advice on FS D44's

Ok well here is my feeler. as most of you know i have a 68 waggy and come to find out it has D44 front and rear. so now my brain is ticking. I know a downfall is drum on all 4 but how bad is it to put those on and is there something i need to know. Anyone who has seen my rig knows i have 10" wheels and they hang out there far so i figured if i run standard offset with 7 to 8" wheels it would be close to the same as what i have now. I have not looked at the axles yet to see how much fab will need to be done as it is at father in laws, but the thought just passed my brain as i was talking with grimm. If anyone has done this let me know the issues you have hit. Thanks

anyone? this just got moved here so bumping

Is that the one that was at goatfest? I say keep the axles where they are!

You can pick up a ford hp44 for not very much, with disc brakes... no way would I gut a waggy only to end up with front drums in whatever I put its axles in.

There are lots of variables on Wagoneers. There are narrow track and wide track, The one's I've looked at with Borg Warner Quadratrac have the rear diff off center. Is the front driver's side drop or passenger side?

The best years for harvesting D44s from are 86 and newer. The stopped using the Borg Warner Transfer Case so the rear diff is centered, they ran out of AMC 20s about then and started using D44's again and they had passenger side drop in the front. Even then it is debatable whether it's easier to use the rear D44 or get one from an Isuzu Rodeo with matching bolt pattern and factory rear disks.

kastein said:

Is that the one that was at goatfest?

Click to expand...

nope that was a newer waggy. mine is a old 68 kaiser with dana20 trans case and buick 350 dauntless

Ignore.

This will be a passenger drop front end and no wider than stock XJ axles.

Also I believe the D-44's were 10 spline shafts until 1970. So I agree...steer away.

If you want late model jeep width (IE TJ, YJ, XJ, etc) get waggy 44's from 1980-82 or '85-91. (82-85 some had the funky vac disco). Even the FSJ AMC 20 is a stout axle (much better than a CJ AMC 20) but doesn't have as many gear ratios as the D-44 does.

Anything before 1980 will be passenger drop...'80 plus is driver.

Also if you want FSJ axles AND "full size" width (65" WMS-WMS)then get some from a FS Cherokee (make sure it's full width and not the 'narrow track...(some FS cherokees were) OR get some from a J-10 or J-20.

J20 axles...

Just got talked out of buying a set of these by some friends of mine.

Rear: dana 60, 30 spline shafts, decent width. Some came with LSD. 30 spline shafts are lame, same size as a d44, as it was put to me "that axle is a big gay heavy dana 44."

Front: low pinion dana 44, decent width. Low pinion = find something better if you can.

They almost always came with 3.73s as far as I know, I don't believe anything else was available from the factory.

This goes for J20 axles listed in the 87-90 jeep parts catalog, I did not research other years.

If you are looking to run 3.73s and can get them for a decent price (like a few hundred, no more) I guess go for em, but I will be running 35s if I end up on 44s/60s and therefore I decided I'd try to find a set of axles with 4.10s or 4.56s stock and aim for a high pinion front and a 35 spline rear.