I am modifing a D44 out of a 81 chevy 1/2 ton to swap into the front of my 78 CJ7. I couldn't find a reasonably price waggy axle or any of the other easier swaps. I am shortening to 60 inches wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. It will be covered to 4.11s in this process. This is also going spring over axle and yj springs.
We took our meaurements and found that we needed to cut 7 and 3/4 inches off of the axles. We stripped everything from the axle.
I was trying to grind the weld off to remove the knuckle. Just using a matobo grinder. I wasn't having much luck and ended up cutting the tube just before it went into the knuckle.
After cutting the tube, I ground the tube down going into the knuckle until we could see the separation. Note the red arrow. I used a finishing wheel on the grinder and didn't press hard to minimize the stalk removal.
I had to cut a relief in the remaining chunk of axle tube before it could be pressed out.
I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old so time to work on this is far and few between. The next step will be cutting the long tube by 7 and 3/4 inches (this was measured before we cut it) with a chop saw. Then we will weld the knuckle back on. The knuckle will be heated in the oven first and the put on the tube. I hope this thread helps someone else out.