What is my gear ratio in 1982 SX4 2.5l iron duke, T5

[Prafeston]

Sounds like you got yourself a good one there MonkeyJoe!

[Monkeyjoe]

Its kind of funny,  she is a keeper, she does love my old cars and trucks.  She drove the SX-4 all 1400 miles from Green River Wyoming to Tyler, Texas.  She was in love with that car.  I was worried that by the time I got home from deployment I wouldn't by able to pry the keys out of her hands.  She laughs and says I broke the car on purpose so she couldn't drive it any more.

[captspillane]

This is your rear axle that needs to change, right? It's really easy to swap in the correct gear ratio. Finding a donor at the junkyard and swapping them yourself shouldn't take even a whole weekend of your time. Even if you just had her drop the car off at a mechanic it shouldn't hurt more than $300.

All automatic ABS equipped XJs had Dana 35s with 3.54 gears, so they are rather easy to find used. (Non-ABS XJs are usually a different axle that isn't compatible). Buying new or used off ebay should be possible in the $40-$60 range. I paid $40 the last time I grabbed a set for my XJ Dana44. 

[Monkeyjoe]

Thanks for that info.  There is a wrecking yard near the house,  they have some AMC's and Jeeps.   Are the brakes the same size, or will the original backing plates swap so I can install the originals?

The story is long but the Rear axle in the car now is one from a wrecking yard that I paid them to install.  When the axle shaft broke I found a used shaft at the wrecking yard in Pueblo, CO.  After installing it, found the axle shaft was bent.  So the yard said they would install a whole axle assembly for what I already paid for the Axle shaft plus an additional $150.  They "finished" the car but while I was driving north on IH25 north, I realized they had put the axle with the wrong gear ratio in the car.  I didn't have any more time to return, I had to leave Colorado Springs and get back to Wyoming to leave on deployment.   By the time I reached Colorado Springs I had no brakes, they had started to reconnect the brake line but didn't tighten it so I lost almost all of my brake fluid.  And they didn't put the correct U joint in, the drive shaft was vibrating pretty bad.  Found that the caps had almost spun out of the yolk, because the pinion yolk didn't have tabs to hold the caps in, the caps were supposed to have a C clip on the backside. 

I have never had any luck when someone else works on my stuff.

[IowaEagle]

I am glad you were safe after that experience.

[Monkeyjoe]

yep, good thing I found the problems before I put my pregnant wife and 2 year old son in the car.

It is crazy how many times I have had bad experiences with having so called professional mechanics work on my stuff.   I could start a whole new thread on botched mechanic jobs.  And that is not a slight on true Mechanics. 

[captspillane]

Thanks for that info.  There is a wrecking yard near the house,  they have some AMC's and Jeeps.   Are the brakes the same size, or will the original backing plates swap so I can install the originals?

No,  the XJ axle is not easily compatible. Only the ring and pinion is. The idea is to make your current axle a different gear ratio. If I handed my mechanic those parts he'd swap them out much faster than it takes to swap out the whole axle. It would cost about $100 including the cost of the parts.

You pop the cover off the back of the diff, push the axle shafts out of the way, pop the carrier off, remove the driveshaft, knock the big nut off the yoke, remove old ring and pinion, install new one, put it back the way you found it. It's a 2 hour job basically. No brake bleeding required. I just looked at Ebay quick with "Dana 35 3.55" in the search bar and I found exactly what you need parts wise for $50. You can get it even cheaper if you yank them from an XJ in the junkyard, but I personally woudn't bother. I can make $50 at work faster than I can pull those parts at the yard.

[carnuck]

It took me an hour and a half to swap the 8.25 in my wagon, but I don't live in the rust belt and had all parts ahead of time at the ready. Still need to weld the shock mounts onto the housing, but that's not a big deal. I'll be using the Eagle e brake cables. The breather needs a little work yet.

[Monkeyjoe]

Rock auto has the parts, and install kit, the price is pretty good.

My wife just emailed me a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the snow, the background has my SX-4.  Funny I wasn't sure what to look at first, the kids or the car.     I miss them both.  Its like going out with your wife and a pretty girl walks by.  Do you look?

[IowaEagle]

Don't look (at the girls) until you are at least 60.   Your wife will know that you are looking at the menu but that you cannot possibly order.

[Monkeyjoe]

Right, I will have to remember that.