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Rear Wagoneer D44

NotMatt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Wenatchee, WA
Alright... my 87 XJ has a factory D44 under it, but I'm putting a waggy 44 in the front later on this spring after I get finished building it. My original plan was to buy new shafts for the XJ 44 to convert it to 6 on 5.5 (along with doing all the other work, regearing, etc to it).

However, a local guy here has a D44 rear out of a wagoneer minus the carrier (which I was going to replace with a spool anyway in my XJ D44). It's a centered diff rear axle.

My new tentative plan is to pick this up and throw a spool and some gears in it, put spring perches on and toss it under the XJ, then sell the XJ D44 to recoup the cost of the wagoneer rear 44 and then some (maybe).

My question is, are there any gotchas that I'm missing about swapping this D44 in? It would be nice not to have to buy a set of $BLING$ $BLING$ expensive custom rear axle shafts for the XJ D44, and I would also not have to redrill the drums. The lug pattern would match the front waggy D44 going in, the width is about the same (not much backspacing on the wheels I'm going to run anyway), is the rear yoke the same, will it bolt up to my stock driveshaft? Anything else I'm not thinking about with this swap?
 
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Yup, it should all go together just like you're thinking. Other than the spool, it's all a good idea. :gag:

:D
 
The waggy d44 is only 58.5 inches wide and your xj d44 is 60 1/4. You can make up for the width with rims with the right amount of offset. 87-91 full sized wagoneers have the centered rear the 70's vintage ones are offset to the right, 80-86 used amc 20 rears. I'd have to look at my 44s to see if the xj spring perch position and shock mounts would be an issue with the waggy axle.
Dave


NotMatt said:
Alright... my 87 XJ has a factory D44 under it, but I'm putting a waggy 44 in the front later on this spring after I get finished building it. My original plan was to buy new shafts for the XJ 44 to convert it to 6 on 5.5 (along with doing all the other work, regearing, etc to it).

However, a local guy here has a D44 rear out of a wagoneer minus the carrier (which I was going to replace with a spool anyway in my XJ D44). It's a centered diff rear axle.

My new tentative plan is to pick this up and throw a spool and some gears in it, put spring perches on and toss it under the XJ, then sell the XJ D44 to recoup the cost of the wagoneer rear 44 and then some (maybe).

My question is, are there any gotchas that I'm missing about swapping this D44 in? It would be nice not to have to buy a set of $BLING$ $BLING$ expensive custom rear axle shafts for the XJ D44, and I would also not have to redrill the drums. The lug pattern would match the front waggy D44 going in, the width is about the same (not much backspacing on the wheels I'm going to run anyway), is the rear yoke the same, will it bolt up to my stock driveshaft? Anything else I'm not thinking about with this swap?
 
Goatman said:
Yup, it should all go together just like you're thinking. Other than the spool, it's all a good idea. :gag:

:D

Lemme guess... you think it should be a detroit or an ARB? :)

I'm cheap, the spool works. It's welded right now and I've been driving it daily for almost 6 months like this, no complaints yet. Once the 5.13's and spool (rear) / lockright (front) go in, it's not going to be a DD anymore, so I'm not too concerned about it.
 
I'm running an '89 waggy D44 rear in my '98. Previously I ran it in my '92. :) The spring pads are the correct width, but shims or cutting them off and moving them may be needed to accomodate your pinion angle. The flanges on the axle shafts are quite a bit larger than the xj d44 flanges which works well with a wide variety of rims. I'm running the stock '89 Grand Waggy 15x7 aluminum rims with 3.5" back spacing. The rear was ok, but I added a 3/4" spacer each side just because I thought it might look a touch better with the tires just a bit further out. I run 35" MTR's on these rims and really would not want to go much wider due to road debris getting flung all over...this is my daily driver. I also run a set of Chevy steel 15x8 rims wrapped in 33" TSL's for the sloppy stuff. The shock mounts will need to be redone on the axle to match the XJ stuff. The brake fittings are a match I believe, but I converted mine to disks, so everything is different. I am running a custom D44 front end made of a shortened Ford High Pinion unit. I cut it down to use an early model Waggy short shaft and a late model Waggy long shaft. The result is an axle with a width a little over an inch narrower than a late model waggy axle. Combined with the Chevy flat top knuckles and stock grand waggy rims, the track width is around 59.5". The tape measure shows about 60.5" track width in the rear with the two 3/4" spacers and 1/4" thick rotors sandwiched in there. The driveshaft yoke bolted right up to my driveshaft. Jeff
 
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