I've never heard of rear diff's just granading for no reason, but the estimate sound way high to me cosidering it should only be $80 bucks an hour for labor.... I would get a second estimate.

 

I can sell you my perfectly god chrysl 8.25 from my 98, that was swapped out 2 weeks ago for my 44, for a lot less, and a short trip into pa... PM me if you are interested...

 

get a junkyard axle of exact same size, and gears. should be 100-200 $ and another couple hundred to install at worst with new brake pads and gear lube. up to 2k is simply nuts!

I would love to get a junkyard one or grab on from the nuttier in PA, but that's not really an option right now - I'm in Brooklyn, the car is in Beacon and my options are limited. Thanks for the advice/offer though.

 

nuts.

get a junkyard axle of exact same size, and gears. should be 100-200 $ and another couple hundred to install at worst with new brake pads and gear lube.
up to 2k is simply nuts!

as for as axles...run one low on lube or tow heavily while never checking fluid is what kills them.

they run very hot first, then get noisy, and if lucky, you can drive about 100 miles when it gets really bad before you are stuck.

i've only seen this happen with a friends 96' grand cherokee with the 4.0, and dana rear with disc brakes.

he bought a junkyard axle for $250 in socal and installed it in a few hours himself. the worst part is bleeding the brakes, but that's about it.

 

nuts.

get a junkyard axle of exact same size, and gears. should be 100-200 $ and another couple hundred to install at worst with new brake pads and gear lube.
up to 2k is simply nuts!

as for as axles...run one low on lube or tow heavily while never checking fluid is what kills them.

they run very hot first, then get noisy, and if lucky, you can drive about 100 miles when it gets really bad before you are stuck.

i've only seen this happen with a friends 96' grand cherokee with the 4.0, and dana rear with disc brakes.

he bought a junkyard axle for $250 in socal and installed it in a few hours himself. the worst part is bleeding the brakes, but that's about it.

A lot of what you said is correct, but the grand cherokee diff is JUNK. it may be a dana 44, but it was made with an aluminum center section, and like you said witht he heat build up, and steel and alum expands at differant rates, well you can see what happens to the grand cherokee diffs.. The 98 XJ should have had the Chrys 8.25, which is a solid diff, with lil issues.. I have one on jackstands, perfectly good condition in lancaster, PA. :2thumbsup:

 

I agree with buying a used 8.25 and either installing it yourself or having it installed. the quote is high, you should be able to have both axles regeared for that price and that is changing all bearings, gears, and seals.

 

Yup, find a used axle and you should be in it less than $400.

 

I can understand you may not be in a position to run out and pick up a used rear, but when you say your options are limited, it sounds like the shop where your XJ currently resides is squeezing you to rebuild your grenaded rear for big $$$. I would expect that they'd be willing to do an install of a used rear (many boneyards of decent size would be capable of delivering to the shop) for the labor they would charge as opposed to having you take your business elsewhere. If your shop is telling you the only way they'll touch your XJ is to do a $2000 rearend rebuild, I'd recommend getting your vehicle towed to someplace more wallet-friendly pronto.

-Ed Rico

 

A quick search on car-part.com shows several 8.25's with 3:55 ratio in bronx, ellenville, and campbell/hall if those are close enough to help you out. Most of them are listed for 250 or 300 dollars.

 

Thanks for all the advice so far. I just got off the phone with the mechanic and he gave me their official estimate: $2800. That's for a brand-new rear end and all the lovely labor (8-10 hours) that they plan on putting in. They said that if I can show up with a differential they can put it in, but they can't guarantee that it would even get me home unless I replace the axles too since the whole thing may have just had too much wear or something.

I don't know what to believe obviously, but I don't have that many options. I can get a friends' car this weekend and I guess I could go someplace and grab a rear diff and spend $1000 to get it installed with the hopes that it would last. Or I maybe I can pack the pumpkin full of grease and drive it to the closest car dealership to try to cash it in for the $4500 Cash for Clunkers program - though I dont' know if that would work if it's not in really drivable condition. I don't even know if it would make it that far without seizing, breaking the driveshaft and leaving me on the side of the road. And of course I could sell it for parts - the engine only has 107k miles on it, and while it's not in great condition it's got to be worth something, right?

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Thanks for all the advice so far. I just got off the phone with the mechanic and he gave me their official estimate: $2800. That's for a brand-new rear end and all the lovely labor (8-10 hours) that they plan on putting in. They said that if I can show up with a differential they can put it in, but they can't guarantee that it would even get me home unless I replace the axles too since the whole thing may have just had too much wear or something.

I don't know what to believe obviously, but I don't have that many options.

[snip]

Anyone have any thoughts?

In fact, you have plenty of options, including getting your vehicle out of that shop as fast as you can. It shouldn't be much of a problem to find another shop that will install a complete used rear end assembly, which will typically come with a guarantee - even if it is for 90 days which is plenty long enough to know if you'll have any problems with it.

You should be able to buy a used rear end assembly and get it installed for around $500 at practically any shop you can find. Your current shop sounds like they're pretty sure they have you in a corner with no alternative than to bend over. Don't walk, run like hell out of that place.

-Ed Rico

 

Oh, and Nuttier: I tried to PM you but your box is full. email me at weatherman at gmail dot com.

 

I will send you email right now, I just seen you write this.. LOL and will clean out my PM box.. :thumbsup:

 

too bad you aren't closer. I know of 3-4 rear ends, free that would work perfectly for you and most likely last the life of your jeep if you keep clean fluid in it, and it would cost you a 12-pack of Coors for the install. I understand the inconvenience though, in the end we all pay for convenience one way or another. Hopefully you can find somebody on here that can get you back on the road for significantly less coin.
good luck with whatever you decide!

 

For $2800 you could order up some hardcore rock crawling axles. Thank them for their time, have it towed and find a local, reasonable mechanic to replace the rear end for you. A good junkyard rear end should cost no more than $200, and $200 in labor to swap it out.

 

ive got a d35 with 3.55 gears out of a 99 cherokee. if you can wait till monday (7/27) i would be glad to install it for a fair price. i am in bayside queens. shoot me an email if your interested saint18z@gmail.com

 

just across the river in New Windsor is a shop that works on Jeeps, they have a bunch of them parked around
JVS it's about 5 miles from where you're jeep is parked right now.
I haven't used them yet, but called looking for some parts and they were very helpful.
might be worth a shot?
845-567-1399 call em and see what they say


$2800? wow, that's more than I paid for my jeep and my mercedes

 

$2800 is rape on a Cherokee axle job. They should be ashamed of yourselves, and if you pay it, you will be ashamed too.