FORD or WAGGY

Just a quick question, Ford 9" and HP44 or Waggy LP44 and rear 44 or 20???
I have either option, it is going on a DD that is about 70/30 for street and trail.
Ive read the write ups on both axles and understand the amount of work involved.
I am running 33's and may... may!!! run a 35 someday but no larger.
I also understand the waggy is a right side drop but that just means i dont have to flip the dana 300.
I am also gonna keep them there stock widths.
The waggy is 6 bolt rims
The ford is 5 bolt rims
Waggy combo will be $120 for everything including rims.
Ford will be $250 for everything including the rims.

So what are your thoughts on the swap?

ford seems like a better setup to me. are you set on running the dana 300? if you already have the 231, why not just run it? would save you a lot of work! i'm sure you've already thought of that, though.

I would get the hp44 and something other than the 9 inch for the rear. I just hate the super low pinion for trail use. You can convert the hp44 to 6 or 8 lug easily to match up with most any rear axle.

Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with that big of a swap unless you know you're going bigger than 35s. A polished turdy will easily handle 33s, 35's if you're more careful with it. On 33s, it's simply not worth all that work to lose ground clearance.
I was going to swap in a Waggy 44 (already had the axle), but have decided to stay with the turdy. The HP D30 is close to the same strength as a LP D44 anyway. I'm on 33s, but am going to 35s when I need tires.

With that said...

-The Ford HP44 is a much better axle than the Waggy, but remember it's full width. You will need a full width rear, or you will need to shorten the front.
-The Waggy comes in Passenger or Driver drop depending on the year.
-I agree a 9" would be too big for the tires you're running, yet so are full width axles in general.
-You will probably want to avoid the 20. They can be built strong, but have some major weaknesses that need to be addressed. This adds to the overall cost.

Just my $.02

BTW, that's a killer price on the 44/9" combo!

HP44 narrowed down to waggy width - to use off the shelf alloy shafts at a good axle width for an XJ - 44 rear, either convert the HP44 to six lug or convert the 44 rear to five lug, depending on what lug pattern the guys you wheel with run.

this would be an over kill in your case, the 30 will do fine.

All right then as long as you guys think the 30 and 8.25 will sufice. I do wonder though if i gear down and add a dual transfer case will it affect axle strength? IMO i think it will, say i did the 231 to 300 doubler and 4.10 gears than wouldnt it be adding alot more torsional load to an axle shaft if the tire or tires are gripping, although this mainly would only pertain to if i had both axles locked on like rocks or something.

4.10s and 35s is what im about to run (on a stick)

well 4.10's and 33's with an AX-15 for me! I know i here 4.56's all the time but with me driving 479 miles back and forth to CT every 6 weeks, i rather maintain some highway driveability so i figured 4.10's but then again i dont know my axle ratio to begin with.

For whats its worth, I blew up a dana 30 on 32" BFG AT's. I now have a narrowed HP44 from an F150. I'm on 33's, and will be on them for a while. I didn't want to have to worry about my axles at all when I'm out anywhere, and the manual locking hubs is definitely a plus with the swap.

If you have the money and time/skill, why not?

See, that was exactly my thoughts! The other day when i spent all day in the rocks in 4lo i was just thinking about what was going on inside the diff's as my foot would randomly cause the jeep to buck cause its just plain hard sometimes to keep my foot steady! Its those spider gears and teeth on the ring and pinion gear i'm scared of breaking!