8.25 setup, any ideas?

"8-1/4 parts can be had easily/cheap in salvage yards because of all the Vans/Dakotas/cars they were used in. There is a lot of sure grip units lying around in salvage yards and nice ones sell on eBay for $100.00 regulary with new/NOS ones only fetching ~$150.00.
not too mention check your local classified ads/Craigslist and ask around. You'll be amazed at what is still out there."


You act like nobody looks around for this stuff. Like I said, in my area it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to find mopar parts, especially 8.75 rears. I don't even know where the nearest 8.25 rear is. I have checked every junkyard I know of within about 50 miles. Either you have to rummage through acres of cars because "well, we might have something, but you'd have to bring your jack so you can get the car out of the mud and look for yourself, cause I don't know" or they have to have it shipped in from somewhere else. The nearest u-pull-it JY wants about $350 -$450 for an 8.25 rear. I have been looking for a 8.25 out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee for almost a year now, NOTHING. no Dana 44s, no 8.25s, no 8.75s, almost no Dana 60s, and when you do find a Dana 60, its sky-high. One dude is selling a Dana 60 local, with 4.56s and a spool for $1600. Can you believe that?

The cheapest suregrip or posi unit or whatever you wanna call it for the 8.25 on ebay right now is $250. That is probably the biggest cost on redoing a rearend, I know it was on mine. Again, nothing local. If they don't have the axle, they don't have the Suregrip unit. Also, I'm not paying someone $250 or even $150 to set up my gears. $150 is the cheapest price I can find - and they are torch happy, and like to "polish the pinion bearing, so it will come back off the pinion if we need it to." That doesn't sound right to me. Anyway....

Your pricing for those rearends on ebay may be accurate, but that doesn't include shipping costs. At any rate, in my area, if people DO have mopar parts, they hoard them instead of selling. I've heard of ppl who have garages full of mopar stuff that won't even talk about it or show anyone, much less sell it.

You should give us all directions to the junkyards that are selling these parts so cheap, because I'm sure almost everyone on this site would like to spend only $400 for an 8.75 rear end. I know I would have jumped on a BBP 8.75 rear axle for that price. Not only that, but you could make a killing buying them out of the junkyard, assembling them, and then selling them on FABO.