Jeep TJ FORD 8.8 Axle Swap | Budget Crawler Ep. 27

[@FoamSquatch]

I like these videos before I even watch them. I really enjoy this build. Your doing it like a real person that works for a living. Its a nice change of pace over most Jeep builds lol.

[@dironaa]

Thanks man, I really appreciate that. I have a hard time watching builds that don't seem to be within the budget of the average guy (I watch zero supercar content lol) so I hear what your saying

[@itsheff3929]

@@dironaa ya a lot of ppl say just get front and rear g2 or dynatrac. Like if I had 8k I wouldn’t be on here asking questions on a cheaper way to get better axles lol

[@lukemellor9950]

Great tip about boring out the setup bearing! That saved me so much heartache on mine.

[@dironaa]

Good to hear!

[@coreycoggins8840]

Great vid man!! It's much appreciated. I am currently in the process of doing the same swap! Ran into a rusted frame issue, but hopefully I'll be riding on my 8.8 soon! Keep them coming, seeing the progress is great!

[@dironaa]

Thanks! Safe-T-Caps have worked well on the frames I've had to repair. Good luck!

[@FlawedOffroad]

I ran my 8.8 for about 6-7 years till now, great axle. doing a 44/60 combo in my yj now, gotta love axle swaps!

[@dironaa]

Haha absolutely! Are you going with a full width 44 and 60 or narrowed for the jeep?

[@FlawedOffroad]

Full width from 78 f250

[@velazquezjaime149]

The 88 is a awesome axel i have mine for 10 yrs running 35 amd now i just move to 38 with 4.88 and i recomend to anyone! Running an old model jeep. Good video! Tks!

[@dironaa]

Good stuff!

[@NWEDC]

Solid! I took my FJ out for a shake down after my suspension install and snapped my cv axle bearings lol so now it has new CV’s.

[@dironaa]

Fun! Lol. The independent fronts on the FJs rides nice but its hard to beat the simplicity/ease of maintenance of a solid axle!

[@centralcoastcamper9631]

Thanks for showing your 8.8 swap. I want to do this for my TJ and get rid of my Dana 35.

[@dironaa]

Thanks for watching. An even easier swap is to find a factory Dana 44 out of a TJ since they'll bolt right in with no modification. Where I live the D44 can usually be found in the $500-$1000 range but I know in some places they can go for more than double that. I run a factory TJ Dana 44 in my V8 swapped TJ with 33" tires and it's held up well.

[@Mike__S]

I recently made the swap myself, just a heads up those 8.8 axles have an offset pinion from the centerline(when axle is centered under the vehicle the pinion will be about 2" to the passenger side from center) also read my comment about parking brakes👍

[@ryansremark6983]

@@dironaa Hi, did you need lower coil isolators for the 8.8 swap? and does the coil stay in place full droop in the rear?

[@dironaa]

@@ryansremark6983 You can use coil isolators if you want but they aren’t necessary. The artec truss came with retainer plates that you can use to bolt the spring to the axle so it won’t fall out at full droop

[@strivefitness]

Thanks for the video! Looking at doing the same swap for my YJ...

[@dironaa]

Cool! There doesn't seem to be an easier axle to swap into the YJs and TJs than the 8.8

[@DDIMARZ]

Very nice job

[@Lolktnx2]

its crazy how much 8.8s have gone up in price! 800 is what i sold my old TJ rubi axle for. my 8.8 cost 200 back not even 5 years ago. sick video, man. love watching these.

[@dironaa]

Thanks man! I should have mentioned it in this episode (talked about it in the front axle episode) but the $800 price tag was because the axle had an ARB locker, chromoly shafts, and c-clip eliminators already installed when I bought it

[@Lolktnx2]

@@dironaa Oh got it! fair price then! appreciate you clearing that up, brother. loving this build.

[@dironaa]

@@Lolktnx2 Yea, not a bad buy! Thanks for following along!

[@larryalexander4833]

Hey enjoying the. Series. Finally found a jeep at fair price in my area I can afford . A 88 yj 4.2 six 5 speed Great body and frame .

[@dironaa]

Sounds like a good setup! With CJ prices going through the roof I'm sure YJ prices will soon follow.

