Rubi D44 Housing (front)

[Root Moose]

I've stumbled across a bare front axle housing off a TJ Rubicon.

Can this thing be mostly bolted under an XJ?

The housing is bare/empty.

If I were to use the D30 parts knuckle out off a XJ, a D44 ARB (RD06) and obtain the inner shafts would this work?

Does the XJ and TJ share control arm geometry?

Thanks for any insights.

r@m

[Eagle]

The XJ and TJ front axles are exactly the same. We have at least one member running a TJ front axle in his XJ -- I'm fairly certain he didn't have to make any mods.

Right Mac? :)

[What Rd]

If you really think it's worth the effort. All you'll add will be the possibility of running lower gears. Those will be running the "wrong" way for a front (standard v. reverse rotation) axle, however, giving away some of the larger size's strength advantage. The pinion is lower (down where it'll drag nicely through obstacles). And you don't improve the ball joints and brakes, two big reasons for going to a 44 front end in the first place. But yea, it'll work.

[CRASH]

If it's free or cheap, I'd snag it. Even though I play with axles a lot, I haven't done a Rubi 44. I had *heard* that the ring gear spacing was funky, requiring a different gear set, but I have not confirmed.

At least the housing is stronger/stiffer than a 30 (see "Regear" and Dana 30 setup threads), and you could run 5.13's.

CRASH

[RCP Phx]

Supposedly they run the "thick" gears due to the locker.Im not sure if the housing(pumpkin) is actually any different!

[Root Moose]

Thanks for the insights guys.

Cheap is what I'm at with this. If I can get the housing cheap I'll only have to buy the shafts as I have a ARB RD06 sitting on the shelf here...

My fallback is a "home made" custom HP D44 tube but that is a lot of work and more importantly time that I have a hard time finding these days...

So, does this Rubi housing use the standard bearings?

The thick gears that were referenced - is this the same as thck gears meant for running a low ratio gear set on a high ratio case OR is it a Rubicon specific thing?

Dunno if it makes a difference, I have both sets of cases (high and low) for my ARB (RD06 & RD07 share the same internals, just the cases are different).

r@m