Sidely,you need to buy a worksop manual, it is possible to remove and o'haul the rear calipers without removing the rear cage, but it is not the best of jobs. The reasopn for inboard brakes is to reduce the unsprung weight, which in turn improves handling, think alloy wheels !!
   All the best Brian

Thanks for advice to date. Perhaps I should have added that I don't know one end of a spanner from the other and have to trust pros. Obviously, I use a local specialist or two, not dealers, but all of my local guys indicate axle out and lots of bucks.

Where do you live Sidely?

In reply to Jacqueline, I live in Derbyshire. Didn't think your 1987 model had inboards, thought they were only on some early 90's facelifts........?

Thanks for your comments.

sidely wrote on 06.04.2012 at 22:49:12:


AS Doug says, in-board brakes were fitted to all XJSs up until '93 when they switched to Teves.  The cage on the XJ is interchangeable with the Series XJ ones. Which all had in-board disks too.

Masochist that I am and wanting to save £1500 labour I did the job myself last year. First I tried to do it with the cage in situ, then problems getting at the driveshaft bolts with the car on axle stands meant it was easier to drop the cage. No mean feat with just a small trolley jack but fortunately I have a wide garage and was able to get it out sideways.

Anyway I note the OP needs a garage to do the job so just a comment that (assuming you need new discs) if you find one that knows what they're doing with a lift with chassis supports (as opposed to a drive on ramp that will get in the way) the job can be done with the cage in place, by disconnecting the driveshafts from the discs and the lower damper units from the lower suspension arm.

One problem with dropping the cage is invariably there will be other jobs to do (before deciding have someone check out the tops of the radius arms, their mountings and the surrounding area including the rear of the sill and the front of the wheel arch for rust) and even if not its a great opportunity to rub down and repaint the cage and other bits you'd never normally get at. But if there are no other issues then I'd do it in situ next time.

Talk to Ward Engineering, they are in Colchester so not next door but they do this job all the time and are very helpful on the phone and they may be able to recommend a specialist in your area.

[EDIT: whoever does the job make sure they give you either an all up price or let you know parts prices in advance, as prices can vary quite a bit between suppliers]