from the sound of what you intend to do with the rig, you need D44's at least.

Finding a bolt in while minimizing cost will be next to impossible though. Late 70's waggy's are your best bet for a front axle or a 70's Chevy cut down 4" on the long side if you plan for SOA.

For the rear axle you have a lot more options. Waggy D44 or Waggy AMC20 (Waggy version is MUCH stronger than the CJ version), Scout D44, Passport/Rodeo D44 (These often come with 4.10 or 4.27 gears and some even with 4.56's!). The explorer 8.8 or a early bronco 9" are also good options for the rear. The nice thing about the 8.8 and Rodeo D44's are that they come with factory disc brakes.

All will need modification to work, the closest to a bolt in will be if you can score an 86 CJ7 D44. Everything else will at a minimum need to have the spring perches relocated.

SO in short...your best option is a Waggy D44 front (or Chevy if you go SOA)

And just about anything can work in the rear

 

or find an old commando 70-72 they came stock with dana 44 rear, direct bolt in

 

I knew that no matter what I am pretty much going to need to may a shop to do some work/machining on the D44s, but the closer I get to right for them the less the cost.

I'll be having the shop regear and install the lockers, and replace all bearings and other parts that wear as part of the build anyway, and a limited amount of machining/modifying is built into the budget as well for this.

I found a pair of D44s for sale a few days ago that come from a 70's CJ5, from what I can tell the CJ'5s have the same width frame as the CJ7 which if I am correct would also put the spring pads in the right place for the CJ7, they should also put the hubs and differentials in the same place as well too right???? I already need to change the driveshaft lengths for the new transmission, so thats not a big deal. I also think if research is being comprehended that I might still have to change the spring pad location to get the drive shaft angles right for the CJ.

If I am correct about the above, if I can still get these it will put me 75% of the way there.

I didn't jump on the D44s right away because I had just read someone elses rebuild story which mentioned buying a couple of different used axles, getting them to the shop to find that they were trashed. I wanted to figure out the Transmission/Transfer Case solution before working my way to the axles anyway so I figured I would take the time to learn how not to buy trashed out axles. I also didn't expect to find the transmission solution as fast as I did either.

What can I do to "inspect" the D44's during purchase to minimize my chances of buying someone elses non repairable axles? Keep in mind here that I know little to nothing about how axles are generally build. Taking them to a "trusted" mechanic to be inspected for me isn't possible either due to location/distances...

I am pretty mechanically inclined, and if y'all can tell me the general things to look for I feel pretty comfortable that I can determine if they are good/bad from y'alls descriptions...

 

What can I do to "inspect" the D44's during purchase to minimize my chances of buying someone elses non repairable axles? Keep in mind here that I know little to nothing about how axles are generally build. Taking them to a "trusted" mechanic to be inspected for me isn't possible either due to location/distances...

I am pretty mechanically inclined, and if y'all can tell me the general things to look for I feel pretty comfortable that I can determine if they are good/bad from y'alls descriptions...

Most people swap to a 44 because it has a stronger housing than an AMC 20. Several years ago when I was getting ready to regear my CJ-5, I picked up a late Jeep Commando 44 which would have been a direct swap nto my CJ-5. guess what? It had a bent axle tube. The left axle tube was 1/4" out of alignment. So I regeared my AMC 20, installed 1 piece axles and it hasn't given me a bit of trouble. If you find an axle you like, put it on jack stands and put a torpedo level on both tubes and compare the readings. Turn the housing 90 degrees and do the same thing.

 

a CJ NEVER came with a front Dana 44. Pre-76 CJ5's did come with a 30spline, flanged rear D44 though which is a good option for the rear if you want to stay narrow width.

 

A CJ5 may never have come stock with a Dana 44, BUT the pair of D44's I am talking about come OFF of a CJ5...

I'm guessing someone did the mods to put them on there, and the guy told me that he replaced them with wider axles.

a CJ NEVER came with a front Dana 44. Pre-76 CJ5's did come with a 30splione, flanged rear D44 though which is a good option for the rear if you want to stay narrow width.

 

Waggy 44's would be cheap and easy.

 

Yeah I would find out a little more info on these axles, what they came out of (scout? Waggy? Chevy?) and whats been done to them before pulling the trigger.

Get some pics and post em up! We Love Pics!!

 

bbc did a great write-up on chopping a waggy front axle, well worth reading. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/project-envy-893196/index3.html

 

michialt, dude, you are the one that needs to relax. CSP was giving you some solid pointers. He was pointing out that even the most mild trails have the opportunity to be challenging.... some are even more rig dependent than others. The point where a driver, regardless of the trail or vehicle, takes the trail for granted, that is when vehicles break and/or people get hurt.

 

Mojo,

Can I ask a slightly different question. If you were stuck in a mud water crossing, and you asked me for assistance as I passed by, which of these answers would you prefer to hear?

1) Hey friend, here is the end of my winch cable, and do you need a bottle of water while we get this hooked up?

2) Hey dude, you know there has been a dozen others that's been stuck right were you are, you should go search them out, they've asked for the same help in the past.

