Dana 44

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From jeep.off-road.com

Intro

The Dana 44 was one of the most common axles found under Jeep vehicles throughout the years. They're highly sought after now for their increased strength over factory axles such as the Chrysler 8.25, Dana 35, and Dana 30, and will hold up against 35" tires, making them a highly demanded upgrade for Jeep owners looking to go big. Compared to the Dana 35, the 44 is a huge improvement over the stock axles, and since the 44 has been around so long, there's a huge aftermarket for lockers and alloy axleshafts.

Specs

• axleshafts = 1.31"
• ring gear = 8.5'
• Carrier break = 3.73 and down; 3.92 and up

Factory Dana 44s

• Jeepster Commando: Dana 44 rear axle on all Jeepster Commandos, 67-69 had tapered axle Dana 44 and the 70-71 had the flanged Dana 44 axles.

• YJ Wrangler: Some early YJs also had a Dana 44 in the rear, but this option was only available in Canada.

• TJ Wrangler:1997-2006 Rear 3.73 ratio Dana 44 optional on Sport and Sahara models, also standard on X model Rocky Mountain Edition. 2003-2006 Rubicons also come with 44's front and rear, and the rear Dana 44 has been an option for TJ's for quite some time.

• JK Wrangler: 2007 and up Rubicon models include HD HP Dana 44 Front and HD Dana 44 Rear with 32 splines (upgraded from TJ Rubicons).

The rear Dana 44 is optional with other 4x4 models.

• XJ Cherokee/Wagoneer: 1987-1989 (some say up until 1990) XJ Cherokees with the Tow Package sometimes came with the Dana 44 rear axle. These are now hard to come by because of Wrangler and Cherokee owners using them to upgrade their weak Dana 35s and because it's an easy bolt-in swap for Cherokees and Wranglers.

• MJ Comanche: 1987-1990 (some say up until 1992) MJ Comanches with the "Metric Ton" Package(long bed only) came with a Dana 44. It was also avaible as an option on short beds and lomg bed without the "Metric Ton" package.

• SJ Wagoneer: Jeep Wagoneers (SJs) came with Dana 44's as the front axle for most

years, and either the Dana 44 or AMC 20 axle in the rear. These are also prime candidates for swaps into smaller Jeeps.

• ZJ Grand Cherokee: 1996-1998 ZJs with the V8 and 1999-2004 WJs with the V8 had a Dana 44 with an aluminum centersection.

The aluminum Dana 44 is a C-clip type axle and it doesn't use standard Dana 44 components. This diff is internally similar to the Dana 44 rear-differential in the Dodge Viper, which has an IRS D44 setup.