[@dennisthompson7707]

I used the Artec trust on my TJ 8.8 swap, no issue in over 80,000 miles and lots of wheeling.

[@dironaa]

Great to hear!

[@LumpiaBoi808]

Great video as always brotha! Pretty hooked on this series now! Btw, any chance you can make a tutorial video on how change a rear pinion seal? You seem to know how to explain things pretty damn well. Cheers🤙🏾

[@dironaa]

Thanks! If I end up needing to replace one I’ll be sure to make a video

[@sethrogin7678]

Nice work

[@dironaa]

Thanks!

[@Jeepbikegolfrepeat]

Team 4 banger! I love mine too. Proper gearing is the ticket.

[@dironaa]

They’re great!

[@Winchparts]

Fellow four popper owner here. They might not get much love but they run forever if you take care of them. Try flipping those stock lower arms over and while they will fill with mud some they take a lot more of a beating before they bend.

[@dironaa]

With the amount of sludge found in the oil pan after I bought this jeep I think they'll run forever if you don't take care of them too LOL. Thats a great idea, thanks for the suggestion!

[@ryanhubble9157]

Ive done a few 8.8 swaps unless ur going ton its the only axle i recommended

[@dironaa]

Good to hear!

[@302fox]

Looks great man ! Let’s hit the trails sometime. I’m in western mass

[@dironaa]

Thanks man! That would be cool, have a little more work to do before this thing is trail ready again though

[@jesusromero2702]

I got a extra dodge Dakota bellhousing to swap in the ax15 to that 4 cylinder if you’re interested

[@dironaa]

I'd take you up on that but I actually hunted one down a few months ago. Thanks for the offer!

[@bah5310]

Are you going to TJ Fest in Moab? Would be great to see this machine in action.

[@dironaa]

I'd certainly like to but Moab is a couple day drive for me and don't think I'll have the time this spring. Hope to get out there some year though!

[@calebsurpass]

where and how did you go about getting your axle? Great video ! Looking forward to doing this swap myself Thank you

[@dironaa]

Bought it off of Craigslist from a guy who had it under his jeep. You can search for an axle in a junkyard near you on car-part.com

[@jaecenwhite2590]

I wish I had a frame that clean- mine looks like the surface of the moon after ~20 years of New England winters. The only reason it’s not Swiss cheese is because I drilled weep holes and douse it in Fluid Film every year… but it certainly doesn’t look like yours

[@dironaa]

I’ve had many that look like Swiss cheese. I was extremely lucky to find this one they spent the first 10 years of its life in California and had only seen 7 or 8 northeast winters when I bought it. I take it off the road every fall to keep it out of the salt

[@wreckedandrecklessgarage8727]

What adjustable upper control arms did you use? Awesome series!

[@dironaa]

Thanks! Used a cheap set of rough country arms I bought on Craigslist, don’t recommend unless you can get them very cheap, bushings don’t last long. I’ll eventually upgrade to Currie or Metalcloak

[@603jeeper7]

I upgraded my axles to 35 spline chrome molly with c-clip eliminator almost as strong as a 60

[@dironaa]

Nice. This one has chromoly shafts and c-clip eliinators too but I didn't check the spline count.

[@603jeeper7]

@@dironaa i also had a air actuated ox-locker and 4.88S

[@leovillanueva7463]

What brand did you end up installing into your dana 35 and did you install a airlocker?

[@603jeeper7]

@@leovillanueva7463 I'm sorry I replaced the D35 with a Ford 8.8 with 4.88 gears aftermarket axle shafts and a OX locker that is air actuated i purchased it from East coast Gears thay have great deals

[@Mike__S]

I just went through the headache of setting up the parking brake cables and assembly. Rough Country had the best deal on a set of cables for this swap. Now for the very important part, please learn from my pain on this. *Remove the axles* when you are installing your parking brake hardware. This step will save you a lot of cussing, busted knuckles and broken or deformed springs/hardware on the install. Second important note is to remove the lever/hinge by pulling it strait out(with axles removed) from the flange, wire wheeling the two pieces which are probably rusted together as one until you get down to the white. Then coat the pin and contacting surfaces with your favorite grease or anti-seize and reinstall. When you get the new hardware, place both springs on the shoes and secure the shoes in place with the retention pins on the flange. This would have been 10X easier with the axle removed. I had to learn that the hard way.