I don't mean to slam anyone on here, but I've been researching the d44s and how to get both the best deal and what to buy and what to look for for weeks. And to be honest I have found some things, but nothing to help me.

What I have found though is probably 10 people saying just search it out for ever one post that tried to help.

People may get tired of answering the same question over and over, but wouldn't the better choice be to not answer anything rather than run off someone that's new to the community?

Maybe I am being a bit short, but simply saying keep the amc20 and beef it up, and that there is a bunch of metric crap out there go search it out... What exactly is helpful in that? It helped me understand that he felt the amc20 is an acceptable dif, but why? Everything I KNOW about the amc20 is that it can handle light trailing with 35s, and it might be able to handle 37s if grandma uses it to go back and forth to church and the grocery store on Sunday's.

Then the comment about Moab, all I can say is that there are two types of people trying to get to the top of the mountain. The ones that choose the safe path of following the roads back and forth to eventually come to rest on top. Then there are those that prefer to simply go straight to the top, have a beer and wonder why the other guy is going in circles instead of enjoying the view, beer and conversation.

I prefer to think that I would rather not drive all day to rest and enjoy the beer.

 

Looks like the Jeep community I remember really has changed... Guess from now on while trailing I'll be recommending that you search out the answers for how to get out of the messes. Guess at least that way I'll get more time trailing and less time helping others...

Guess I come to the wrong place to find friends and conversation and assistance.

 

michialt don't worry about mojo matic. He's a ****** bag. He was doing the same thing to me in a thread on Thursday. Just ignore him. He needs to GTFO of here and go **** up some other forum.

 

The last production('86) CJ7s did come with D44 rear axles.

Mine has Dana 44 rear, Dana 30 front, T-176 and Dana-300. All factory.

 

I'd still like to see a few pics and hear a little more about these axles and the width and how they are mounted

:bump:...

 

ya know, this question gets asked alot, and for most folks, the search function sucks here. Why hasn't there been ONE post that has ALL the info from someone who actually knows the answer to and it be made into a STICKY??
I personally have read through, start to finish, 20+ posts and have a decent idea of where to find the axles I might want, but, that literally took me a week or two to go through all the crap and all of the smarty pants answers, too!

I'm just sayin'

(and this is no slam to anyone, but we all know how frustrating it is when only half the answer is found)

 

Have you considered ordering a set of custom ford 9" axles from Currie Enterprises or similar?

I got a quote for a pair of bolt-on 9" geared to my choice with detroits for like $5-6k... same width as my amc20/d30 WT too. I believe they even setup the rear for disc brakes too. Once you sink $2-3k in to wheels, tires and lift, why not go the extra mile and do the axles right?

That's a no-compromise solution if you ask me. They do dana44s and dana60s too I think, but from my readings the ford 9" is stronger than the d44, but offers better clearance than the d60.

 

MIHIALT I'm with you. I understand the frustration of researching something then posting a question (well thought out, 2 part question I might add) and getting the "do a search on the subject" reply. I agree, if you have no original input, don't post.

But sometimes it may be said innocently as maybe it was here. I don't think it was intended harshly or demeaning, but either way, I just try to ignore the ones that have no value and wait on the ones that do.

Hope all goes well with the build.

 

Hi. never heard of a direct bolt in but have done a few later model scout 44 axle swaps and they haven't been to much work. good luck.

 

dana 44's

Interesting back-and-forth's... On the topic of '44s, I did about a week's worth of research on this topic a couple of years ago and decided the best bet for me was waggy axles. I found them off a 78, same year as my jeep. They come in at roughly 60 inches WMS.

There are two minor problems that have to be addressed. One: The spring perches are a little farther apart on the Waggy than on the CJ. Something like an inch and a half or two inches. You'd need to read up on it to be sure. Your solutions are to narrow the long side that amount to bring the perches closer and narrow your track a bit, but that is quite a bit of work. I chose to "outboard" my springs which wasn't too much work and turned out to be pretty fun.

The other "problem" is the wheel bolt pattern is 6x5.5 which isn't stock jeep CJ. You can convert it to 5x5.5 like I did using 80's ford rotors and a small chevy spindle. This is a well-researched topic. If you are changing both axles and don't mind buying new wheels then there isn't a problem.

I'll attach a picture of my home-built outboard perches.

 

Waggy????

I'm new to this forum. I'm researching swapping in Dana 44's on a CJ-7 that I'm building. In my research, I've seen the term "waggy" used several times. What does the term mean?

 

I'm new to this forum. I'm researching swapping in Dana 44's on a CJ-7 that I'm building. In my research, I've seen the term "waggy" used several times. What does the term mean?

It's usually a '74 to '79 full size Jeep Waggoneer or a narrow track full size Cherokee.

 

Thank you John N

 

Out of curiosity, how risky is it to use the outers from the original axle? I know they are not as strong, but it maintains the bolt pattern without having to find donor parts from multiple vehicles.

 

CHARGING, shocking on three. One, two, three. We have a pulse, thread revived!