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F & R D44 swap adventure begins!

T

TortureTested

NAXJA Forum User
Location
In my XJ
Im just about to buy 2 D44's for my 95 xj that are out of a 79 wagoneer and have 4.56's in them, and then i just need to lock em up.
Can i get any words of wisdom, any tips, advice, anyone to speak that has done this swap; as i enbark on this adventure??? Im spending $250 on the axles and need the job done in under $2000.
Is this possible?
 
Just a note, check which side the diff is on the front. I might be wrong, but I thought the D44's that were pre 1981 were pass side drop and we need driver side drop. I might be wrong on this, but it's something to check.
 
I think the it was late 70's early 80's that they went to a drivers drop, so you might be ok but you'll want to confirm that.

However, its my understanding that the rear D44's used during these years were all offset for quadratrac and amc 20's had the diff in the center.

Again, a quick inspection of the axles will comfirm this, if the rear is offset it will be very noticeable.
 
my research showed that 1980 was the first year of driver side drop and centered rear AMC20. I did look at a 79 and it was passenger drop, and I did take the f/r out of a 1980 cherokee chief which was driver drop D44 and centered AMC20.
I think you will be out of luck with your 79 waggy axles unless you change your tcase as well as your crossmember, etc, etc, etc.
 
That's what I thought. I had a 78 Cherokee that I had built right after high school and I knew there was a reason I couldn't use the axles.

It had F/R D44's (non Qtrac) with a Detroit in the rear and a True trac in the front. 4.56's. Man, that thing was a beast with the 401 and 33's.... Don't miss the gas mileage though.. 6-8 mpg max..
 
People are saying to go with an 8.8 cause its stronger then the D44 and has a 5 lug and disc brakes and the D60's come in 8 bolt. Whats your guys take on this???
 
you sir need to research more.

fullfloat dana60= 8 lug although their are kits out there you can convert with (pricey)

and there are semifloating dana60's with 4 on4.5" , 5 on 5.5" and 6 on 5.5"

8.8's are stronger when properly built (toss the weak carrier, weld the tubes, c-clip eliminator perhaps.)
 
Just a thought.... My budy put a waggy 44 in the front of his zj and had to build a bridge over the diff for the front arm to mount to. Not a big deal when he was building the axle, but always had problems with the clearance issues afterwards. Just something to think about....
 
done right there should be no clearance issues to speak of. unless of course you are running stock suspension or lower.
 
I had better luck with the front diff from a F250. Everything went happy, couple of hundred bucks at a suspension shop and the whole thing went without a hitch. The axel was about 400 from Ebay.
 
Just to confirm: pre-80=passenger drop. Post-79=driver's drop.

Had plenty of FSJs, have several still. Later Waggys (about 1984-on I think) went back to the D44 in the rear. That Waggy AMC M20 axle was a good, strong axle. No reason to overlook them. Different from the CJ M20s.
 
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