02 Liberty Rear axle swap

I new to the forums and looking for some help. I have an 02 liberty Sport that need a rear axle so i was told when I bought it. The story behind it needing a rear axle is.....I guess the previous owner drove through shallow river and the rubber plug was not in the rear diff. So it got water and sand in the diff. They drove it until it started making a grinding a clicking noise, so they sold it. the liberty currently has the Corp 8.25... 3.73 ratio w/o abs and trac loc diff. I cant find an axle that has the trac loc anywhere. but I can find the same axles minus the trac loc all day....so can i just swap them out or is there something specific about the trac loc rear end? Thank you in advance..

Provided the ratio is the same they are interchangeable, make sure you get the older style with the single speed sensor in the diff body if you have ABS.

OK that's good to hear... I was told by a Jeep dealership that axle from the donar jeep had to be the same mine or I would have problems. The donar liberty is an 02 as well same ratio and no abs.. It just don't have the Trac loc. So hopefully it's a easy swap.

Is yours disc or drum brakes? I dont know if the axle housing is the same. Have also heard of a Dana 35 being used in '02, so skip that one.

The plain open diff can accept a Lockright or similar, if you need/want more aggressive traction than a trac-lok.

I have drum breaks on mine. From what the dealership told me when they looked up my Vin I have (Chrysler 8-1/4 3.7L 3.73 Ratio Without ABS With Trac loc). But I was also told that the open carrier with the same ratio would not work. So I decided to ask the real experts on Jeeps... That's why I'm here..

Oh, never seen one with drums! I have a disk brake trackloc on my Jeep and a disc brake non trackloc laying in my workshop, externally they are identical.

I wish it had disc breaks... Lol..

If you don't have ABS either trak-loc or not will work unless there's a speed sensor in the differential for the speedometer. ABS sensor through '05 was in differential. '06 and up had sensors at both rear wheels for electronic/ABS traction control.

The difference between trak-loc diffs and open diffs is internal. A trac-loc diff cannot fit an aftermarket locker like the Detroit Tru Trak but the open diff can. If you like your trak-loc limited slip diff you can rebuild it, weld it, or leave it as a worn out LSD open diff. That's my understanding and it only applies to these Liberty diffs. Many differences in other differentials.

Without ABS a conversion to rear disc brakes should be fairly easy. There might be a different sized piston in the master cylinder for disc brakes; compare part #s? Of course, you get the funky "top hat" parking brake and possible differences in actuating cables.

Housings are the same between 8.25s 02 thru 05 with the center diff sensor. It's unlikely you'll run across the 35 that was in a few of these things. You can convert to disc brakes. It's a common mod for xj peeps to get the setup off of Liberties. You'd need to change some brake lines and cables as well if you wanted to make the switch. If you find a donor with discs it should all be there. If you wanted to keep your drums on a disc axle housing you'd have to put everything down to your backing plates outward.

OK thx for the info.. I have a few axles I'm looking at on ebay.. Knowing that ill try to find one with disc breaks..

If you have access to a wrecking yard you'll be able to grab the other goodies needed for the disc swap. I'm fairly certain parking brake cables are different not sure about the hydraulic lines? Plus at the yard you might get away with leaving calipers and lines connected to axle and not be charged for them.

Search at www.car-part.com too.

Personally I'd just stick with drums in the rear. Less maintenance and swapping the axles will be straightforward. The rear brakes on these things don't work very hard anyhow since the Liberty is a tall short wheelbase vehicle and most of the weight is transferred to the front wheels under heavy braking. Sure, on a car with 50/50 weight distribution and wide rear tires rear discs are 100% necessary since they would contribute a lot to the overall braking force, but on the Liberty...I don't know why they didn't just continue with drums through the whole production run.

WheelNut said:

Personally I'd just stick with drums in the rear. Less maintenance and swapping the axles will be straightforward. The rear brakes on these things don't work very hard anyhow since the Liberty is a tall short wheelbase vehicle and most of the weight is transferred to the front wheels under heavy braking. Sure, on a car with 50/50 weight distribution and wide rear tires rear discs are 100% necessary since they would contribute a lot to the overall braking force, but on the Liberty...I don't know why they didn't just continue with drums through the whole production run.

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Probably would have made the handbrake much better too.