My $80 D44 swap

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 7, 2008

I'm going to start by striping the paint and rust off and repainting it, and fix the leaky pinion seal.

I went up to my Dads, and got to work on the 44 this evening.

The spider gears are a little worn, nothing unusuall for 190K, but look good.

Got the dif cover and spring perch/u-bolt pad thing into the sand blast cabinet, didn't get the drums in but they will probably get blasted when I blast the whole axle.

Shot the dif cover with acid etching primer. Yeah, I'll probably remove a lot of it while I blast the axle but I really didn't want to wait.

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 7, 2008

Pulled the passenger side axle, came out easily

But the drivers side is going to be a different story, there was a LOT of rust, and damaged the nuts too much to get them off with a wrench now.

and bent the plate that holds the outer bearing, I'll have to get a new one from the dealership in town.

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

I finally got the drivers side axle shaft out.

This is why it didn't want to come out as easily as the passenger side.

Got the drum mounting braket things in the blasting cabinet

After about 45 minutes I gave up, my dads cabinet is'nt heavy duty enough for this. The drivers side is about trash.

passenger side

Knocking of the big stuff with a grinder, and using POR15 as a primer.

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

POR15'd it

Had to go back with a die grinder and hit it again in some of the nooks and crannies to get some more of the flakey stuff off, then sprayed it again.

Should be ready to paint tomorrow, think I'm going to go with simi-flat black and paint the dif cover dark silver hammerite.

xcm · Sep 9, 2008

you should have added $2 worth of engine degreaser at the car wash on that thing before bringing it withing 1/4 mile of your garage! what are your plans for the axle? not just gonna drop it in as-is are you?

fyrfytr1717 · Sep 9, 2008

Wow, that thing was hammered! I think it's going to end up costing a little more than $80 once you replace all those rusty parts.

I recently finished up a 44 that was just a little grimy. I used to say it was a little rusty, but I no longer have the right to call it rusty after seing those pics of yours! :scared:

Granted I paid $200 for mine but the point of my post is that it still cost me about $100 in paint, parts, fluid, and drum turning on top of my initial investment. Not to mention all the new tools it gave me an excuse to buy.

Looking good so far! Good luck!

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

Thanks, but no, I bought the axle for $80, by the time I'm done with it, but not right now, I'll have almost 2K in it probably, it's eventually getting a Super 44 with an ARB, but thats not going to happen till I goto 4.5" and 33's because I want to do it the same time I regear to 4.56's.

Though I think I'm going to do the disc brake conversion on it, rather than deal with the drums, just got to figure out from what.

MoparManiac · Sep 9, 2008

I'm going through the same thing right now with my 44 (figuring out what disc conversion to do).

I found this post pretty helpful from markw. I'm going to order the teraflex spacer and go with explorer discs. Less modifications required.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=964284

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

Thanks, I've thought about the crown vic discs, a lot easier to find around here than a GC is.

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

It's in primer! I used an acid etching, but also as a guide coat so I know I'm getting everything painted. Black over black is hard to do that.

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

and sneak peak at things to come:

ehall · Sep 9, 2008

nice and clean

Ba-Riedo · Sep 9, 2008

Were you planning on raising the shock mounts?

-Alex

hot_rod_hooligans · Sep 9, 2008

Eventually yes, but thats down the road, right about the time I truss it.

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

Alright it's been a while since I've updated this, so here is the total cost invested to get it in:

$80 Axle - Junk yard
$40 Paint, new hardware, and grinding wheels - Autozone, hardware store
$25 Ford Explorer disc brake brackets - Junk yard
$30 Calipers - Junk yard (haven't bought yet)
$80 Rotors and Brake pads - Autozone
$50 New brake lines
$20 Gear oil and RTV - Autozone
$65 Axle shaft bearings and seals, pinion seal
$90 Machine shop labor(bearings and seals presed, rotors machined)
$15 Rubicon retainer plates - Jeep dealership
$480

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

Decided to go with Explorer rear discs, with the Rubicon retainer plates, I needed a new plate anyway, and they were about $13(I rounded up for the list above), and I think teraflex wanted $16 for the spacers, plus the cost of a new XJ retainer, just wasn't worth it.

Went up to my Dads to help him poor the concrete for the addition to his shop(making room to add a lift!), and took the brakets and dust shields with me to sand blast them.

Used Dupli-color's High-heat engine primer and paint to paint them, should hold up to the heat just fine, picked the engine paint over the caliper paint so I could match the axle paint a little closer, caliper paint was only in high gloss.

The new slab in the background

With the brackets and calipers mocked up

Didn't have the rotors machined yet, in this pic

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

Also installed a RE Hack-n-tap at the same time to help adjust for any differences in drive shaft lengths

Rebuilding the JY DS, I love having acess it a sand blasting cabinet

The old CV joint, just incase you haven't seen what they look like.

The new flange CV thats replacing it

All together now

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

Now on to the hack-n-tap
HACK:
I didn't exactally "hack" it off, I used a cut off wheel on the shaft while letting the Jeep idle in drive(2HI), so I'd get a nice even cut, kind of like a big lathe

TAP:

Flange

Hack-n-tap SYE:

No more T-case drop

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

When it came time to run the brake lines I decided to run something like this:

------------------------------------D44 soft line
--------------------------------------to chasis
-------------------------------------------l
caliper--soft line--hard line-- D44 "T"--hard line--soft line--caliper

The stock Explorer lines looked like this:
drivers side

passenger side

I briefly thought about using the explorer setup, but I think that would have caused problems when going with extend lines at a later date, a little more complicated now to save myself some trouble down the road.

hot_rod_hooligans · Oct 13, 2008

And it's in:

Had a few hiccups, like I forgot my key for my Gorilla lugs, and had to find a way to get them off without it, the u-bolts barely work(a few threads short of making it through the nut), so I had to disconnect the rear sway bar to get a few extra threads till I can get new U-bolts. I did notice a difference in the way it handled and don't like it, will not be pulling the rear sway bar for any reason so long as I drive it on the road. The discs work great, not going to bother with the proportioning valve, no need. Didn't have time to do the pinion seal, but from the way it soaked my undercarriage(you can see the wet spots sprinkled though out the pic, but in front its REALLY BAD), it's getting done in the next day or two. I'm also getting a little noise from the rear end though, I think it may be the carrier bearings, I'm going to get a professional opinion and go from there, should be able to do those myself once I get a little more money.

My $80 D44 swap

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