[duffer]

I am old school, but not old to the point of putting a closed knuckle 44 under the front of the 3B, but I also do not want the wheels sticking a foot out either side of the vehicle. I currently have 44's from a 74 J20, 76 scout, and 76 blazer sitting in the bone pile and am trying to come up with a plan to put together a front axle with about a 52" wms-wms width. It would be desirable to keep the number of custom parts to a minimum such as custom axles. Of the 3 axles, it would appear that the short (right side) of the blazer unit would be near perfect length to retain the stock spring location on the frame but also provide adequate wheel clearence. The axle tube C mounts (ball joints) appear to be identical on all these units so the question is: can one use an inside blazer axle on the short side, scout spindles/disc brakes/outside axles and cut down long tube (or new tubes on both sides and only use scout center section) and only a custom length left inside axle? The right side scout tube would have to be lengthened to fit the blazer axle. I am aware that the spring perches would need moved and I would like to actually set the center section on the mill and modify the spring mount to get the proper pinion angle. When it all goes together, I would want about 7 degrees caster. Comments?

[ryankikta]

Break out the micrometer and start counting splines.

My suggestion would be to just take the axel and have it chopped.
espensive though.

As long as the carrier and axel tubes are the same diamiter they should go together. the splines have to match up with the differential.

Also dont forget the steering.

[jason m]

a few years back i took a chevy 44 fromt a 3/4 ton truck ground the outer C's off, cut the tubes off and welded them back on to match the scout dana 44 inner axles. about 99% of all dana 44 fronts have the same 30 spline inner axle deminsion. so finding stock axle will be very easy to locate.
theres no need to machine the pad if your removing bolth the outer C's. you can set the angle you want with the pad flat and just weld the 's back up.

this is a way for most to shorten and axle. i just did a chevy and ford 60. except i did the long side and kepted the short sides stock. i did them the same length's so all i need to do is get one spare made. oh i did two steer axle one for the front and the one for rear steer.

heres a few pictures, jason.

[j33pman]

Just run the scout axle with negative offset rims. Wheels shouldn't be out too far, and no custom axle shafts

[Bigjeep65]

I believe the blazer axle is spring over, not usually desired unless you are going that direction anyway. The scout axle isn't a bad option, but you will have to consider the caster issue, and if using the knuckles, you will have to consider the length of the stock scout steering arm (longer than a Jeep).

I have seen somewhere that a early bronco long side shaft can be used to come up with a CJ wide track width D44. That would put you around 54" if I recall correctly. Still a little wide.

I can't think of a setup that would put you at 51" using "stock" components.

[80cj]

Originally Posted by j33pman

Just run the scout axle with negative offset rims. Wheels shouldn't be out too far, and no custom axle shafts

I've read that the problem with Scout 44's is that they have 0 degress caster whereas you should have about 5 or 6 degrees positive on a Jeep to get it to track correctly. The way to correct the caster on a Scout axle AND still maintain decent drive shaft U joint angularity is to cut the C's off, reset them to the correct caster angle and reweld them back on. If you're going to go through that, then you might as well narrow the axle down to the desired width which is what duffer wants to do.

[duffer]

Thanks all. I think Reid Racing just solved my problem with the Scout knuckles. I am going to use their aftermarket knuckles, drilled for the Scout spindles. These have the Chevy length steering arm and are drilled for a high steer drag link.

[neorules]

Originally Posted by jason m

a few years back i took a chevy 44 fromt a 3/4 ton truck ground the outer C's off, cut the tubes off and welded them back on to match the scout dana 44 inner axles. about 99% of all dana 44 fronts have the same 30 spline inner axle deminsion. so finding stock axle will be very easy to locate.
theres no need to machine the pad if your removing bolth the outer C's. you can set the angle you want with the pad flat and just weld the 's back up.

this is a way for most to shorten and axle. i just did a chevy and ford 60. except i did the long side and kepted the short sides stock. i did them the same length's so all i need to do is get one spare made. oh i did two steer axle one for the front and the one for rear steer.

heres a few pictures, jason.

Have you ever removed the axle tubes from the pumkin? Is that one of those
things where you destroy the tubes getting them out?

I have a drivers side drop D44 that is perfect out of 76 Bronco but I need
passenger drop...
If I can remove the tubes without buggering them up too much I was just going to swap sides and put my caster correct while I was at it....

Thanks JC

[jason m]

Originally Posted by neorules

Have you ever removed the axle tubes from the pumkin? Is that one of those
things where you destroy the tubes getting them out?

I have a drivers side drop D44 that is perfect out of 76 Bronco but I need
passenger drop...
If I can remove the tubes without buggering them up too much I was just going to swap sides and put my caster correct while I was at it....

Thanks JC

i never done it. but what i have done and worked fine for a rear axle and now a rear steer axle were building for our comp buggy is to sleeve one side.

what you do is cut the long side witch is the ( pass side tube ) to the short side demension and weld the "C" back on. then you take the side you cut and have a sleeve made for the ID of the dana 44 tube. once you made a sleeve then you sldie the it into the 44 ID and slide the cut piece onto the onther end of the sleeve. i grind a bevel before i do this and then butt weld them up using the sleeve a as a back up strip for the weld to PENN agints.

make sence. ive done one axle like this 3 ( hard ) years back and its held up to 39's and a heavy foot for a friends rudicon. the next one were doing ( actully doing it now ) is a chevy 60 front that will be centered for a rear steer axle. as long as the inner sleeve is long enough and the welder doing the work knows what he's doing it will never break.

if i can get a few pictures of the 60 rear ( its about 55 miles from me now ) i will.
jason.

[BESRK]

A buddy of mine got the tubes out of his D60 center section but said it was a PITA. He had to gouge out the plug welds. Then, he made a sort of jig to place two 30 ton bottle jacks alongside the axle tube.. pushing between the pumpkin and the inner knuckle. He said it took everything he had on the jacks to get the axle tube to break loose and when it did, it sounded like a rifle going off.

I think I'd just do like Jason suggested and sleeve the tube.