ZJ Dana 44 on XJ??

Yep, I know the ZJ Dana 44 is not that strong, and locker options are limited. Aside from that, is teh ZJ Dana 44 the same width of a XJ\TJ 44?

Reason I aks is that I came across a guy wanting to trade several ZJ 44's for parts I am not using, and my buddies could use the ZJ 44's on their XJ's to replace the weak 35's....

Flame suit on... go

Well the Zj axles will be free... cutting perches will be a few minutes with the plasma, and woudl need to weld perches on the 8.8 anyway

Tought they were aluminum?

Or is that just the center section?

:dunno:

Robert

I say go for it, especially since they are free. Its got to be better than the 35. Trust me it doesnt take long to cut off brackets. Get a ruffstuff specialties simple swap kit for $120 and your're good to go.

Aluminum center section.

Correct, I thinkthe centersection is alum on the ZJ 44's. I knoiw comparing apples and oranges, but the Rock Jocks have an alum center section and perform great. The axles looked very very clean. I think cut the brackets, weld Dan's perches, slap a brace and be good to go.

Another advatnage is the disc brake stuff that is already there.


So are they teh same width WMS to WMS?

They shouldn't be significantly different, if they are at all...the front D30's both share the same width in XJ's and ZJ's.

The center section is great on the ZJ D44 - it's actually used in the Corvette and Viper as well. The difference in those is it's used as a rigid-mounted center with independent outers, which gets rid of a ton of stress on the housing. On the ZJ axle they stuffed steel tubes into it, which also take the brunt of the axle wrap force, and this stresses the housing a lot more. This is part of what causes the carrier & pinion bearings to wear quicker than a regular housing.

Another thing you'll want to check first is gear availability - the one in my ZJ had 3.73's, but they use a beefier pinion and a thicker ring gear, and a larger u-joint than the stock D35. I don't know what other gears are available for it.

They're also C-clip axles, and the wheel bearings are the same as D35 outers. The rollers ride directly on the axle shaft and if they start getting worn, they'll eat the shaft up and you'll need to do new bearings AND shafts. Aftermarket shafts can be tough to find...I ended up getting a set of Yukons for mine. Check the wheel bearings and change them out if they look even slightly worn.

And DON'T EVER jack up the rear of the vehicle by putting the jack under the center section - you can get away with this on the iron housings, but on the ZJ axle it stands a good chance of cracking or distorting the housing.

Gang and Vette, great info, thanks! the main motivating factor here is the free part. I will mention for tehm to check on the gears, lockers, etc availability. I think starting with disc and a 44 housing free si a good start only if the build will not be insanely higher. Worst case they could probably use some of the parts like breakes for future axles. THX!

I don't think that if you jack the back of your Jeep up from the aluminum centersection it is going to cause any harm.
If it is indeed that weak and you have proof then I would just take that thing to the scrap yard. Why would Jeep put an axle in a Grand Cherokee that is so incredibly weak it will hurt it if you jack it up by the center section? How could you possibly even take a vehical offroad that is that fragile? It would be destroyed the first time a rock hit it!

My friend had a 96 ZJ with that aluminum 44 in the rear, he caught about 5 feet of air going about 65mph and came down nose first so the rear end slammed into the ground. His axle held up just fine, he bent the hell out of his dana 30 though!

all you have to do to make the AL 44 live is take some of the carrier bearing preload out of them.. The centers were built by dana then sent to chry to press in the axle tubes..kinda bass ackwards way of doing it.. The main reason they failed was excessive carrier bearing preload.. Same bearings as used in a ford 8.8... I say go for it..

jeepboy381 said:

I don't think that if you jack the back of your Jeep up from the aluminum centersection it is going to cause any harm.
If it is indeed that weak and you have proof then I would just take that thing to the scrap yard. Why would Jeep put an axle in a Grand Cherokee that is so incredibly weak it will hurt it if you jack it up by the center section? How could you possibly even take a vehical offroad that is that fragile? It would be destroyed the first time a rock hit it!

Click to expand...

You can ask them to change the factory service manual, then. They probably didn't mean it.

The fact is, the D44A center was never designed to be load-bearing. In its original application (IRS third), it's not. In normal use for the ZJ, it's not really either...the wheel bearings and springs take most of it. Jacking up on the center section puts all the weight on the press-fit interface of the axle tubes, as the springs are now pressing down with the rear weight of the vehicle a few feet away from the jack on each side, basically trying to form the axle into a "frown" shape.

You might get away with it, might not. Jumping puts an entirely different loading on it, concentrated much more heavily on the tubes themselves, which ARE pretty beefy, especially compared to D30 or D35 tubes.

And as far as being destroyed by rock hits...more often than not, you're right. There are reasons why I'm selective about rigs I go wheeling with, and most of those reasons are based on experience.

Jeep's off-road intentions and requirements for the XJ are much different than ours.

Aftermarket support is lacking compared to a real D44 or an 8.8. So what if it is free. The only reason to ditch your D35 would be for an off-road application, in which case the 8.8 is better. It has every aftermarket goodie available for it, the tubes are much better, the shafts are better and spares are available in pretty much any junkyard. If down the road you need some serious beef you can step to the super 8.8 which is quite a bit better than any D44.Save your time and money.

vetteboy said:

You can ask them to change the factory service manual, then. They probably didn't mean it.

The fact is, the D44A center was never designed to be load-bearing. In its original application (IRS third), it's not. In normal use for the ZJ, it's not really either...the wheel bearings and springs take most of it. Jacking up on the center section puts all the weight on the press-fit interface of the axle tubes, as the springs are now pressing down with the rear weight of the vehicle a few feet away from the jack on each side, basically trying to form the axle into a "frown" shape.

You might get away with it, might not. Jumping puts an entirely different loading on it, concentrated much more heavily on the tubes themselves, which ARE pretty beefy, especially compared to D30 or D35 tubes.

And as far as being destroyed by rock hits...more often than not, you're right. There are reasons why I'm selective about rigs I go wheeling with, and most of those reasons are based on experience.

Jeep's off-road intentions and requirements for the XJ are much different than ours.

Click to expand...

Wow I guess you learn something every day! I can't believe they would even consider using an axle that weak in a solid axle Jeep. That is embasasing that they had to put that in a factory service manual, it is probably the only 4X4 in the world that had to specify that!