hello everyone! i know there are already numerous threads about this awesome conversion. but none that i have found seem to answer my questions, so i'm hittin the forums.
okay, i got the jewel of ford 8.8s found this thing in a junk yard this morning with about 100k on it, disc brakes, 4.10 gear ratio... everything i wanted for only about $130!
my issue, i'm very limited budget wise..
found my mounts that i'm getting for it already. having a small issue with price on the brake line and parking brake cable conversion kit/s and yoke adapter
wanna know if anyone out there has found a sweet deal on these parts.
also... the backing plates for the brakes are wrecked from the pull/salvage yard carnage... can i just do without these?? thanks in advance for the help guys!

 

you should be able to run stock brake lines and the adapter is about 30 bucks

 

stock brake lines wont work....you'll have to get another passenger side soft line for the driver side and mod the current hard lines on it to allow your soft line to bolt up.

 

like what kind of mod am i looking at for the hydraulic brakes?

 

If you haven't already check out mountainoffroad.com they have all kinds of stuff for the 8.8. Not a lot of xj stuff but they have some.

 

for the brake line you can get adapter fittings. O'reilly's had them in stock by me. they where like this but it was a solid fitting not a line... first listing.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...ts=15&sortBy=1

25$ flange adapter (also the rangers used the 1310 u-joints so one could be sourced threw a junk yard) http://www.knowwhere2jeep.com

you should be able to bend the backing plates back to a good position. I am unsure on weather or not you can run without them. I know they aren't that important by them self's but may be a spacing issue or seal issue with them removed. haven't had experience with this first hand.

I used ballistic fab's brackets for my rear D44. I would highly recommend them. just need to enter the tube diameter and spring width. xj's 2 1/2 in wide. Its a lot cheaper then 8.8 swap kits... 112$ also allow you to move your axle back 1 inch if you drill another hole in the top spring plate. thats how I moved mine back. http://www.ballisticfabrication.com

you could reuse your top spring plates and just buy u-bolts and the spring bracket for 30$... http://www.ballisticfabrication.com
then buy some u-bolts from auto-zone or a spring place locally, and re-drill your spring plates to move the axle back. if you want to.

also 1$ shock tabs... http://www.ballisticfabrication.com

they have tons of great options. I would not run a conversion join in the rear... some people just use the 8.8 rear flange and get a 1310-1330 u-joint. some parts stores stock these but not many by me. its worth getting a 1310 flange so spares are easy to find in the middle of no where... good luck!

 

look up east cost gear supply they got everything u need for the swap got my flang there brakes etc

 

all the stoff from the explorer should of been gotten when you got the rear