"It's not a "all wheel drive" vehicle. It has a locking diff between the t-case and the wheels, which acts as a diff in 4x pt and locks in 4w h and 4w l. Its the same t case as the Wrangler + the diff. So 4h and 4l are great for off road.
And yes, the unibody is a week link, if you go real rad with it, but sub frame connectors do exist.
Lots of governments have used these (including our own) for off road stuff and power co.s etc. used them to travel line roads, so it must be pretty capable ."

Rob, welcome to the fun of being a Jeep owner. That's a nice looking Cherokee you've purchased. I didn't mean to mislead you with the "all-wheel drive" comment, it was just an easy way to describe the full time function of the NV242. The more you read about building the Cherokees for offroad use and use the cherokee out on the trails, the more you'll become acquainted with its limitations . Have fun with your new Jeep. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, Fred. Didn't mean to sound miffed. I know its no Rubicon, and I value you guys advice. I just always think of the "all wheel" drives as those sideways motor things with front and rear ind. suspension. and axles the size of my little finger. I was pretty sure mine was gonna be tougher than that.
The good news is that it measures 3" between the u bolts. So I guess I have the better rear end. Does this make it more "trail capable"? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

With those 3" tubes you also got larger bearings.. I'd say yes it is somewhat more trail capable..
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

With larger axle tubes, comes the ability to make the axles and bearings themselves larger, and allows more splines to be rolled into the axle shafts.

By the way your Cherokee does look good. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Thanx, Maybe we can get together at The lake up there and play sometime...., I'm always in Ft.Worth on weekends. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Good deal on the 8.25, its not a bad axle, it has an 8.25" ring gear and 29 spline shafts, where a Dana 44 has a 8.5" ring gear and 30 spline shafts, and the Dana 35 has 7.5625" ring gear and 27 spline shafts. So it can put up with more than the Dana 35 and is just marginally weaker than the Dana 44. Trail Capable is really a broad term, one's capability on a trail has more to do with choosing a line, and knowing one's limitations. I would still say to keep it stock and wheel it, and find out where you start to get stuck and make changes from there if needed. Jeeps are pretty capable out of the box. Having the 8.25 back there will give you more options on changing the Jeep just because of its additional strength over the Dana 35. I wouldn't expect you would be lifting an XJ to the point where you would be running 35's or 37's so if driving with a little common sense, that 8.25 should be able to put up with most any mild lift and tire size. But like I said, it all depends on how you drive. Most anything will eventually fail if its abused.

That's a nice looking XJ too btw, looks like you got a nice rig. I think you will be happy with it, I know I have been.

Sean

Yea, I'm a firm believer in the "I CAN Break It If I Try".
All I want is to pull the kids dirt bikes and have a little fun with it.
I'm looking at the 3.5" lift and 31" tires.......but I've never bought 16' tires, and I'd kinda like to keep the stock wheels. What is a good, moderately wide 31" tire for a 16" rim?
Thinking I'll stick with BFG Ko's. They have always done me right.

245 75 16 is bout the right size.. you can google tire height chart and find tire height for any tire you wish..
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

All right Jeepers...tell me what kind of hubs I have, the books says nothing that I can find.
I'm used to my Warn manual locks on my KIA....and I a$$-u-me'd that this had auto locks and I had to back up to unlock......or does it just turn the axles and waste gas all the time?
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

The hubs are fully engaged all the time, so the front axles and front drive shaft spin all the time. Warn does make a kit to add typical locking hubs and changes the stub axle on each axle shaft, and changes the wheel bearings from the sealed hubs to the standard serviceable type, but this kit will run you around ~$1000.00 USD. I think most guys will tell you that itÆs just not worth the money to change the front axle over. You might save a half mile per gallon or so depending on lift, and the price of the bearing hubs over the life of the jeep just donÆt warrant it from a bearing standpoint. I was bothered about this at first too, and was looking at making the swap when I just needed to replace the front wheel bearings, but I just could not justify the price of the kit. I think I paid ~$250.00 - $300.00 for the 2 bearing hub assemblies which typically last ~100K miles, so I would have had to replace the bearings 2 more times (take the jeep to 400K) miles to begin to balance out the price of the locking hub kit. As much as I love my Cherokee, I just donÆt see it lasting that long in the north east. The other part I donÆt like on the Jeeps is the bolt pattern (5 on 4.5ö) which the Warn kits would allow one to change too up to the more standard (5 on 5ö), which would then involve brake rotor changes, and wheel changes, and it just started to add up too quick just to make it so I could have common rims between my Ford and my Jeep. The options do exist for you though, check out the Warn web page.

Sean