Yeah, I think its general consensus that its easier to drop the subframe than work in the cracks... Even the guy writing the other thread said it would have probably been easier to drop his. Just wanted to point out that somebody had done it before. The article I cant find did claim that they saved time and hassle by doing it sideways, but in my case it wouldnt matter anyway because Im having poly bushings put in at the same time, so it all has to come down.

 

On a 99' XK8, I replaced a diff on it. I have a lift at work though. My advice on the exhaust is I removed the hangers by the exhaust tips, loosened the factory exhaust clamps just in front of the rear subframe and pried the 2 small mufflers towards the back of the car. I then raised the whole car up while the complete rear subframe rested on a sturdy table with the exhaust still attached. to those hanger bolts on top of the subframe! Lol

 

Instead of reusing the bolts to reattach the hangers, I welded in a couple of studs into the captive nuts on the subframe bracket. I just needed to spin on the new nuts once the subframe was lifted back into position.







I found I was able to get a spanner up there like this, initially to get the bolts out, then later to put the nuts on.




I was just able to get a spanner on, no chance to get a ratcheting spanner on unfortunately. I could only turn it a 1/6th of a turn at a time so it took ages to get all four bolts off and it was pretty painful.

 

Thanks RD on your input I'd read your original thread before starting. Getting to the bolts depends also on hand size! AS I said getting the off was ok, I go t one back on and is enough (most rear to back of car)

I WISH I'd seen your idea to put the studs in, getting a nut back on would be very doable since the orig design biggest problem is aligning bolt through hanger into bracket nut and being able to turn it a nut on stud good idea

 

I had to replace the diff recently. Costed me around 1200 euro in labor cost , but at least half of the cost was to fix the rusted subframe.

 

After calling every Jaguar shop in the greater Atlanta area, and then about 30 more foreign car shops, and all of them telling me they didnt want to do the job, or that they dont install aftermarket parts at all, or even telling me that installing it is a bad idea because of whatever nonsense... I just damn gave up, in disgust. Temporarily. I planned on doing it myself, this spring sometime...

Then, I took the car in for an oil change at a random grease monkey shop near my house. They offered to do the swap job as well as a full poly bushing swap, and I took them up on it even though they seemed less than stellar - at least they were willing.
I dropped it off on Tuesday at lunch, and they called me on Thursday at lunch to pick it up. 48 hours, not bad at all. The job was done properly, with bearings and bushings and everything greased, or at least as far as I can tell.

The final labor was $825 for the Quaife, bearings, and all the rear purple Powerflex bushings, and shock bushings, and shock mount bushings.
About 1500 for the Quaife LSD, 800 for the bushings and bearings, plus fluids and stuff, Total cost was under 3500.

And the effect is priceless! The car is so much better with an LSD... The feel of power going to the road on the outside wheen when cornering, it pushes the car around the corner instead of losing traction and spinning on the inside wheel; from a stop it leaps forward now, instead of shuddering ahead like a palsied cow as soon as the TC catches. The LSD makes a truly remarkable difference in the XKR, it is exceptionally good stuff, in every way.
I can not say it enough, if you enjoy spirited driving, you MUST get a limited slip rear end for your XK.
In my opinion its not only way more fun, but far more predictable, over twice as efficient, and thus safer to drive. Seriously, for the price, its a bargain compared to the performance gain simply due to traction.
There is absolutely no drawback to having this rear end. It should have been a stock part, and Jaguar should install them for free just to apologize for not making them this way in the first place.

The powerflex bushings, on the other hand, are not perfect; they are a tradeoff, comfort for rigidity, simple as that. Ill have to save my review of those for later, but Ill say here that they are nicely stiffer, but I do 'feel' more road noise through the wheel, my seat and feet. They arent significanly rougher, but they change the feel and atmosphere very subtly to a sportier one, rather than the smooth luxury feel we have all grown accustomed to. Im not sure they are better at all, but theyre different. They are surely a matter of opinion, whereas the Quaife is a matter of fact - it is noticeably better in every way.