[@dironaa]

Thanks for the tips Mike, very much appreciated. Ordered most of the brake hardware from ECGS already but don’t have the cables yet so I’ll check out rough country

[@Mike__S]

@@dironaa I looked through my receipts and the cables I got were the ECGS kit, cant beat that deal for 60 bucks. I recently got the stainless brake lines from RC, and those were the best deal for a set of front and rear stainless hydraulic lines

[@dironaa]

@@Mike__S Cool thanks, that’s the best price I’ve come across too. Will do a little more searching but that’s probably the kit I’ll go with

[@dennisthompson7707]

I used Grand Cherokee cables on my 8.8, the Grand and Explorer use the same brake parts on the rear.

[@dironaa]

@@dennisthompson7707 Would that be the ZJ era Grand Cherokee? Sounds like disc brake TJ cables will fit too but they seem to be more expensive than the ECGS kit, I’ll look into the Grand Cherokee cables though. Thanks

[@DGrant1801]

Unable to use the stock rear drive shaft huh? Is it a length issue, cause I believe they make a bolt on adapter for the rear joint. But the 8.8 probably being physically larger than the d35 I could see there being an issue. Just curious, I'm probably going to do a 8.8 rear on mine cause in my area finding tj Dana 44 anything is impossible unless I get them from a jk and shorten the axle tubes and do all the bracket work as well, 8.8 seems cheaper and more available.

[@dironaa]

Yes, I think it was the flange adapter on the 8.8 side of the driveshaft that pushed it over the length limit. But the driveshaft was technically longer than it should have been even with the D35 because it previously came off of a lifted jeep and mine is more or less stock height.

[@Billio68]

1:45ish Should have beefed it up even if, if it can fail it will... in my experience

[@dironaa]

Can be tough to decide where to stop beefing up a small axle and instead switch to a bigger axle (tons)

[@kylehuck7271]

Did you use the stock track bar? Did you have to modify the exhaust? Just put in my 8.8 this weekend and track bar hits the exhaust. Few people told me you have to modify the tail pipe.

[@dironaa]

I did use the stock track bar. It clears the tailpipe on this jeep fine, but my exhaust is mounted higher than stock. When I bought the jeep the two tailpipe hangers were rusted off so when replacing them I took the opportunity to push the tailpipe closer to the body.

[@nictank]

MIG or TIG? Either way nice welding as always...

[@dironaa]

Thanks! This was all MIG but hope to pick up a TIG machine at some point in the future

[@delicheese6774]

Thinking of doing this swap for my YJ. Are there any necessary adjustments for the 8.8 to fit with the stock driveshaft?

[@dironaa]

Yes, i needed a shorter shaft

[@Tron-FPV]

did you end up figuring out the parking brake?

[@dironaa]

Yes, check out Episode 30 of this build

[@ryansremark6983]

Is that the rust coming through the frame after your undercoating vid?

[@dironaa]

The few places you see rust are where paint has been scraped off by jacks and jack stands

[@NsXy]

Would you re gear mine if I shipped it over and paid you. Grind and add the truss

[@dironaa]

Honestly if I every need to regear another axle I'll seriously consider paying someone else to do it, it's not a fun process. That said, I'm sure for the price of shipping an axle you could find someone local to regear for you and be money ahead (look for a drivetrain or transmission shop). But I appreciate you're confidence in my abilities haha

[@WyattSanipass-tr5op]

Are you going bigger with your tires? If so, how much bigger?

[@dironaa]

Keeping the 33s for now, but if a good deal comes along I might go bigger

[@rileytavares4087]

Hey, would ford escape axles swap work on TJ’s? I’m wondering if it could work

[@dironaa]

I don’t know, but without doing any research I wouldn’t expect them to be any stronger than the stock axle on the TJ. Escapes are a light duty car

[@itsheff3929]

Just got a 6” long arm for my tj to clear the 38.5s found a place called east coast gear that has 8.8 ready to bolt into tjs and pick what gear for around $1300 so idt that’s too bad vs finding one, changing gears, moving perches and shit so I’d say I’m good on back but is there any alternative to upgrading the front axle other than a g2 or rubicon axles(hard to find and when you do they want 2500$ just for the front most of the time bc sellers know they are getting harder to find for tjs) hate to go 1 tons and have to do custom shit also bc I’d like to keep my 5x4.5 and 5x5,5 wheels that cost 2k a couple years ago. I’m upgrading my front 30 control arm perches and gearing 5.13 just to hold me till I get the money for a better axle but any ideas anyone?

