I enojoy doing some good playing but not a heavy off roader. that being said I started to do my swap this weekend. wow what a ride that was. for anyone thinking of doing the swap its a piece of cake with minimal tools. just be sure to take your time and don't bother going to 4 wheel parts for the kit, it will all be wrong.
I started with a 96 explorer rear 4.10 posi 8.8 cut and ground all brackets off the rear for the new perches and shock brackets as well as track arm bar bracket. I do not plan to use parking brake so I removed all backing plate and linkage for shoes behind rotors. I used crown vic rear brakes which means I had to machine axle ends to fit rotors correctly and rotate right hand caliper mount to the forward position for caliper to bleed correctly. I also drilled a new hole in the axle wrap perches and axle plates to move axle back about an inch. I found out the good way, you need larger u bolts and spring mount plates to fit the larger diam axle. I got mine at napa. im using the stock drive shaft so that helps with shaft length and centers the wheels in the wheel well. a stock listing u joint fits correctly in shaft and flange for 8.8 axle. the local metal shop made my track arm bar bracket, and I ordered shock mounts on line (be sure to get straight mounts with no offset, or your shockes wont bolt up).
Friday night started with removing stock axle assy. im spoiled so I used at work and was able to unbolt everything and and remove axle from jeep. I put perches on springs and then set the 8.8 in place. measuring from caliper mount flanges to outside edge of springs and from axle tube ends to inside of springs I centered axle in jeep. then hung wheels and gave it the eyeball. nice and straight and even side to side. at this point its time to set the pinion angle and with a short drive shaft you have to be pretty close . welded perches to axle and bolted axle down.
Saturday morning went in and measured for shock mounts. making sure to get shocks set in center of travel for correct ride while on the road. welded shock mounts in and moved on to brake hose brackets. I used crown vic hoses also so I would have some length to work with and welded tabs to the back side of the axle to bolt them too, making a small left and longer right side brake line from original center hose to each caliper. bled out the brakes and now it will stop.
sunday morning was install u joint and fluids in the rear. the stock yj u joint I got from napa went right in place and the gear oil with friction modifier. woo hoo time for a drive. everything seems to be good so far drove it home and back to work to double check everything tonight. looking forward to some snow to check it out good.