im looking to put a rear end out of an fx4 in my 08 xl. I need the 4.10 gears for the 31s, the 373s are killing me!

The task doesnt seem too hard, i want to upgrade shocks while im at it as well.
Im ok with my hands, and can work on vehicles, but im far from a mechanic...so my question is, after replacing the axle, do the rear brake lines need bleeding? or is everything just a simple bolt on and replace type thing?

 

Yes you will need to bleed the brakes.

 

cool, thanks man, i been searching for a how to on that too but no luck. Guess when i do it in the spring i'll write a how to

 

if at any time you remove a fitting and remove the airtightness of the system, it needs bleeding.

 

I have a nifty little hose that pushes onto the bleeder, you just loosen it up and pump the brakes til the air bubbles are gone. In the old days I used to get a helper to pump the brakes.

 

The handheld pump bleeder also works really nice, and you can use it for much more than just brakes. You can pick one up from Napa for like $45, just get one. As for the swap, it's pretty simple. Chock front wheels, unbolt driveshaft, jack up truck high enough to be able to roll axle out-that's important, I learned the hard way. Throw some jack stands under it, pull rear wheels, pull drums, unhook parking brake, unhook center brake fitting and speed sensor on top of axle (have some kind of plug handy to stop brake fluid from making a big mess). At this point I strapped the axle to my floor jack right under the pumpkin, jacked the axle up a few pumps to take some pressure off the springs and shocks and then carefully removed shock bolts and u bolts and lowered the jack and pulled the axle right out. Just take your time and it's a real easy project. Put everything back together like you took it apart. I'll load some pics tomorrow.

 

wonderful, i'll need the pictures. The brakes part it what has me nervous..im completely lost when it comes to drums, and i dont want to mess anything up. But im sure with enough reading i'll be able to do it

 

I was scared of them at first too, I always keep a haynes manual on hand with all the pics in it, and do one side at a time so I can check the other side if I get lost.
As for the pictures of the axle, I'm having trouble finding them right now, but I will keep looking and post them as soon as I find them.