Baystate Jeepers

It's official. When it comes to drum brakes, I'm a special tool. It wasn't always this way. Back before discs on all 4 corners, I could knock out brake shoes in an hour - all I needed was a rusty flat-head screwdriver and a hammer. Now I look at them and I'm all

So here's the deal. I'm looking for help doing the brakes on my Cherokee. My daughter's taking over driving duties on this classic XJ soon but before that happens, Dad needs to fix the crappy brakes. New shoes (and whatever else is needed) in back and inspect / replace the pads up front. I'm not in a hurry to do this, sometime in the next month or two would work

If you can help, lemme know. We can document this and I can do a 'Tech At Home' write up for Tracks, for any other poor bastids that still run drums. And who knows, maybe I'll learn something and not have to ask for help again

PM sent sucka.

Same think you did on your TJ should work on your XJ.

You just need backing plate HW from a ZJ D35.

JW

Tx guys. The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards a disc brake conversion. Just have another question or two. My TJ had a 44 and for that conversion, it required new axle retainer plates. They were cheap enough but that meant removing /re-installing the pressed-on bearing. Or Option B, get a set of Rubi axles that came with discs, and the correct retainer plate (thank you Doug!)

My questions are, does the '97 flavor of the XJ 8.25 rear diff use a c-clip to retain the axle? And.... well, I guess that's it. I'm going to hit up my sources for a ZJ D35. I scored my ZJ D44 for $75 and that included all the e-brake components, clampers that were good for cores, brackets, .......

All years of the C8.25 use a C-clip retainer. The '97 already has the larger 29 spline shafts.

If you're looking in the direction of Rubi axles, there is another way:

Option C, get a Ford 8.8 w/ disc brakes already on there. You can probably match the factory gear ratio and the bolt pattern easily... You may be able to find one with a limited slip if you look around too. You'd need to add SOA perches (where could you possibly find people with welders? ) and track down some e-brake cables (same problem if you swap in ZJ brakes).

JW

Tx guys. Got a line on a ZJ axle for a fair price. It has most all the parts I need. Fingers crossed....