[lanesmat]

First, if any of you are adverse to visiting junk yards, TeraFlex has a kit for this conversion and you can stop reading.

Second, Bill Tarrh did an excellent writeup on this very same conversion that can be found on Stu Olson's website http://www.stu-offroad.com/suspension/d35disc/d35-1.htm. This is meant as a supplement to his guide to ease this conversion and complete some gaps. Read it first, it even has pictures for the literate-challenged.

Third, this isn't meant to be a referendum on rear disks or D35's, ad nauseam. So if you have a particular hatred toward D35's or rear disk brakes, good for you, just keep it to yourself.

Why I did it. 10.5" drum brakes are as close to having no brakes on the rear end of any vehicle IMO. Especially if you do any light towing or if you have an automatic, strong and progressive rear brakes make a difference in both daily and offroad driving. When the rear brakes work properly, it reduces the tendency of "auto creep", i.e. when an auto trans tries to overcome your front brakes in stopped or slow conditions, especially prevalent in 4Lo. If you pull a small trailer or boat, the effectiveness of rear brakes increases pretty dramatically.

If you want to do this swap with all junkyard parts (except for brake pads) for less than a $100, you will need to following from a ZJ Grand Cherokee with a Dana 35C at the junkyard:

1. Brake disks
2. Calipers, including brake hoses
3. Emergency brake cables (from the wheel to the 2-into-1 connection on top of the tub
4. Passenger side hard brake line (from the brake hose to the 3-way junction located on the axle)
5. Optional - Axle wheel studs

If you use Bill's writeup, you are golden. Below are a few tips that will make this an easier swap:

The emergency brake cables from a ZJ works perfectly and is a direct swap on a TJ. There is no need for redneck engineering and cutting up your stock Ebrake cables, just remove and replace with the ZJ cables.

The stock ZJ brake hoses will work also. Be sure at the pick-n'-pull you also get the self-tapping bolt that bolts the hose bracket to the side of the coil spring bucket. Drill a hole in your TJ coil spring bucket and mount the hose bracket similar to how the ZJ bracket is mounted. Once you bolt in the caliper, it becomes self evident where the hose bracket wants to be mounted.

You will need to use the old TJ hard brake line on the driver's side and adjust it accordingly to fit the brake hose. The passenger-side ZJ brake lines works best with minimum bending from the brake hose to the brake line junction mounted on the axle.

Install the pads, bleed the brakes and you are done.

CAUTION: The disk brake flanges are thicker than the brake drums where they mount on the axle flange. It will effectively shorten the wheel stud by about 1/8" at the wheel mount. I have steelies, so I had plenty of thread using the stock lug nuts, but if I were running aluminum wheels or wheels with a thicker flange, I would probably replace the wheel studs in the axle with longer ones from a ZJ rear disk donor or get ten of them for about $20.00 at your local parts store. Be sure to get the studs for rear disks.

I'll try to get pics later. Hope this helps somebody.

Scott L.
Raleigh NC

[WillysEdition04]

Thanks for the tips

[BloodThirsty]

Yeah I crawled this thread. I think about those drums on the back all the time. Well now that I'm running bigger tires anyway.

[neurotran]

I was planning to do this to my TJ, but never happened.

[SantaClos]

Very cool info..................Thanks!!!!!!!

[ElGuapoBond]

Waiting for pics......

[recongirl]

Thanx for putting this up, i'm planning on doing this in the next 3-4 weeks , it actually looks really easy !