Im buying a 1998 cherokee with 6.5 long arm kit. i have a 1999 4.5 short arm and want to go bigger. the axles on the one im buying already have the 4.56 gears to run the 35"s. Is it possible to pull out the axles with most of the suspension still intact or remove everything piece by piece? Im figuring the back wont be too bad but the front i would like to keep mostly intact.

 

the longarm rig will have the control arms attached to a custom transfer case crossmember. I suppose it's possible to get it off as one piece but it's gonna be a terrible job to attach it to yours that way. you're not going to want to try and balance the transfer case and body while trying to line up the bolt holes with the axle attached believe me. At a minimum i would unbolt the long arms from the crossmember, install that in place of yours, cut off your control arm brackets, and then remove your axle and slide the new one in, bolting up the arms last.

in the rear you have to unbolt the springs anyways to remove the axle so i don't see what else you could be asking about doing?

You're going to be losing a lot of maneuverability with everything as one big piece. I'd just take the extra time to undo a few bolts to save yourself hours of headache.

 

For the rear, you can leave the leafs attached to the axle and swap it over.

 

if anything the rear is better to take out as a set and the front not so much. mostly just because there is a lot more to deal with in the front. remember though, in the rear you will have to take apart the brakes and get at the parking brake cable. other than that, its just 10 bolts and the brake line

Front, you got track bar, long arms, brake lines, shocks, springs, steering (wherever you decide to disconnect it and on). Remember, once everything it out the axle will want to rotate (always going to try and rotate the opposite of the direction you want) and the steering will fight you, shocks will be torqued funny on their bushings, etc.

 

this

 

Thanks guys. Just was trying to keep most of it on there. But I've had it out b4 so its no big prob anyways. Thanks tho.

 

Actually if that's the case. Should swapping out the axles easier then changing the gears? I'm thinking so but would like some thoughts. Thanx

 

swapping full axles vs opening the diff and swapping the r&p? yeah definitely in the sense that you dont have to set up the gears when done. also cheaper since you wont have to pay to get the gears set up (assuming youre not one of the few that can do it themselves)

 

That's what I was thinking. Thankx guys. Had cherokees for past 15 years. I'm only 28. Always looked to you guys for answers and I'm glad I'm a member today.thanx

 

rear can be done mostly in one pc just unhook e brake cables at the bracket under floorboard where you adjust them and the shock, shaft, leaf bolts and roll it to other xj