99 XJ, paid off in a few months. Time to play, I know it would be cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to buy one, but i wanna take a crack at it.
Any advice

The XJ's were designed as a 4wd vehicle. Everything to make it 4wd is a bolt in process. Where are you located?

That was my assumption, new front axle/ driveline & t-case and I'd be good to go, right? (for the most part)

Elverta/Sacramento, to answer your question?

Have you done it?

Can't be too hard. Just get the axle of your choice, a T-case, and get out the welder, saw-zall, and tools and have at it! (You might consider a drive shaft too).

go find a wrecked 4wd with the same body style and have at it.

a xj d30 front will bolt in, a tcase can bolt to your tranny, you need a new cross member iirc and ds's


Not really hard at all.

go find a wrecked 4wd with the same body style and have at it.

a xj d30 front will bolt in, a tcase can bolt to your tranny, you need a new cross member iirc and ds's


Not really hard at all.


Yes, but WHY would ANYONE in their right mind spend all that time to swap a d30 into a heep. Look around and find a 231 that someone is selling, as that should do you fine with under 37's. See if you can get the xmember too...if not that should be cheap from a jy..or even better, build your own crossmember with link mounts and throw on some long arms or something, then a 44 up front..blah blah...and don't forget, watch out for those terrorists.

\watch out for those terrorists.

Thanks for the advice, and by the way do you how much stupid shit
I read everyday on this board. I knew I'd catch hell for that, just wanted to see if u guys were awake. Besides those terrorists are resourceful, anyone know one that can weld send'em my way. I'll pay in chickens!! :flipoff2:

You'll need to swap the tranny too, or at least the tailcone(not sure on the specifics, but I know the T-case will not bolt up to the 2wd tranny).

Contact Neil at www.jwjeep.com Tell him what you are trying to do and he can supply each and every part that you need. He can work a package deal for you.

I converted my 94 ZJ. I'd already modded it a little, and I was able to get all the parts (including t-case and 4wd tranny from a yard from a 96 ZJ) for 900. IMO, it's a good opportunity to upgrade without tossing parts. If I had to do it again, I'd shoot straight for the 4:1 case and put a 44 up front instead of just going with a bolt in 30. It can get pretty involved as it requires attention to almost every system on your vehicle, but with a good garage and proper experience could be done in a weekend provided that nothing goes really wrong.

You will have to swap out the transmission too. The output shaft is different, so you can;t just swap out the tail pieces and bolt the transfer case to your transmission.

You could swap out the tail shaft and find a housing, but why? Get a new transmission and bolt it in.