J-10 D44 front, any good for swapping?

Anybody ever look at a front D44 of an old J-10 pickup for a swap? Found one at the local junkyard a couple days ago. It is a driver's side diff, open knuckle, non disconnect with hubs, and set up for spring-under suspension. Has the same 6 lug as the waggys too. Also, it even comes with over the knuckle tie rod mounting. Woo hoo!

I keep kicking myself for not bothering to check whether or not it was a high pinion or not. Had no tape measure with me at the time (another mistake) so I'm not sure of the width. If the width is good, it should be as good of a swap as the waggy 44. Rear is a model 20, so no interest there. But, I did find a rear waggy 44 laying on the ground about 20 feet away.

Any knowledge out there about this one, or do I need to get off my lazy backside and go measure it up?

Thx in advance, Jared

I'm not sure but the WMS is the same as a waggy and don't discount the rear 20 the fullsize jeeps had onepiece shafts and are as strong as 44s unlike the little cj axles but thier widith is longer I belive. and the front should be a low pinion.

J10 front 44 is 63"s wide not the same as 4 door waggys but is the same as cherokee Chiefs (2 door). I ran one for 2 years its low pinion
Led

63" Wide?! If I remember correctly, the stock D35 rear is like 60 5/8" wide, and the front is slightly wider. 63" should be about perfect for a front! Maybe 1-2" wider than a stock D30 front. Yowza, maybe I just found my new front axle.

Anybody confirm the 63"? You sure about the measurement Led? I only ask because those J-10's sure look wider than the XJ's. At first glance, they look even bigger than the old waggys.

This would be perfect if it is less than say, 65". I have a spare XJ front axle laying around to get all the bracketry off of. Boy, now I'm all excited!

Also, is the carrier break for the D44 3.73 and down (numerically), and 3.92 and up? That's what I remember anyways...

Thx for the info guys, keep it comin!

Jared

Also, what do you mean by "onepiece shafts"? Don't most rear axles have shafts that are one piece on each side? Explain please...

Isn't the ol D44 better than a Model 20 in most ways? The model 20 looks like a Ford 9", where the carrier bolts into the housing from the front. I didn't really look at it after I saw the basketball shape in the middle of the rear axle. This makes the gears easy to set up, I guess, as it is done on a bench instead of in an axle housing. Clearance is a bit of an issue for me too. Is the 20 higher clearance than the 44?

I can only imagine that the Dana 44 has ALOT more parts available for it than the Model 20 does. Anyways, you get the idea.

Jared

ok the biggest reason the modle 20 has gotten a bad name over the years is that in the CJs they had a 2 piece axle setup witch had a shaft with a splined hub on the end that had a bad habit of not working well, so you'll see a lot of onepiece axle steups for these to make them as strong as the 44s witch came with one piece. where the full size jeps cam with one piece from the factory .The 20 its self is a very strong axle with a little bigger ring gear to it as well and there is a compapany TricountrygearIbelive thta is rebuilding these now and they are almost as strong at 6o. since there pttting 1/2 wall tubbing and shaveeing a bunch off the bottoem.. They are not a removable 3rd membber like the 9in is.I aboused mine in mY fullsize J-10 hard with a healthy 360 and never seemed to think about the fact it was only a 1'2ton and it never gave up. JNJ i belive is running 20 rear right now but could be wroung.Plus with an little exrea withc you can get diffrent wheels cheaper tham new since waggys and chevey use deep offset to on most rtucks.rear diskbrakes are also easy theres a guy on ebay selling bolton kits except for caliprers with are the worstt part. Hpe this clairfys up the "20"alittle.heck keep looking in some of the J trucks they had a 50n 5.5 Dana 60 hidden and that is a real find.

The D60 was in the J-20 trucks I believe. And there are some J trucks with D60 and D70's in them. But that is rare.

REDXJ4FUN said:

ok the biggest reason the modle 20 has gotten a bad name over the years is that in the CJs they had a 2 piece axle setup witch had a shaft with a splined hub on the end that had a bad habit of not working well, so you'll see a lot of onepiece axle steups for these to make them as strong as the 44s witch came with one piece. where the full size jeps cam with one piece from the factory .The 20 its self is a very strong axle with a little bigger ring gear to it as well and there is a compapany TricountrygearIbelive thta is rebuilding these now and they are almost as strong at 6o. since there pttting 1/2 wall tubbing and shaveeing a bunch off the bottoem.. They are not a removable 3rd membber like the 9in is.I aboused mine in mY fullsize J-10 hard with a healthy 360 and never seemed to think about the fact it was only a 1'2ton and it never gave up. JNJ i belive is running 20 rear right now but could be wroung.Plus with an little exrea withc you can get diffrent wheels cheaper tham new since waggys and chevey use deep offset to on most rtucks.rear diskbrakes are also easy theres a guy on ebay selling bolton kits except for caliprers with are the worstt part. Hpe this clairfys up the "20"alittle.heck keep looking in some of the J trucks they had a 50n 5.5 Dana 60 hidden and that is a real find.

Click to expand...

Yup, I'm running a waggy 44 front and 20 rear. The only drawbacks I can see to the 20 is gear ratio available (only up to 4.88s which I'm running) and the pinion bearing pre-load using a crush sleeve which some builders feel is not as stout as using shims like the D44 does, though I really don't think it is much of an issue.
If you go for the front 44 alone, then you have to worry about the lug pattern.
Here are a couple links with info on my axle swap;

http://jeep_n_john.tripod.com/axle_page.html
http://jeep_n_john.tripod.com/redsuspension.htm