Dana 44 or Ford 9 inch?

I don't know what to do...about to relpace the D35 and go big.

Here is my issue, I already have a D44 rear from a doner XJ. Should I build it with a Detroit and gears with stock shafts or have the 9" narrowed and use a detriot, gears and custom shafts? I could ebay the D44 to help fund the 9" ford.

I like everyone don't want to break, and the biggest I plan to go is 35" tires, but I want it to be built bullet proof.

Since you have the XJ dana 44 already and it is bolt in, why not go with it. It should hold up to 35's. You could always get TJ dana 44 alloy shafts for it and make the slight retainer swap if you needed to. A 9" is awesome, but why do that when you already have the hard to find factory XJ 44? Go with what you have. The dana 44 is worthy. I would have kept mine back there with the detroit and 4.56 gears, but I was looking to go with the 37's I had from my CJ and a full width hp44 up front so I just got a full width 9" with the matching 5 on 5.5 , otherwise I would have kept the dana 44 I had.
Jes runs a XJ 44 in his rig with a hp44 cut down in the front with 35's and look at the stuff he does with his XJ with little problems back there and that's in the rock crawling stuff here on the West Coast. You are in the South, so I think a dana 44 especially with alloys shafts will be close to bullet proof for you, but then again you can break anything if you try hard enough, even a Rockwell.

Troy

44 should be easier/cheeper to start. after ya put in a detroit you could later go with alloy shafts. continue to search there are plenty of threads discussing the strengths and weaknesses of both axles.

If you already have the D44 use it or you will come into issues with bolt patterns.. second off if you do ever break a shaft you can get them easier and cheaper than a shaved 9 inch shaft

I put a XJ D44 in the rear of my 2001 and went with Superiors Super 44 kit. It came with 33 spline axles and a Detroit locker. The install was a snap and the axles have dual lug patterns so when I am finished with the HPD44 for the front I can just switch the lugs to the 5 on 5.5" bolt circle to match. I imagine 33 spline's with 35's would be fairly bullet proof.

Ben

Bulletproof is an illusion.

While I appreciate the merits of a 9", I can't say I'll ever trust one really after this little incident:





That's actually the second one I broke. The first one had an LSD carrier, which just exploded apart.

Specs on that rig: Bronco with stock anemic 302, 5-speed, 35s. The LSD broke just on the road, being driven conservatively. The gearset (3.55) busted while plowing snow, but I wasn't exactly beating the hell out of it then either. In both cases, the shafts were fine...two different third members, two different housings. Both were big-bearing housings.

Then I look at my XJ D44, which has held up fine locked and beat on pretty regularly. I gotta say that given the choice between the two I'd go with the 44, especially with the 33-spline dealio.

Ford 9" may be stronger than a Dana 60...

http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/gears.html

http://www.truehi9.com