Pretty damn easy, thanks to OLD FART for the help. Pretty straight forward.

I can now lock up the rear 35" tires. Feels good to have braking power again. Anyhoo, got all hardward at Dynatrac in Huntington Beach. The Explorer brake line was the same thread size as the Jeep too. Turned out good I thought, still gotta finish a few things.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=366851&a=13786077&f=0

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=366851&a=13786077&p=54409531&Sequence=0&res=high
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=366851&a=13786077&p=54409528&Sequence=0&res=high
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=366851&a=13786077&p=54409535&Sequence=0&res=high[img/]
[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=366851&a=13786077&p=54409537&Sequence=0&res=high

<IMG SRC="smilies/usa.gif" border="0">

[ 09-26-2001: Message edited by: SOCALXJ ]

Great job man! Looking good! what donor car did u take the 8.8 axle from?

Originally posted by Gui:
<STRONG>Great job man! Looking good! what donor car did u take the 8.8 axle from?</STRONG>

"The Explorer brake line......"
sheesh, if you would read instead of lookin at the pretty diamond plate covered gas door you would see he said explorer <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> lol <IMG SRC="smilies/laughing.gif" border="0">

Nice Job Man!!

I just did the swap too and the hardest part i found was getting the old perches and crap off and cleaning the tube of the crap!

My writeup http://www.yankeetoys.org/mangler/88swap.htm

Hey, what are you doing with the full floater D-35? I would love to grab a hub from it for a spare for my front conversion, but im sure you are gonna try and get some cash for it, worth a try though... BTW, IT looks sweet, i have an 8.8 sitting in my apartment right now (college life is great eh) and i was wondering, was that factory ford break line longe enough for you? I have about the same amount of lift. If not i was just gonna make my old on work with a right side rubber line and a small hardline attaching the 2... Now if only my 4.56's and lockright would show up... Hugh

Yeah the stock perches and swaybar mounts sucked.. they're more of a pain than anything.. but with OLD FART's plasma cutter, no problemo!

The warn full floater is being sold as a whole kit.. sorry punkskalar. $300.

oh yeah, and the brake line wasnt long enough.. im sitting around 7" in the rear now.. it may work if you're 2" or lower. teehee.

Ahhh, thats cool... I didn't think that line would be long enough, ill just use my Stainless line and rig it up, should be fine... Thanks, Hugh

Use the stainless with the YJ 3-way block. The passenger side will bolt right in and get a 2-6" piece of steel line for the drivers side. Then get the passenger side caliper flex line and put it on the drivers side caliper. Napa can match the factory part number up for you and it will be half the cost of the Ford dealer.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1372718&a=11037241&p=38414185&Sequence=0

[ 09-28-2001: Message edited by: DE Jeeper ]

I'm sitting about 6.5" in back, maybe a little more. The stock Explorer line worked fine. Even at full down travel it's still good. I wonder if mine's different from yours...

Here's the picture Dave didn't link right:

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=366851&a=13786077&p=54409535&Sequence=0&res=high

Funny story though - it almost didn't come to be. Seems that Young Mister Druck decided to call me Friday to make sure we were on track. He calls, and a woman answers. He "assumes" it's Patti (strike one!), so when she tells him I'm not here, he "assumes" (strike two!) that she's pulling his leg - gives her a rash of shit.

Woman on phone gets annoyed and hangs up on him.

Young Mister Druck, being the tenacious individual he is (plus desperate to cease driving around in 2 wheel drive on the front axle), calls back, to harass "my wife" further (steeeeerike three!!).

Finds out that woman on phone is NOT my lady wife, but my 77 year old,retired school teacher Mother in Law (who is ....shall we say......less than amuzed...)

Can we say Fawkup!

