What Axle Should I Put In The Front Its An 88

[CIARA]

I HAVE A FORD 8.8 3.55 DISC BRAKES IN THE BACK. I'm LOOKING TO START ON THE FRONT ANY SIGGESTIONS ON A GOOD AXLE?

[Pete M]

what vehicle is the 8.8 out of?

 

and why all the caps?

[Eagle]

What's in the front now? All 4WD XJs and MJs came with Dana 30s, and all the 4.0L XJs and MJs came with 3.55 gearing. Why make life difficult for yourself? An XJ or MJ D30 is a good match for the Ford 8.8.

[mnkyboy]

Kinda depends what your planning to do with your truck. For most wheeling the D30 will be ok with a shaft upgrade.

 

but your probably gonna want to regear both axles,3.55 is gonna suck with big tires.

[ftpiercecracker1]

What's in the front now? All 4WD XJs and MJs came with Dana 30s, and all the 4.0L XJs and MJs came with 3.55 gearing. Why make life difficult for yourself? An XJ or MJ D30 is a good match for the Ford 8.8.

 

This is for autos right? Cause mine are 3.07.

[carnuck]

That's correct

[CIARA]

Sorry about the caps we keep it on for work.  It originally came out of a ford explorer. Eagle  I read that the manual jeeps come with 3.08 gears.  I double checked the front too to ensure myself. 

I plan to do light off-roading with my Mjand get into it more once I get the roll cage on.  I was just looking for something a little stronger than what I have now. 

[dave92cherokee]

Keep the 30 like said it's a good match to the 8.8 for the size tires you'll be limited to. I would look for a 97+ in the jy to get the larger axle shaft ujoints and non cad axles. Put in some cromo axles, ctm joints, and a truss and the 30 will out live the 8.8 likely. With the 30/8.8 combo you're looking at running a max 35" tire before you have to start worrying about breaking alot of stuff. Tires bigger than that and I'd look at going with 1 ton axles from the beginning.

[mvusse]

It is easier and usually cheaper than to swap the entire axle rather than regear the one you have.

 

You want a front axle from out of a 4.0/automatic or possibly 2.5/4 speed manual (double check that because after a certain year all 2.5s got 4.10 gears regardless of transmission), Get one from a Comanche or 1999 or older Cherokee. 91 (90? 92?) and earlier Command-Trac had the central axle disconnect if you want to keep that, Selec-Trac and newer Cherokees did not if you want to do away with the CAD. ABS and anything after 1996(?) has stronger shafts with larger u joints. 

 

BTW, all driver side axle shafts swap back and forth: small u joint, large u joint, or V8 Grand Cherokee CV shafts. All non-disconnect passenger side shafts swap as well. A disconnect passenger side axle will not fit a non-disconnect housing. A non-disconnect passenger shaft will fit in a disconnect housing, but a (non standard) oil seal will need to be added in the axle tube just outside the diff, and the disconnect mechhanism needs to be gutted.

 

Other Dana 30 front axles:

YJ Wrangler -> disconnect housing, high pinion, but LEAF sprung. You do not want these, they will not bolt up.

TJ Wrangler -> larger u joints, but low pinion. They will bolt up, but low pinion is weaker.

2000 and newer XJ Cherokee -> see TJ

ZJ Grand Cherokee -> see TJ except V8 which should have CV shafts

JK Wrangler -> wider, will probablky not bolt on, could be Dana 44, not sure, different wheel bolt pattern. You do not want these.

WJ Grand Cherokee -> uses different steering knuckles and wheel bolt pattern. You do not want these.

[mvusse]

Truss the Dana 30, Chromoly axles and CTM joints? That bill will be higher than my D60 swap.

 

33" and smaller the stock D30 will be fine. 35" is where you start breaking stuff, but the above mentioned upgrades should be good enough, although expensive. Larger than 35 a D60 and lots of fabrication is the way to go.

 

I ran 35s on a stock locked D30 for three years. In those three years I went through more than 20 axle shafts and u joints, grenaded 4 differentials and went through 3 axle housings. Also an average of 6 unit bearings each year. For serious off road the lower control arm mounts need to be beefed up (some got ripped off, some folded up like an accordion) and on the non-disconnect housings the passenger upper control arm mount needs to be replaced with something stronger (ripped off the only non-disconnect housing I used on the second trip out).

 

Again, with 33" tires or smaller, stock should be fine.

[mnkyboy]

I wouldn't even bother looking for a 3.55 axle, find a 4.10 axle and regear the 8.8 or just regear both axles.

 

In another thread you say you have a 6" long arm which means you want/have big tires,3.55 is gonna suck.

[carnuck]

3.73 is far more common in 8.8s than 3.55 and I finally found one with 4.10s but don't have $$ to get it.

[mnkyboy]

I have a 4.10 geared 8.8 sitting here at the shop, the guy is going full width so the 8.8 is going up for sale.

[CIARA]

Thank you for all the help specially since its on 35s.  Thank you Mvussa that really helps brake it down and your right it is cheaper to just replace the whole axle.  So moral of the story I need smaller tires or higher gears.....hmmm

[Pete M]

technically it's "lower" gears.  the higher the number, the lower the gear ratio.  I know, it doesn't make much sense. but don't blame me, I didn't come up with the vernacular. :D

[Eagle]

Eagle  I read that the manual jeeps come with 3.08 gears.

 

Correct -- and I know I intended to type "automatic" when I wrote that post, but it didn't make it to the screen. But you'll find that a majority of XJs and MJs with 4.0L engines are automatics anyway, so D30s with 3.55 gears aren't difficult to find.

 

If you already have a 4WD and the gearing matches between the front and the rear, there's no need or reason to change the front axle. 3.55s are good for light off-roading with up to 30" tires, and not horrible with 31s.