Motor wreckers

I am in Australia and would like to import a second hand Dana 44 for my 95 XJ. I suspect I may need to get one out of a wrangler and convert it due to the XJ ones being rare. We have a situation here where one wrecker has virtually cornered the entire Australian market and is asking $3700 Australian or about $3000. American for one out of a wrangler. I can get one from a wrecker that imports 1/2 cuts from Japan for about $1600 American but even that is way to high.

Is there a wrecker that would be prepared to mail me a diff to Australia and what is the approximate price of a secondhand 44 there.

I thought there was a post here about an e-bay site selling them. Might try that.

That's good advice -- spend some time searching for Ebay sellers, maybe focus on West Coast sellers with better access to the big ports in Seattle or Southern California.

Contact www.jwjeep.com
Sacramento, California.
Should be about $1000 U.S. but they will ship anywhere. Tell them you're a member of , might help. :cheers:

Try posting in the wanted section.

I see XJ Dana 44's go for $350 to $400 all the time over here, maybe a little more if drum-to-drum with good brakes. Seems like the ones on Ebay get jacked up in price.

They are pretty heavy so I'd recommend finding out the weight and doing some research on the shipping options. I just bought a 400 lb engine and shipped it cross country for $190 using Forward Air (some other shippers wanted nearly $400. . .) - I arranged for all the shipping and made it EASY on the seller which he greatly appreciated and there was no "handling fee."

While the XJ D44's are "rare", a wrangler Dana 44 is just as valuable (maybe even more so to the TJ guys) and since an 87 cherokee is more likely to end up in parts than a late model wrangler, I don't think it'll be any easier to find one of them. Since the wrangler D44's are set up for coils, you will have to convert/fabricate - kinda defeats the purpose - might as well go with a Ford 8.8. . .

For the kind of prices they are asking for a D44, I'd be seriously researching custom axles as an option.

Huummm. I wonder if you shouldn't be trying to find two axles for this deal - one for you to use and another to sell and recoup your expenses?