[@dironaa]

That thing must be huge! East cost gear supply is a good way to go for the 8.8, looks like it would cost around $3600 to get an 8.8 similarly optioned to the one I installed. The axles you need for 38.5s depends greatly on what type of off roading you do. If you’re only driving on the street you may be able to get away with an 8.8 and a high pinion Dana 30 out of a XJ to keep the stock TJ bolt pattern. But if you do hit the trails I think even Rubicon axles would be undersized for you. I’d look into finding some junkyard dana 60s or one ton axles. You should be able to find someone who will make custom axle shafts with whatever bolt pattern you want. Big tires get expensive quick!

[@itsheff3929]

@@dironaaI’m back at this video and saw my post haha well it’s my grandpas passed down so I don’t wheel hard enough or do rocks to risk ruining it. Just power line trails and some mud every now and then. But I ended up picking up a ford 8.8 with the brackets already welded and ready to bolt in for $100! Ring and pinion is bad in it but I need 5.13s anyway and it needs is calipers. Can’t really beat that for $100

[@alexeimagher9083]

I see that you have a low pinion gear on your new rear axle. Could you give me a little explanation, please. Almost everyone says that high pinion is better. Could you be so kind to explain me whether this is true or not.

[@xjbeater8638]

They are talking about the front. The Dana 30. The xj has hp which is an upgrade to a wrangler with the dana30. But good luck finding an xj without 3.55

[@dironaa]

Yes, what xjbeater 86 said. The high pinion dana 30 use the “drive” side of the ring gear to move the vehicle forward, where the low pinion uses the “coast” side which makes it more susceptible to breaking

[@adan30marquezam]

Do I see gen right offroad fenders? 🤨

[@dironaa]

You see nothing LOL. Stay tuned for the next episode!

[@macysmith9141]

hey buddy do you have any contact?there has business enquiries for you!

[@WillysOverland]

wont the 8.8 be wider?

[@dironaa]

It’s actually slightly narrower but you won’t notice unless you’re really looking for the difference when you see the jeep

[@w.c.6678]

"And just LIKE THAT..." we have the axle all bolted up.... Took 4 guys, 7 hours, with a lot of swearing and a 24 pack.... but whatever.....

[@dironaa]

LOL you know it!

[@NWEDC]

It would be interesting to see how much money you saved by doing all the work yourself. Honestly, I would probably deduct your time and skills from the total cost.

[@dironaa]

That would be interesting to know. I do tend to work slow when figuring things out for the first time though (for example setting up gears in this video)

[@whomitmayconcern]

You wanna buy anther TJ?

[@dironaa]

Always! Lol

[@SmokenAces88]

I spy new fenders

[@dironaa]

Sshhhh... LOL

[@JamesTremblay]

While a cheap build, the 8.8 isn't the best option anymore. I would consider an ECGS custom D60 or D44 . But when your talented and have the tools.... Taking an 8.8 from the junk yard to usable is a lot of work. ZJ disc brakes, ECGS housing and gears brings a lot to the table...

[@dironaa]

Is it the best? No, there are many great bolt-in crate axles out there now. But for the price the 8.8 is still hard to beat and should be plenty adequate for this build

[@MrMrsregor]

Hahaha! So, how is buying a prebuilt axle for $1900 is a “better deal” than building an $800 axle .?.!. I will take two if u are buying...

[@wreckedandrecklessgarage8727]

Well a rock jock 60 would be better too. But this whole build is about keeping it budget friendly and still reliable

[@JamesTremblay]

@@dironaa what's your time worth? From what I've seen, 85$ @ hr... Sounds modest multiply that times the 20ish hrs you put into the 8.8. Then it's just , the glory...