Used Dana 44's

Hi all, I was perusing craigslist and found a set of Dana 44's off of an international scout. I went and looked at them and aside from the surface rust they appear to be in great shape. They are both 350 ratio and the front axle has locking hubs and disc brakes and the rear is drum brakes. Will these work for my XJ? I recently ordered an RC 6.5 long arm kit, and will be running 33 inch KM2's. If these axles will work, what should I do to them? What gears should I run, also what are good choices for lockers? Thanks for any help. Mike

Aren't all Scouts passenger drop TCs? meaning the front driveshaft is on the wrong side? Also, stock ratio is 3.55:1, most people when going to larger tires want to regear taller. Not saying they can't be of use to someone, but might be more work than you want to get into. Also you'd have to weld on (or have someone weld on) all suspension pickup points as Scouts used leaves F&R.

Finally the bolt pattern on the wheels is different although you might be able to use CJ wheels, I know the bolt pattern is the same as CJ not sure about hub bore.

Thanks for all the help, that makes alot of sense. So what dana 44's should I look for then? Any ideas will really help

look for a XJ rear d44 as thats a straight swap on. look for a waggy 44 F&R but you will need new wheels as its a different bolt pattern, but alot of people do the swap. You will have to weld on new front suspension parts though, IE coil buckets, control arm mounts and TB. You can look for a D44 from a ford. Some are HP, some are LP. Some are full width and some are just a little wider then stock. You will have to eather shorten one and re-weld the C's, plus weld all the suspension parts on again, plus new wheels again. The only straight forward front 44 swap is from a TJ or JK, but there not a true 44. Just a 44 housing with 30 tubes and knuckles. Hope some of this helps you man.

stock axles will be fine for 33's locked f/r , so just gear your axles and add some gears and gusset the dana 30 and call it good!

There's a very good writeup near the top of this forum...either in the stickies or FAQs about axle swaps, upgrades, etc. It would probably be very helpful for you.

EDIT:
D44 info - http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101344
D30 uprgrades - http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101343

Also, it wasn't in this forum anymore, it's been moved to the FAQ forum

i dont know if i'd go through the effort if it wasnt a high pinion d44 for the front, which is full width and would need to be cut down for the front unless you run full width front and rear. but now i'm thinking i should have just gone with a 60 instead, given how not nice i am to my heep.