Well Ive decided to go ahead and get a stock replacement axle shaft. The groove is just too deep. Is the napa axle replacement a good axle? There is no reason to upgrade these axles, I just want a good stock replacement. Looks like the axle from napa comes with the seal and bearing but idk if they are of good quality. Anyone know if the BRG R1559TV bearing and NOS 16805 seal are any good? They are $22.50 and $16.50 on the website.

 

NAPA parts are acceptable. Axles, bearings, and seals are pretty simple to get right.

Any roughness, pitting, or grooving of a bearing surface makes repair/replacement required.

 

10-4. Called napa, he tried to give me a bearing for a dana 44 saying it worked for my 8.25. Dont think he knows what hes talking about. Online it gives two options for the 8.25. One is $9 and one is $22.50. Think ill go woth the 22.50 brg bearing.

Also changing the rear main seal and valve cover gasket. Its been a long two days :/.

 

Would there be any issues with getting a stronger axle shaft for the drivers side? Looks like I can get an axle cheaper yet stronger from here:

http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-axle-differential-parts/alloy-usa-superior/jeep-cherokee-xj.htm

Axle for the 29 spline 8.25 axle is $140 w/free shipping. Napa wants $200 but it comes with a bearing and seal. Thoughts? Cant afford to do both.

Rear main seal is done! Done that job on two jeeps counting this one and I hope I never have to do it again!

Edit:

Found these too

http://www.rustysoffroad.com/jeep-d...-8-25-axle-kits/ten-factory-heavy-duty-8-25-chrysler-29-spline-axle-shafts.html

 

Try RockAuto.com for good prices. Any shaft that fits correctly will function. I would consider a used one from the junkyard if it passes inspection

 

Don't have a junk yard around here that I'm aware of. Found some small yards but they rarely have any jeeps in them.

$134+shipping on rock auto. Comes with bearings but I like the idea of upgrading since the stock unit failed. Doesnt cost a whole lot more and someday we may be able to upgrade the passenger side.

 

Ordered the alloy usa axle. Seems its made in india, at least its not china. Went to napa to get a bearing, made in china. Called up autozone and they have a timken on hold for me. Think its made in Slovakia, again, at least its not china. The rotors at napa are also made in china, autozone doesnt have timken rotors that i could find but im going to ask when i pick up the bearing.

Got ebc green stuff pads coming for the front. Hopefully the brakes will be improved dramatically with the new rear disk's and new front brakes.

And hopefully it wont have anymore oil leaks!

 

Called up autozone and they have a timken on hold for me. Think its made in Slovakia, again, at least its not china.

Timken has plants all over the world, and all of their products are made to the same quality standards. I would never worry about the country of origin on a TImken part.

Slovakia, by the way, is WELL known for very high grade steel production. They have had a native firearms industry of good repute that uses that steel, so your fears of that country of origin are unnecessary. (BTW, that is also where the Timken front hub bearing assemblies seem to come from for the XJ as well.)

 

You will love the rear discs!

 

Got the bearing out and installed this evening. It was very quick and easy once I had everything together. The timken bearing from autozone has USA on it, so I assume its made in USA. They tried to sell me an all in one unit at first with the seal and such in one piece but I didnt like it. It had a seal on each side of the bearing so the gear oil never got to the bearing, horrible idea I think. it had some grease smeared around in it but its a dumb idea I think.

The seal that napa gave me is the wrong seal. It shows its for a 8.25 but its way too big. I slid it over the axle to try it and it had a gap around it, pitiful. Once I got the stock unit unit out I realized its like a double seal. I picked up a timken from autozone and its just a single seal, so Im back to square one on the seal. May call the dealer and see what they have and how much it is. Ill post up pics as soon as they load up. May do a quick write up on the disk conversion and bearing replacement once I'm done. I've read several write ups and there is always something I have a question about.

 

The 3 jaw puller ended up being useless for me. The one I rented was had well rounded off ears so I had to go back and get the other type of axle bearing puller. It worked very well once I used the correct size puller. The first one just pulled the bearings out.















Stock seal vs napa seal. Napa seal was too big in all categories.



Double lip napa:





Single lip timken from autozone:







Also, I used the bearing hammer thing from autozone. Worked fantastic but Im sure a socket would work the same. Ive got around $200 in tools rented right now. As it sits now, waiting on the correct seal. When you hammer the bearing in, you will easily be able to tell when it bottoms out.



Some pics of the brakes with the stock lines all bent up. I should just get some brake lines from the parts store and bend them, but if this doesnt leak Im ok with it.

 

Some pics of the brakes with the stock lines all bent up. I should just get some brake lines from the parts store and bend them, but if this doesnt leak Im ok with it.


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What kind of clamp are you using to hold the fitting against the axle housing where the flexible hose attaches to the hard line?

 

Just a typical band clamp i had laying around. Thing was a foot long or so, zipped it down and cut the slack off. Bracket came with the disk brake kit from terra.

Glad to hear that about timken. Ive read a lot of threads about people using their bearings. Wish the seal was as good as the bearing. Gonna try napa again then ill try advance for the seal. Advance has national seals.

 

Almost got this jeep done. Ive probably put a good 3 days worth of work into it and Im pretty tired of it. So far Ive done a rear disk brake conversion, new drivers side axle from alloy usa (made in India!!?), new driver side bearing(timken) and seal (mopar), new felpro rear main, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, front+rear diff fluid change, tranmission fluid change, tcase fluid change, oil change, new front rotors and ebc green stuff pads, and pressed in 10 new rear jeep zj studs. The worst part by far was trying to press in those new studs. If you ever do a conversion, have a shop press those studs in. I tried to use washers and old lug nuts with my impact wrench. The zj studs are slightly larger than the xj studs so I had to lightly file every stud hole to get the studs in. Im not sure what happened, but one of the studs spun when I put it in. I had to get a new stud and just hammered it in with red lock tite. Hopefully that will never cause any issues. If it does, the stud for a jeep liberty rear brakes are even bigger than the zj studs, so Ill just hammer one of those in. I torqued it to 150 lb/ft and it didnt spin, so I think its good.

 

Finally got everything wrapped up last week. With the ebc 7000 series greenstuff front pads and the disc conversion, the brakes are absolutely amazing. It takes so little effort to quickly stop the jeep. For now i think were going to hold off on the zj prop valve. It may try to get sideways in the rain but we'll see.

The day after i got done the radiator popped a nice sized leak where the plastic sides crimp to the radiator. So new napa rad, hoses, heater hoses, super stant 195 stat, and a new napa fan clutch. This thing should hopefully be good to go for awhile!

In other news, he's only been getting 15-16mpg on the hw. My 94 zj 4.0 got 22mpg on the same trip when i took his xj back to him. New O2 sensors a good place to start? I cleaned the throttle body and iac sensor.

 

.... only been getting 15-16mpg on the hw. My 94 zj 4.0 got 22mpg on the same trip when i took his xj back to him. New O2 sensors a good place to start? I cleaned the throttle body and iac sensor.

Jeeps are always a she.

Are ALL the tuen-up parts fresh ? O2 sensors have a normal service life of about 125,000 +/-, and have a direct effect on gas mpg's.