Scout dana 44

I would like to swap in a dana 44 into the rearend of my xj and it so happenes i have a 74 scout II that is just parts now would it be reasonable to swap in the rear axel or would it be more trouble than its worth.

They are narrower than a stock XJ rearend, so you might run into problems with clearence between the spring perches and the backing plates. They are also 6 lug, so you would have to address that problem with either wheel adapters, or a redrilled shafts.

Nope, Scouts have five lug but they have a 5.5 pattern.

Fitzworld

I used to run one with a disc brake conversion - just weld up some new perches, and pick up a set of 1" spacer/lug adapters. If I were to do it again I would use the Scout 11" drums, not discs -- mostly because the TSM kit sucked, and the Scout drums are monsters.