ragtopman’s 1993 Jaguar XJ Series

After I got home with it and did some minor adjustments, I decided to take it on it's first official drive with me being the owner. The Jag. ran good and I was checking all the minor repairs that it might need when I finally got off the expressway several blocks from my home. A attractive younger female was waving to me trying to get my attention. I figured, I guess this Jag. does attract the women (my wife will not be happy with this, I thought), but the true reason she was waving, was I had flames shooting out from under the rear of my car.  After pulling over the throwing snow under the rear differential  and brake area, I was able to put it out.

After days of research about how to remove and fix the calipers, I decided that the whole rear cage assembly should be removed and all the parts cleaned, checked, replaced, rebuilt and painted. I figured I only want to do this job once.Below we have the diff, brakes, cage etc and this whole unit has to be removed. It turns out to be a fairly major job requiring hours of manhours to get it done.

Above, we have the removed cage, the axles being cleaned in solvent, the rear diff. cover all cleaned and painted, the rear parking brake assembley cleaned and painted and waiting for new pads.Every nut/bolt, assembly and part was removed, cleaned, either replaced with new or resealed and painted and replaced. Every metal part was degreased, cleaned, rust neutrialized, painted with rust inhibitor and painted with Por-15 rust stop paint, gloss black. This whole procedure took days to complete, but it gave to time to order and get delivered all the new parts I needed.Speaking of new parts, Jaguar parts can be very expensive. So shop around and use common sense. A quick example of my meaning, I needed 2 bolts to reinstall the trailiing arms to the frame, the bolts needed to be hardened metal. Jaguar would sell them to me for $12.00 each for a total of $24.00, FOR 2 BOLTS.  I went to my local hardware store and should them what I needed. They had the exact some bolt in hardened metal for $1.40 each. Guess who I bought the bolts from!!!. Anyways, shop around and call different Jaguar speciality dealers and use the internet or you may end up paying way to much for parts. Also be prepared to get incorrect parts delivered or locally sold to you. I've spent hours returning incorrect parts. It just seems to be part of owning a Jag., but don't get discouraged.

The differential was cleaned, sealed and painted with Por-15 and check and rechecked for leaking or bearing damage. I was very torn about replacing the axle stubs as a precaution, but the cost was adding up fast, (the brake parts alone are already over $700, so I decided to roll the dice and not do the diff. stubs at this time. The cost was somewhere in the area of $600 to have them rebuilt. I did find a very well known Jaguar parts dealer that sold rebuilt stubs for $150 each with $100 deposits, but the my money was running short. As I also had to put a new clutch in my VW beetle immediately. If you have the money, DO IT WHEN THE DIFF. IS OUT.  I know I am not following my own advice and only time will tell if I made a mistake, but money is getting tight will all the cars I am presently working on and I double and triple checked the diff. and it doesn't appear to need any new seals or bearing, but I may regret this decision down the road.