I recently took on the job of replacing the pinion bearings in my 98 xj. When I went to put the outer bearing in I realized the one I had bought from the local parts store was a lot smaller than the original. After doing some research I figured out that the front diff had been replaced at one time or another with that out of a 96 xj. I know these are basically both the same front end, so why is there such a difference in the outer pinion bearing, and are there any other differences I should be aware of?

 

Maybe ABS vs non abs?

 

There was also no crush sleeve on the pinion itself, which I knew they did in 98, but I thought the 96 did have a crush sleeve? Was my front end frankensteined?

 

they are both non abs

 

 

maybe a cj/yj/tj axle that was swapped in cuz it fit and the guy though it was the same??

 

CJ/YJ won't work because they are leaf sprung, TJ maybe, how would I find out?

 

TJs are low pinion, not high pinion.

You could make a CJ/YJ work. Just gotta change the brackets.

 

Good call, didn't even think of the tj being low pinion, doesn't look like the brackets and knuckles have ever been changed, it's serial # matches xj high pinion reverse cut. I'll have it all back together tomorrow, just waiting on the correct output bearing. Just seems very strange that everything else I've changed always matches with the 98, except this output bearing. I also had a strange thing happen one time I ordered an axle joint from quadratec and the cap ends were about and 1/8" too small in diameter, and they insisted they sent me the right one based on my order for a 98 xj, with a dana 30 and no abs. I got the right one from local parts store giving them same info. is there any way to tell what year and model Jeep this came from?