Major back pedalling and ass schmoozing by Mister Druck. (Showed up Sat morning with his tail farther between his legs than I thoughtpossible - but all is forgiven. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by DE Jeeper:
<STRONG> http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1372718&a=11037241&p=38414185&Sequence=0 </STRONG>

Okay, what did you do for a hard line to over there, and what's that u-bolt holding on to? Inboard of the springs

The passenger side hard line is the original Exploder line. The drivers side is the 6" piece I bought from Napa. I welded tabs to the sping perch to mount the block and drivers side caliper hose connection. The U-bolt holds up my custom skid, affectionately known ad Mad Max.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1372718&a=11037241&p=51420781&Sequence=0

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1372718&a=11037241&p=51420783&Sequence=0

So what kind of u-bolt skids are those? Make them yourself too?

OLD FART - your a bastard <IMG SRC="smilies/flipoff.gif" border="0">

Hey SOCALXJ

Hopefully i can check your rig out in June when i move to SoCal with the Fiance!

We will be in Chula Vista (San Diego)

Yourself?

I also just installed an 8.8 too and agree it was very easy!

Originally posted by Boston Mangler:
<STRONG>Hey SOCALXJ

Hopefully i can check your rig out in June when i move to SoCal with the Fiance!

We will be in Chula Vista (San Diego)

Yourself?

I also just installed an 8.8 too and agree it was very easy!</STRONG>

Oh sure, now its easy.
Ive only been saying its a great axle swap, for 3 years now.
Saddly after many faithful years of service, mine is being replaced with a Corp. 14.
Remember those axle tubes can spin in the housing if pushed hard enough(voice of experience), and you can snap the E brake assembly if you drive out of them with low gears and lockers, (it sounds like an axle shaft let go, when it happens). And last but not least, the stock carrier is the weakest link in the assembly, if you get a chance to replace it with a full carrier locker, you will have eliminated the weak link.
On a good note, you can drive many a mile on the trail with a snapped axle shaft, and only the callipers retaining the hub assembly(provided you remove the axle shaft and grind off any irregularities that will make the axle ride out ward, on rotation).
Good to hear youve finally come to your senses and listened to my astounding wisdom. <IMG SRC="smilies/thefinger.gif" border="0">

[ 09-29-2001: Message edited by: H8monday ]

I heard the pinion is 2" to the passenger side. How is this affectind drivabillity? Mine is a daily dirver that gets allot of miles. Any info would be great.

Steven
<IMG SRC="smilies/roxy.gif" border="0">

Boston Mangler.. cool deal man, Im north of Diego county, but we'll definately meet up.

H8, you are the man. I would have done the swap a long time ago.. but didnt feel it was necessary with my setup back then. After shearing a hub on Wreckingball, I felt that the d34 w/ff wouldnt hold up to the tire size anymore. Dang 14 bolt!! BIG BOY!!!! Are you going out to the hammer for the Fun In the Desert this year? I promise not to puncture a hole in my oil pan!!! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

The pinion not being perfectly centered with the jeep, umm i didnt notice a thing when driving it. My jeep is a daily driver too.

I added a hair more lift to the heep upfront to compensate for the axle swap, and installed the new "ACOS" from ORGS, the adjustable coil-over spacer.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jeepdave/aftercoilspacer.JPG

The u-bolt skids are the 2 piece cheap ones from 4wd Hardware. I am not sure they sell them any more. They look like regular plates with tabs and them the skid is bolted to the tabs. They are much easier to install then the Tomken ones and have take a bunch of abuse. They were originally for the D35 and I redrilled them for the 8.8.

The offset of the pinion doesn't cause any driveability problems.

I took care of most of the 8.8 issues with the full floater kit, Detroit and the axle truss-like skid. I am pretty much bulletproof, but I am sure there is a way I could break it. I don't think my stock 4.0l has enough in it 99.9% of the time to break the rear.

Originally posted by SOCALXJ:
<STRONG>OLD FART - your a bastard <IMG SRC="smilies/flipoff.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

Only because I practice! <IMG SRC="smilies/pissed.gif" border="0">