Hi all,
Have owned my jag for about 8 yrs and I am about to do major surgery. It needs rear disks and dana seals I think. so will be looking for some guidence locating parts etc. I live in the US pacific nw washington state.
Look forward to meeting you in the forums. John.

 

I heard that it's a bag of fun on that car.

 

For most DIYers the most practical method is to drop the entire rear suspenson....which isn't quite as bad as it sounds but, yeah, it's a big job no matter how you slice it. It can be done "in car" but removing the discs means letting the lower arms drop wayyyy down which means elevating the car higher than most would be comfortable with.

Good time to replace calipers and shocks, too.

Coventry West, MotorCars Ltd, Welsh Jaguar are but a few of the popular vendors.

Cheers
DD

 

Welcome, best of luck with your restoration project

 

Welcome to the forum, looks like you are up for some fun. Never could understand why they put the discs inboard.

 

To reduce unsprung weight....something every suspension engineer frets over.

Time marches on and lighter materials are available. And certainly the old style Jag IRS must've been very expensive to manufacture. As we know Jaguar finally gave up the fight and eventually went to a more ordinary IRS arrangement....starting with the XJ40 and, later, the last of the XJSs.

For years and years, though, the old Jag IRS was considered by many to be a real masterpiece. I suspect engineers for many other manufacturers would have liked to come up with something similar....given a clean sheet of paper and big enough manufacturing budget.

The downside to this marvel is, of course, for the owner who must face the difficulty of repairs or the expense of same if paying to have them done. At that point the gloss wears off a bit to all except the most ardent admirers, like me :-)

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the welcoming words everyone.
With regard to my jumping in with this major overhaul, it looks a daunting task. I was convinced that the best course of action was to drop the complete rear end assy. In that regard, I estimate I will have to jack up the rear a couple of feet, enough to clear everything when I drop the assy with my hydraulic transmission jack. Any suggestions where and how best to support the body. What about jack stands under the side jacking points?
I noticed the Dana is liberally coated with grime and oil which leads me to believe the seals are shot so I plan to replace these. Are there any domestic parts that work for these or should I source parts from a jag dealer?
Any guidence is welcome.
John

 

I put jackstands right next to the little jacking pegs. For a job like this, where the car is up sorta high, I like to back up the stands with big blocks of wood or wheels under the rocker panels. This way, at least, if a stand fails the car won't drop all the way to the floor.....with you underneath.

Anyhow....

Contact a Jag parts specialist for the seals. Coventry West does tons of diff rebuilds....they'd be a good source. I don't think Jaguar even listed individual seals for the Dana diffs, perhaps because the Danas were used only on an interim basis.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug, Thanks for the response. Sounds like a great suggestion, safety comes first!
Will keep everyone informed on my progress. Now to get some parts ordered.
Later, John

 

welcome aboard jaydebee, good to have you here and I hope you enjoy the site
Some great members / techs here as you've already seen by the looks of it, and plenty of good info and fun too
FFA sorted for you

 

Hi there all,
After reading the shop manual and digesting the work flow I bit the bullet and dropped the rear end. Quite a challenge for a first timer as getting the car into a position that was high enough with my jack stands. I had to do a little woodwork with some 2x4's to build them up enough to ensure the rear end on the jack would come out after I lowered it. Success!
I pulled the calipers and began to disassemble them to replace the seals. The exterior dust seals were in shreds an there was evidence of rust around the edge of the pistons. After blowing them out with the air line to get a good look, I was disappointed to see there were several deep pits and a ton of real rusty residue inside the caliper body. I tried to clean one up with some 800 grit cloth and gave up, called around for replacement remans. NAPA had a great deal and also a $25 mail in rebate. So I picked up a pair. I am now waiting for my disks and seals from Coventry West to arrive, then I can really get cookin' on this project.
I have some shocks that I purchased about 5 years ago and was not brave enough to install. This is my chance to get those in too.
I have a question...any one have any suggestions for removing the springs from the rear shocks? After reading the manual I see there are some collets to remove, the spring has to be compressed to get them out.
Looks like I need a special tool, any alternative methods?
Thanks, I look forward to any and all suggestions.
John

 

I just rent a spring compressor from Shucks/O'Reilly Auto parts. You need the "external" type compressor that goes on the outside of the spring and not up thru the middle, obviously.

Compress the spring, remove collets, remove shock, reverse to reassemble. After the first one the other three go pretty easily.

Oh....when you reinstall them into the suspension cage don't forget the metal bushing that goes in the upper shock eyelet....or you'll have a helluva rattle

Cheers
DD

 

Doug, Thanks for the response.

It actually worked like a charm, a lot easier than I had anticipated.
I did forget the bushings, that is until one fell out of the 3rd one I was working on. Had to back track to install the other two. There is a learning curve with everything new I guess.
Now one more step. I am now ready to reinstall the crossbeam and before I do I was thinking of removing the diff cover to drain the oil.
No drain plug on this Dana, they sure make if awkward don't they.
What is recommended for the Dana, anything special like Red Line 75/90 or can I use a generic, if so do I put any additives with the oil I use, if so what and how much?
I realise this could be a hotly debated issue with some folk, what's your opinion?
Many thanks for your help.
Any one else have an opinion on oils and or additives for the DANA?
John

 

I used Lucas 75-90 synthetic. This has the limited slip additive already in it. My 86 does not have the Dana rear end but there should not be a difference in fluid. I just changed mine last weekend. I took 1.5 bottles of the Lucas.

 

sneal46

Thanks for your input.
I did call the local Jaguar dealership and talked to the parts department guy. He indicated that the service department use " Final Drive Fluid" JLM20255 which comes in 1 Lt. bottles for about $45 and change, they add "Power Lock" additive JLM10184 at $40 and change. I scouted several local parts stores for supplies of equivalent products. None of them were able to cross reference these to other products. Their reference material said "See dealership" HA! I found the local NAPA techs most helpful all those on duty pooled their knowledge of Dana rear end, they recommended Valvoline High Performance 80w/90 Limited Slip which has the additive included. I understand there is 3% by volume of the additive included in the oil.
I found some GM tech info on the Web, their info for the Corvette uses Diff fluid GM9986115 and 6% Additive GM1052358. The additive is available under the name Trans-X or Posi-Lock.
I wonder why the corvette uses twice as much additive and was wondering if I should even add more to the Dana. Humm?
Food for thought!

 

The GM 1052358 is fine, and one bottle should do the trick. I use ordinary Shell/Valvoline/Castrol/whatever is on sale 75/90 gear lube...nothing special...but that's just me.

I think the Ford and Mopar friction modifiers are the same stuff as the GM.

Cheers
DD