Well, after getting some chores done this morning, I decided to go ahead and swap the D35 for the 2nd JY 8.25 I picked up on Saturday.

I did not trim the shock mounts yet, as I really did not expect this swap to go smooth at all. Much to my surprise, what I expected to have trouble with worked!

But the existing shocks were 4" too short at full droop! If if I had chopped the 8.25 mounts, they still would have been too short, I jacked up the 8.25 to load the suspension, and began lifting the the body rails off the jack stands before the shocks would fit.

Its my understanding that a stock XJ measures roughly 6" from the top of the axle tube to the inside of the frame at the bump stop...based on that, my lift in the rear is 4.5".

Shortened shock mounts are in my immediate future.