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D44 Rebuild and Swap - Progress/Questions Thread

4K views 63 replies 8 participants last post by  Marn 
#1 ·
Well, I hopped in my lil' truck and drove my butt out to AZ to pick up some parts from a member here, and this is what I returned home with:



Plans are:

1. Full rebuild on both axles. Keeping stock gears:
-Bearings (wheel bearings)
-U joints
-Seals
-Ball Joints
-Tie Rod Ends
-Calipers/Rotors/Pads
-Wheel Cylinders/Shoes/Hardware/Drums
-Cleaned up and painted.

2. Install lunchbox Locker in front end or rear end or not at all, not sure yet.

3. Instal Manual Hubs in front end

4. New diff covers, welded steel or cast iron.

5. Refurbish those stock style steelies, swap over my tires, and mate them to the Dog Dishes

6. Install the axles and wheels!


I will update all of this as I go along.

Basic concept is to have "new" axles going under the truck. I figure i might as well do the work while the axles are out from under the truck and not have to worry about anything in the foreseeable future.

Any input is helpful. If you have suggestions on something I've missed, or on something I shouldn't bother with, please let me know, I dont claim to know everything or be right all the time, and appreciate constructive input.
 
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#33 ·
Chopped off the old shock brackets:


Made 2 of these lil things:


welded them up:


This gained me a few inches of clearance under the axle, which never hurt anybody. Except for me, because my shocks were way too long and didnt fit, so my buddy gave me a set of shorter skyjackers, but they are still too long and I only have about 1.5" of travel.

So, i'm ordering a short set of skyjacker Hydro's, with a 12" collapsed length which will give me a few extra inches of travel. My old shocks only had about 2.5" travel to begin wich, which was never an issue seeing as my tires hit my fenders after about 1" of movement haha.

Also, with the new narrow rims that have less back spacing, my tires are sucked way in, and i have at least another 1" between the tire and the fender now which is great. Tires look way more narrow in person, and the stance is more narrow as well. I'm diggin' it so far.

Ao i took her up on the highway and it seemed totally fine for a minute, then started vibrating at 65mph, not bad, but it was there. I also heard a crazy noise.

Turns out my exhaust shifted back over and was barely touching the driveshaft, which was the noise. I wasnt sure if that was causing the vibes though. I adjusted it by hand until i can re-weld it, and took her back on the highway. I was cruising at 65-70 with no noticeable vibes until i really got on the pedal, and it started to vibrate, but also started ringing which signified that the exhaust was hitting the shaft. Hopefully the vibes are a result of that, it seems to be that way.

So, to do list for the rear:
-Redo brake lines.
-Decide if I want to, or can, run my emergency brake lines.
-Pull the axles out and check bearings, possibly replace.
-new shocks
-move exhaust another 1/2" over.
 
#34 ·
Okay,

Axle bearings.

Specifically front inner, and the rear ones.

What is the likelihood that I will need to replace these? From what I see, i need to be able to pry or pull out the race some how, and then press it in?

Is this as simple as a 3 jaw puller or slide hammer and a hammer/block of wood?

I'm not really familiar with how to do these, and for the rear bearings my Haynes manual straight up says "take it to a dealer it needs to be pressed in"
 
#35 ·
On the fronts once the seal is removed the bearing will just fall out. You can repack it if it isn't showing signs of wear or any bluing from heat. If you do replace it be sure to use a new race, which can be tapped out of the wheelbearing hub with a brass drift.
 
#37 ·
Those can be a b1otch to remove. I have a set of Dana 60 spindles that I'm doing the same job on. A pilot bushing remover can be used on them if they aren't overly corroded. I take a chisel and punch through the inner cage so that the rollers can be removed. Once they are out I run two beads of weld on the inside of the outer race parallel to the spindle and let it cool. That shrinks the outer race and they practically fall out of the spindle.

Sorry, I thought you were referring to the inner wheel bearing earlier.
 
#40 ·
Love PB Blaster :)
 
#41 ·
I picked up a slide hammer and bearing driver kit today from the parts store, got my spindles all cleaned up, pulled the old bearings, installed the new ones, then hit my axle housing with a wire wheel on a grinder and got it about 90% cleaned up, then shot 90% of it it satin black with roll bar/chassis paint. I think its like an epoxy paint?

I'll get pics in the sun
 
#44 ·
Nice work!! Damn now I want to go out and wire wheel, paint my axles.
 
#45 ·
super98lsc said:
Nice work!! Damn now I want to go out and wire wheel, paint my axles.
There was so much crud on that thig. I was covered head to toe in a nasty oil/rust/metal/dirt powder.
 
#46 ·
Yep been there with the stingray and the 71 olds. Those wire wheels work great. I learned to wear a dust mask after doing the front frame on the 442, I coughed up rust for two.days :-(
 
#47 ·
Moving forward!!!!

FINALLLLYYYYY got these suckers in, surprising how easy it is when you use the right tool for the job (D44 adapter kit).

All pressed in and they move nice and easily and smoothly.


and look what I got!

Planning to pick up the rotors and wheel studs this weekend, as well as new grease seals for the hubs, and get everything assembled on saturday. Then the axle will be ready to be put up under the truck, just need to get some loose ends sorted out first (new tie rod ends, both sides, new TRE on the drag link, have to ream out the pitman arm on my steering box to accept the larger TRE, then once that crap is done, it can get bolted under the truck, get new calipers and pads, and be ready to run.

Oh, also working on getting a set of u bolts and u bolt plates lined up. We're gettin' there!
 
#49 ·
After doing everything, one knuckle was way loose and the other was nice and firm, it was bugging me, so i got home around 8, grabbed the necessary tools (i knew off the top of my head haha) on my way through the garage from my work truck to the back yard, and broke the damn driver side down.

all came apart, but i DID have to hit the top of the ball joint a little with a hammer to get it loose. i definitely wasnt wailing on it.

Anyway, re-torqued everything to spec, and it was still loose. A little better but every time i tightened the top nut down to 100 ft.lbs i would have to go PAST that to get the castle nut to line up.

I undid everything and tried again. still loose.

tried again, still loose.

Tried one last time, still loose.

Okay. Went out and got the left over split sleeve, installed that, torqued everything down, and it was quite a bit better. It still sits low in the yoke (threads exposed) but everything is torqued to spec, and the steering was more stiff on that side than before. Still seems a little less than the other side, but im not going to sweat it. I checked, rechecked, rerechecked, rererechecked, and rerererechecked my work. I'm confident that everything was done to spec, everything is nice and smooth, and solid, so, I'll go with it.
 
#50 ·
done. or am i?




After spending 300 more dollars that i dont have on what i THOUGHT were the final parts of the axle that i needed to get it under the truck (200 bucks for tie rod ends, are you serious?) I realized i needed some brake hoses. Okay, no biggie.

55 dollars each, locally. 55 freaking dollars for a rubber hose with a fitting on each end. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!! It never ends. i cant stand it anymore.

I can order all three freaking stainless steel lines for a lifted rig for less than that from BJ's offroad. I am so pissed. I cannot stand this jeep and i regret ever starting this stupid freaking axle swap.
 
#52 ·
That's better. I think "lift" is a key word for auto parts stores to double the price, kinda like saying "Corvette"
 
#53 ·
RockRollin said:
That's better. I think "lift" is a key word for auto parts stores to double the price, kinda like saying "Corvette"
No. The price of 55 each is for stock replacements.
 
#54 ·
Thats nuts!
 
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