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Interchangable Diffs

A

AlabamaDan

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Heart of Dixie
I've been reading about how overland expedition vehicles frequently have the same differential on the front and rear axle. If something were to happen to the rear diff, they could move it to the front with tools they have on board and continue their journey.

Seems most XJs have a different diff between axles. Usually the rear is a larger one. Could we do something similar with our XJs?
 
you would have to swap in toyota axles or something with a 3rd member or for 9in front and rear
 
Could be interesting.

Of course, they could just pull the rear driveshaft and drive home on the front one. :doh:
 
AnarchyJet said:
Wouldn't the front diff spin the wrong way if it was installed in the back???:spin1:
Click to expand...

Depends on what you mean by the "wrong way".

A low pinion axle in the rear driving forward uses the "drive" side of the gear. In reverse it uses the "coast" side of the gear.

A high pinion axle in the front driving forward uses the same "drive" and "coast" for forward and reverse respectively.

If you swap a high pinion to the rear or a low pinion to the front you are now driving the "coast" side and the "drive" side for forward and reverse respectively.

The "drive" side of the gear is the stronger of the two.
 
MAY POP said:
Put in Rubicon Dana 44s they are the same front and rear. The front bolts in. The rear needs spring hangers welded on to be used on an XJ
Ron
Click to expand...

And this makes them interchangeable how?




Seems like a waste of time and effort. The guys who do this are 2k miles from the nearest town, and cant afford to break down. We usually care spares, wheel with other people, and worst comes to worse, come back the next day with new parts.
 
Starboard M said:
Seems like a waste of time and effort. The guys who do this are 2k miles from the nearest town, and cant afford to break down. We usually care spares, wheel with other people, and worst comes to worse, come back the next day with new parts.
Click to expand...

I agree. Overland exploring is a little different than your average weekend wheeling trip.
 
I don't get it.
What do they do with the broken diff?
Put in the other axle, pointless right?
Leave it out and have axles flopping around with no bearings or oil?

or do they just carry one spare instead of two?
 
dennis461 said:
I don't get it.
What do they do with the broken diff?
Put in the other axle, pointless right?
Leave it out and have axles flopping around with no bearings or oil?

or do they just carry one spare instead of two?
Click to expand...

Most likely replace the broken third member with a spare third member they are carrying in the vehicle.
 
Ah, but overlanders aren't going on a weekend and have a truck full of spares. The truck is full of things they need to live. They're usually 100% dependent upon their vehicle for existence. They're usually driving across the country for weeks/months at a time.

I thought about dropping the driveshaft and just engaging 4x4, but how feasible is that to really drive long distance? Seems like you'd just want to swap it out and be able to drive normally.
 
Can't you just carry extra parts. so if it breaks you can swap the gears and go home. Here you are: go to a u-pull-it and get stock front and rear gears and extra drive shafts on the cheap and store bought u-joints. So if both axles and the driveshafts all break you can get home. and don't worry about the gears being stock and not lower cause you shouldn't be worried about wheeling after you break your good stuff. You should be trying to get home.......
 
aaron barnes said:
Can't you just carry extra parts. so if it breaks you can swap the gears and go home. Here you are: go to a u-pull-it and get stock front and rear gears and extra drive shafts on the cheap and store bought u-joints. So if both axles and the driveshafts all break you can get home. and don't worry about the gears being stock and not lower cause you shouldn't be worried about wheeling after you break your good stuff. You should be trying to get home.......
Click to expand...
:gee:

NO!
I would be easier and would take up less space to carry an entire axle, rather than all the tools to set up gears. Not to mention the time it would take to do so. You need a press to press on and off bearings, inch pound torque wrenches to set preload, dial indicators to check bachlash.

You can't just unbolt gears, then bolt them in.

This is a third member. Specific axles use this, and it just bolts in.
third.jpg


Ritter4.0 said:
Then you need to get the tools to set up the gears too.

And do TJ front axles really bolt in?
Click to expand...

TJ axles are the same mounting as XJ's. JK's are not.
 
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