Modifying my Bro's XJ

Hi all. A couple years ago, I built my bro's XJ for him so he could wheel with me & my buddies. Did a Tomken lift, 35" BFG M/T's, 4.56's, Detroit locker in the rear, Lockrite in front D35/D30. He wants to upgrade the diffs now (I'll have to do the work again).

I did a search & found that the 44 for an early XJ would be the best bet for the rear over the 8.8 but we can't find one here in town or Denver so now we're thinking of the Sploder 8.8 cause we have a line on one for $125.00. Anyone wanna talk me out of it or would it be okay?

Forgive me cause I couldn't find anything conclusive (I might've overlooked it) on a D44 for the front. Are the Rubicons the only later Jeeps to have a D44 front? Aside from an early Bronco, I don't know of any narrow type D44's. But then that would give a 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern so to match the rear, I'd have to get him some custom axles w/5 on 5.5 & that means buying new wheels which is no biggie. What would be a good choice for the front diff? If all else fails, he said he might spring for a Currie built 44 to bolt right in the front but that's probably out of his price range.

If there's already a thread on the front swap, could you please point me in that direction?

Thanks

Warrlord said:

Forgive me cause I couldn't find anything conclusive (I might've overlooked it) on a D44 for the front. Are the Rubicons the only later Jeeps to have a D44 front?

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Well the Rubi D44 isn't really a 44. It's a 44 center section with D30 outers, so while you gain on the strength and size of the gears and the thickness of the inner shaft, you're still back to square one on the outside.
There was a D44 put into XJ's made for South America, but good luck finding one of those here.
The other one to consider is the Waggy D44: there is one with the drivers drop, but the bolt pattern is 6x? IIRC

If there's already a thread on the front swap, could you please point me in that direction?

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Crash has started a nice thread about a month ago that IIRC talked about D30 and D44's.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.