Full Width Advice

[MountaineerMac]

Looks like I'm going full width here pretty soon, and I'm trying to do all of my homework. Looking to run in the neighborhood of 37's or 38's. I will be retaining my coils/long arms up front. I may have a chance to pick up a set of Ford 60s' (late 70's model) for a pretty good price. If not, I'll be going 8 lug 44/60 when I can round one up.
I've been doing a good bit of searching lately, and ran into a couple of posts about SeanP's rig, and track bar mounting obstacles, as well as how some folks had problems with coil bucket/lca mounting issues on the drivers side. I'm interested in your full width swap stories - problems, experiences, what you'd do different, and what you love about it. Post away. Pics are great. Thanks!!

[csudman]

Hey Mac, I dont know if your set on a 60 rear, but I can get u a 14 bolt for $75.00 let me know if your interested.

[MountaineerMac]

Whats up, man? Thanks for the offer, but I'm set on a 60. The strength to size ratio with the 14bolt just doesn't add up for me. A great axle, but too big for what I'm wanting to do. My preference is actually a 9inch, but it's not quite wide enough, and it's too much $$ for custom width :)

[ashmanjeepxj]

Whats up, man? Thanks for the offer, but I'm set on a 60. The strength to size ratio with the 14bolt just doesn't add up for me. A great axle, but too big for what I'm wanting to do. My preference is actually a 9inch, but it's not quite wide enough, and it's too much $$ for custom width :)

Stock d60 rears suck.

Get the 14bolt and shave it, or get a dana 70, or get the Ford 9in "semifloat" and later swap to 35spline shafts.

For a d60 front, you want the 78-79 F350, they have a longer short side giving you room for a coil bucket and link mounts. The 80+ years will have a SHORTER short side due to a wider leaf spring pearch width. I waited till I found a 79, but if you find an 1980 for Cheap its worth picking up.

[Haggard]

Well here's me $.02.. 30 spline dana 60 rears have scary small shafts.. i'm running one and will changing spindles and shafts to go 35 spline FF.. HP D44 out of a ford f-250 isnt as easy as everyone says.. shortly i'll be posting pics of my finished product.. i would have went with a front 60 but i'd need 14 inches of lift to clear the hog on it with my motorswap. in hindsight the RE bracket kit is useless but i got a great deal on it and was/am in a hurry to get done. The trackbar issue isnt that difficult if you are creative. like i said.. my pics will prolly be posted on monday morning....

[MountaineerMac]

So if the RE bracket kit is pretty much useless on a 60 front, are you guys just fabbing your own? Like I said, I'd love to do a 9in, but it would have to be custom width, because stock 1/2ton isn't quite wide enough for me. I'd love to see pics of SeanP's setup if anyone has any...

[MountaineerMac]

Bump...Anybody?

[MountaineerMac]

:looney:

[Blatant]

I'm addressing this issue by going leaf-springs up front. My 78 F250 D44 will bolt right in ;-)

As for stock rear 60s, I'm not sure "suck" is the proper term. Is the stock 14b stronger than a stock 30-spline 60? Absolutely. I would argue that, even extremely shaved, that axle is overkill on any XJ running sub-40-inch tires. For reference, I ran a spooled 30-spline D60 rear in my YJ with 38.5 SX and did nearly every extreme trail you can name in the Phoenix area. No breakage. None. And I was hard on that rig.

I'm not saying you can't break a 30-spline 60. I'm simply saying I prefer to wait for something to break rather than spend the coin on what could be a useless modification. YMMV.
Dion

[DeadEyeJ]

Didn't some rigs come with 35 spline FF rear 60's?
Also, I thought those old F-350's came with a HP 60 front and a Dana 70 rear. The 70's are all 35 spline 1.5" (?) shafts if I recall correctly. Certainly bulletproof enough for any XJ out there.

Jared:patriot:

By the way, I'd say that ALL of the 1 ton stuff is overkill in an XJ. You'd need a real frame to justify this stuff... (read the sig)

[Blatant]

Exactly why I'm not building another hp front 60 for this rig ^^^^^. Though a rear 60 is probably the easiest build for me, cheap and not too terribly heavy if you pull the drum brakes off.
dion

[MountaineerMac]

Figured I'd get some more replys on this topic here with a few pics...Wait...Guess most folks are at Moab...duh :confused1 Thanks for the replys so far guys.

[hpi_jeep]

Didn't some rigs come with 35 spline FF rear 60's?
Also, I thought those old F-350's came with a HP 60 front and a Dana 70 rear. The 70's are all 35 spline 1.5" (?) shafts if I recall correctly. Certainly bulletproof enough for any XJ out there.

Jared:patriot:

By the way, I'd say that ALL of the 1 ton stuff is overkill in an XJ. You'd need a real frame to justify this stuff... (read the sig)



i have 2 dana 70's with 32 spline shafts. but they are 1.5" diameter, still strong enough for me.

one thing i dont like about the 1ton drums is the weight factor, i bet the drums weight about 70# apeice. you can loose some weight by switching to disks in rear.

[vintagespeed]

I did a 3/4 ton D44/14B swap. I got the 14B for cheap, removed the drums, added a $65 disc conversion kit & some $40 junkyard Chevy 3/4 ton discs/calipers. Shaved it and I drag it everywhere. :)

One of the things I like about the 14B vs. Dana is the setup, spanners baby & no pinion shims, all shimming is done under the removable pinion carrier.

As for the front, the 3/4 ton D44 is big but internally the same as 1/2 ton so I'd get a 60 from the get go.

I bought my D44 for $550
chromo shafts & CTMs, $1000

Shoulda got a 60... :rolleyes:

-jb

[bkcampbe]

I did a 3/4 ton D44/14B swap. I got the 14B for cheap, removed the drums, added a $65 disc conversion kit & some $40 junkyard Chevy 3/4 ton discs/calipers. Shaved it and I drag it everywhere. :)

-jb

Who makes the disc brake conversion?

[Wil Badger]

i went 44/60 out of a 79 F250 .went pretty smooth and i used the RE kit with custom tracbar mount

44/60 combo (http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=57622&highlight=full+width)

[XJCRAWLER]

Wil, how about some update pics of the rear brake line stuff? My Cherokee is at Blue Torch Fabworks getting the same axles installed, should be back by Christmas. Also, what about driveshaft mods did you have to do?
Thanks,
Bill

[Wil Badger]

the back brakes i just ran some hard line .then found soft lines for the ends as well as made some holders to keep then inplace.as for the driveshafts i had two new ones made when i did the axle swap.

if you click on my link toward the end i thing i have a part number for the softline