I like the idea of the 8.8 only because every parts store that I know of stocks parts for them. There are tons of aftermarket support for the 8.8, and lots of junk yards full of spare axles.[/QUOTE]
That's true, you see the Mustang crowd standing behind these axles alot especially when you do a ebay search. I do like the ford 8.8 in my 94' Wrangler with 4.88 gears, the dana 44 is probably the most commonly used diff because it was used front or rear. The ford 8.8 is so easy to find because there were so many exploders made. If you do go with a ford 8.8, make sure you weld the axle tubes to the diff because the tubes will spin and really screw things up. The disc brakes on the ford 8.8 are great and many aftermarket axles like Dynatrac, Currie, etc use them and/or model their disc brakes after them for rear applications.
Troy