If you go with a lunch box type get an Aussie or Spartan. They are slightly larger and stronger than a Lockright and the springs don't seem to wear out. Or at least the Aussie's I ran front and rear for 5 years and my buddy has been running the past year and a half hasn't.

 

you ran an aussie for 5 years without changing the springs or anything? good to know

 

That 8.25 in the 97-01's is a tough rear axle, on par with the Dana 44's, no need to swap it if you're not going over 35's. If you want a little more peace of mind, swap in some chromoly axle shafts.

 

who cares what freaking section it's in. i don't even look at that, i just click on new posts...

as for the op, if you want a bolt in axle, cherokee's came stock with dana44 which is about the most sought after and strongest stock axle, but are hard to come by as they only came in the early models. actually 87 is the only year i have been able to find them in, but others will say up to 90, but i don't believe that.

or you can go with an 8.25. later years has 29 spline shafts and earlier versions have 27. but no abs.

that's if you have a d35 now. there is no stronger version of the d35. only the one and it was the weakest axle the cherokee came with.

or you could go ford 8.8, ford 9" or d60 if you feel like doing some fab work to make it fit. 8.8 being the easiest of these.

 

8.8....no reason to go any bigger than that for a street driven jeep.

 

Thread moved/merged into chat...

 

I can think of several reasons to go bigger than an 8.8 for a street driven Jeep. Unless you're talking a mall crawler.

As several people have said, it all depends on what tire size you want and what you plan on doing with it.

 

ford 9 inch

 

dont see it, 8.8's are strong enough to handle 38's stock. and with the huge aftermarket available they can be made almost bulletproof.

anything larger is really just overkill and adding uneeded weight.(for a mostly street driven jeep)

 

Thats debatable at best. I would say that 36s are the absolute largest tire size you would want to run on an 8.8...or any 1/2 ton axle for that matter.(8.25, Dana 44, Ford 8.8, GM 10bolt)

Personally if he's gonna be running 35s, I'd say go with a 29 Spline Chrysler 8.25

They're plenty stout enough to handle 35s as long as your skinny pedal control is more sophisticated than on/off. Not to mention they can be had in good condition for cheap(150 or less). They are also completely bolt in.

To the OP: If you were to go to the trouble of modifying a rear axle to put it in your XJ, you might as well fab up a front to go with it. Stick with a bolt-in and then build big-boy axles.