Project Axle Swap Part One, Two, and Three

     So last weekend my dad and I wanted to switch out my axle on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ. The axle we had on was all rusted and the shock mount fell off of it in January. Quick history, back in either the end of November or the beginning of December we bought a wrecked 1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ Country Edition. The plan for this Jeep was to pull any parts off of it that we either wanted to keep or sell to cover the cost of the car. Back to my story, the day we started this was Saturday Feb. 25, 2017. We are starting this project with the front axle. First we took the brake calipers off and disconnected the shocks. After that we disconnected the sway bar, drive shaft, and drag link form the pitman arm. I also disconnected the the track bar. All that we had left to disconnect was the upper and the lower control arms. After disconnecting every thing the axle laid on the floor. Part one is complete.
     While disconnecting everything of my jeep we ran in to a few problems like bolts won't break free and having a nut break from its weld. These problems are no fun! Finally got a bolt to break free, but the real challenge was having to remove a bolt that just spins. It took us about 5 days to figure out how to remove that bolt. My dad thought about cutting it of with a torch. He doesn't own a torch, so he called around and every one he talked to didn't want to do it because it was to close to the oil that is all over under the car they didn't wan't it to catch fire. While he was calling round I put the new parts on the axle. Which was a new steering stabilizer, sway bar links, and tie rod end. We finally just had cut it off with a sawzall.
     Now that the bolt has been cut off we had reconnected everthing. I also bought a new brake caliper, so I put it on and we bled the breaks. This project wasn't hard at all. If you were deciding to replace your axle on your car and you have the tools I would say go for it. This project taught me a lot about car maintenance. If I was told to go switch an axle I would to it in a heart beat. Part four would be to put the other axle back on the other jeep. Can't wait to see what my next project is on the car.

Parts under the car