with the rotor being thicker I figured having the longer stud was a good idea to make up for it. Especially with a aftermarket wheel..

[Backdraft]

Just scored the KJ disc brake hardware. Looking forward to doing this swap. Thanks for the write up.

[Swampy]

I am planning on doing this swap on my 8.25.

the stock 8.25 hard lines cannot be used with the disc? I have an extended rear brake line for the 8.25 w/ the distribution block, will this not work for the disc brakes?

[Skorpyo]

8 hours ago, Swampy said:

I am planning on doing this swap on my 8.25.

the stock 8.25 hard lines cannot be used with the disc? I have an extended rear brake line for the 8.25 w/ the distribution block, will this not work for the disc brakes?

I haven't done this swap, but if you have an extended line and block there's no reason you can't use it for your discs. You'd just need to bend new hard lines to the caliper hoses. I did the same thing on my 8.8 swap. You'll just need a brake line flare kit, hard line and fittings to match the caliper hoses and distribution block.

[Swampy]

1 hour ago, Skorpyo said:

I haven't done this swap, but if you have an extended line and block there's no reason you can't use it for your discs. You'd just need to bend new hard lines to the caliper hoses. I did the same thing on my 8.8 swap. You'll just need a brake line flare kit, hard line and fittings to match the caliper hoses and distribution block.

 

Okay good. I am trying to gather a list of parts for my brake upgrade, I know I want to do kj disc in the back and thinking of maybe a new booster/master but idk about that part yet

[Swampy]

Can you use zj softlines to bolt to the xj/mj hardlines?

[Pete M]

the auto parts stores should have a plethora of adapters.  just need to figure out what threads you're dealing with on each side.  

 

also the tech forum gets way more eyes for answers.    

[Swampy]

What emergency brake cables did you use @agoldxj ? I have the ones off the liberty but they seem to be may to long for the mj

[Swampy]

Axle with longer wheel studs

 

Opening rear axle to pull the axle shaft out to take off the drum brake backing plate

 

Kj 8.25 disc brake backing plate

 

Rear brake line routing (going to change it)

 

New rotor/new caliper installed

 

*not all the pictures needed but some*

[Pete M]

oh crap!  I didn't realize they were all gone.   

[Swampy]

10 hours ago, Pete M said:

oh crap!  I didn't realize they were all gone.   

Its all good I tried taking pictures when I was doing it to help the next person in line. If anything more specific is needed let me know 

[Pete M]

I got a hold of the OP and the pics are dust in the wind so anything you think might help would be awesome.  in fact, why don't you start a fresh one?