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?
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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