full width axles in xj

[chiefwannaburn]

hey just wondering if its a good idea to put in dana 44's from chev pick up and how hard it would be?
any help would be nice THNX

[Black Betty]

hey just wondering if its a good idea to put in dana 44's from chev pick up and how hard it would be?
any help would be nice THNX

Going out on a limb here, if they are full width then it will stick out a wee bit from you wheel wells.  Also the bolt pattern will be different, and the pumpkin may be on the passenger side so you would have to swap t cases or possibly clock the one you have, if at all possible.  Then you will have to remove all the bracketry on the axle, weld on brackets for all four control arms and track bar, set up proper camber and pinion angles, add new driveshafts etc.  Steering would have to be reworked aswell.

Lots of work, but anything can be done.

Best bet would be to buy the d44 on sale from the for sale board right now and bolt that in, and get a front from an old wagoneer to swap in.

Or just buy a front d44 from dynatrac, but that would be pricy too.  At least that would be bolt in.

[chiefwannaburn]

thanks but how do i set the right angles
this is ome thing i really want to do ive got the axles already so i wa thinking ill just cut the brackets off of the dana 30 for all the links and track bar
and put them on the full width 44 so hopfully tha will be strong enough

[Tyn Pow]

thanks but how do i set the right angles
this is ome thing i really want to do ive got the axles already so i wa thinking ill just cut the brackets off of the dana 30 for all the links and track bar
and put them on the full width 44 so hopfully tha will be strong enough

No offense, but if you hack those axles in there with the stock brackets please don't ever drive this on any highway, street or public road of any sort.  The stock brackety kinda sucks, and the thought of cutting it off and pasting it to a 1/2 ton axle makes me want to puke.

It'll take alot of work to put those chevy axles in there, as Black Betty mentioned, only to have stock low pinion 44's with the only real upgrade being the wheel bearings and knuckles.  What would you do for suspension?  Stock?  3/4 link or radius arm?  How would you set up your track bar with your steering???  What tcase would you swap in, and depending on that what tranny would you swap?  Then driveshafts and exhaust?

Seriously dude, that's alot of work and money and if you're not sure how to set the pinion angle you're probably not ready for this job.  I'd sell those axles and and least get a drivers drop 44 (waggy or Ford) if you're set on an axle swap.  And if you do the swap, you really should if nothing else buy some proper brackets.  Clayton makes a nice high clearance kit.  Also check out Pirate 4x4 and see how guys are doing axle swaps.   

[JENSSEN]

I opted for a 9" and dana 44 From a donor '78 Bronco,.. not that bad to make fit

The wide @$$ Pitbulls stick out a bit,..

[raf2379]

the chev front 44 is not your best axle to swap in the front as mentioned due to the passanger drop, but some have done it. try to find an early 70's ford dana 44 HP with the weld on wedges. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/index.htm it would be the easiest to swap, but new brackets would have to be made, easiest solution would be the T&T front truss with brackets and a set of lower control arm brackets. http://tntcustoms.com/front.aspx it will cost a little bit of money, unless you can fab and weld everything your self, then you could do it for cheep, just get some scrap metal from federal metals in calgary, its like $0.30 per lb. then cut, tack, fit weld. as for setting your caster, you will have to mock up the axle at desired lift with proper drive shaft angle, then cut the inner C's off and re-clock it with a 5-7 degree positive caster, then weld the c's on properly. read Mr.Dana article it is good information he even has a build write up on the 44 he built.

[cLAY]

I used a a front D44 from a widetrac Wagoneer on my XJ. Other than the coil buckets the stock brackets are NOT acceptable to reuse as they are not strong enough. I reused the right side coil bucket/track bar mount and ended up ripping it in half. Besides if you are running a front D44 then you are running a 35"+ tire and that means you have 6"+ of lift. So that means you are also running long arms right?

6"+ of lift means you should be looking at a high arm steering setup to reduce the angles and an over the axle trac bar mount setup. Knuckles will need to be rotated on the tubes to maintain proper caster/pinion angles. Coils should be centered on the diff vs offset to push the axle forward and make room and the rear wheel opening for the bigger tires, also this gives room for the beefed up steering linkages and the ram assist. You'll need ram assist and some sort of re-inforcment on the unibody to prevent the steering box from ripping off and to turn those big tires.

Since you're using a Chev D44 its a passenger side drop you'll need to swap out the t-case. You're on your own for this.

If you still think putting in those free axles will save you money then research here for the particulars:

www.naxja.org

[chiefwannaburn]

well you  have officaly talked me out of it all together