I just swapped in a D44 from an 89 Cherokee and added 4" of lift at the same time.
- You can buy a rebuild kit for the dif seals and bearings.
- Outer axle shaft bearings are stupidly expensive and need to be pressed on.
- My D44 didn't have brakes, so I moved the brakes from my 35C. I had to drill two holes in the backing plates and slightly enlarge the hole in the center of the drum.
- The pinion yoke on my D44 was damaged. The pinion yoke from a D30 front axle is the same. Buying a yoke that allows you to use U-bolt style U-joint straps instead of the stock junky straps is a good idea.
- Due to the longer pinion of the D44 my drive shaft is now too long. It's OK for normal driving but if I was to weight it down and then slam the suspension it would drive the slip yoke into the t-case, possibly doing damage.
- The actual yoke on the slip-yoke is also binding due to the lift. I am replacing it with a YJ yoke which has larger ears and slightly longer travel.
-The E-brake cables should hook right up, but in my case due to the lift the passenger side one is cooking on the muffler. Got a YJ cable, which is longer.
-Change your rubber brake line to one from a YJ. It's longer so it allows more flex.
-Unless your rig is nearly new don't re-use your U-bolts.