Sir Sam

Pretty much direct copies.....ya.

I wouldn't say they are expert copiers, but they are prolific ones. Sometimes they copy something and it just doesn't work right at all, because they don't know how it works, so they screw up when it does work.

Apparently the westerner who took the photo made a comment that it looked like a hummer, the reply was "no no no it doesn't look like a hummer, you only think that because its yellow"

It's called the Dongfeng HUV.

this thread needs more photos:

We did them as a collective group buy on the parts from a company in china that now appears to be out of business, as far as I know no one else has been able to import any since then. this is the most recent incarnation of the cherokee in china: http://colorado4wheel.com/images/BAW_S12/

Yep, all UK WJs had the CV front shaft, I have a Tom Woods UJ shaft & yokes that was on my WJ before I went to a double double cardan shaft with the 4.5" lift that I will reuse on the MJ, will need shortening though. Well if you wanted to pickup a set of moabs you can find them reasonibly here in the US. A local guy had a set of 5 for sale recently for $200. You would spend a good amount of money on shipping I'm sure though......

Yup, the 2WD coil buckets will be just fine to use on the front, Though I think you can make the WJ bucket setup work if memory serves(been a year since I compared the two). Depending on your axles you may or not have the CV style front yolk.....if you do then you might consider picking up the u-joint style yolk from a junkyard to make things easier for you. The WJ does not have a rear center balljoint....you may be thinking of the KJ.......but trussing that D44a rear is a good idea, once its been trussed the strength is more like that of a D60. Since you will be running 5x5" bolt pattern you might think about picking up a set of JK moabs, they would be a bolt on and be an aesthetically pleasing stock wheel to run......I'm not sure how common they are in the UK but you can find sets here in the US priced attractively.

Ya people want stupid money for TJ D44 fronts......and they are not really worth it. Look around and you will find deals on JK Dana 44's, I got my JK dana 44 for $300, but it was missing the passenger knuckle, caliper brackets, and calipers/rotors. I'm going to have to spend a little bit for those, but I will still have less into it than I would pay most places, and could turn around and sell it for a profit if I wanted to when I was done.

corkscrew gultch to hurricane and california pass:

While searching around for info on the JK D44 ujionts I found this article: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticles/ ... index.html So it looks like if your willing to dish out the cash there is a proper TJ/XJ/MJ/ZJ dana 44 that is a bolt in......kinda cool, but pricey! $4300 for the front and $3300 for the rear. Too bad they are not reasonably priced......

July 4th, 2010: July 4th, 2011: July 4th, 2010: July 4th, 2011: September 4th, 2006:

Thanks.....I was going nuts trying to use my micrometer without a battery so I went and bought one. I was looking at sizing guides that did not include the 5004891 Also, I measure snap ring to snap ring(K dimension shown below) as 2.4" exactly now with a new battery. And the cup size measures 1.188. from: http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazin ... joints.htm I'm not at the shop and won't be until the 30th as we'll be in Daytona Beach all next week for Jeep Beach, but if I can remember when I get back I'll grab a 5004891 and pull it out of the box and see if it has any additional #'s on it. Eh don't bother, I have two here in my axles so I suspect I know what they have on them........it was just kinda weird since I'm used to seeing 297 on a ujoint meaning its a 297, I saw that 799 and figured thats what it was.... But it was nice that at least you could confirm it was a different U-joint.....which is why I also could not find it in any of the typical sizing guides out there.

This is driving me nutso.... This is the u-joint in my JK dana 44 front: http://www.moparsupercenter.com/images/ ... h=740&wm=1 I was thinking that label meant spicer 799.......but who knows what the hell that means.

The Spicer 5-799x u joint is discontinued, and is an outside snap ring 1350 series joint for a driveshaft. I see that in google search results. I don't know what to tell you other than that is what the u-joints on my JK Dana 44 front have in them. Would you like to see a picture?

Actually he made a few thousand selling the XJ with the stock axles. And ya, 29 spline 8.25 and D44 rear is a total wash......The Dana 44 has slightly thicker shafts, but weaker tubes, the 8.25 has slightly smaller shafts, but stronger tubes..... This is very true, the TJ D44 is basically a glorified dana 30. The JK D44 is very different, nothing is shared with the TJ D30 or D44. Bigger shafts, bigger u joints, Bigger Cs, bigger unit bearings.... According to Autozone and Advance Auto Parts, the Jk axles (both 30 and 44) use standard D44 u joints. These are the same ones as the TJ Rubicon 44 and the larger u joint D30 ones. Spicer part number 5-297x, or 5-760x for the stronger cold forged non-cross drilled ones. The bottom joint in this photo is a 297 U joint from a XJ D30. The upper u-joint is the JK Dana 44 with the spicer 799 u-joint. The JK Dana 44 front axle shafts use a spicer 799 ujoint..

Ya my buddy bought a jeep about 5 years ago with a TJ D44 front and rear, 4.10s, and locked. He swapped the axles into his Jeep and put his old ones into the other jeep to sell it. He went from a HP D30 and a 8.25 rear, to a LP TJ D44 front and a D44 rear. Local guy got a TJ D44 housing for free, I was thinking of buying it off of him and building it with stock parts from takeoff TJs, and then selling it for stupid money. Guys still pay stupid money for a TJ D44 front.......when there is really no reason to pay more than you would for a HP D30 front with gears and a locker. Really the only upgrade he got was 4.10 gearing and front and rear lockers, he did not get any strength upgrade. Ya but the JK30 front has no value to us.....only to someone needing to replace a JK D30 front.....

This is very true, the TJ D44 is basically a glorified dana 30. The JK D44 is very different, nothing is shared with the TJ D30 or D44. Bigger shafts, bigger u joints, Bigger Cs, bigger unit bearings.... The weak point seems to be the tube, for whatever reason some JK guys are having issues with it, I'm not sure how they are doing it, but the tubes seem to be flexing. This may not be an issue at all on out lighter MJs, but there are several methods to "gusset" the axle, one company makes an internal sleeve that essentially makes the tube thicker, plus there are gusset kits like prorock and so on. I have no seen any issues with the Cs, just the tubes. D30 knuckle on JK d44:

Hold the phone, if you take the buckets from a donor axle, or even your old axle, you don't have to buy any of that stuff. You don't have to find 5x5" wheels, I'm going to get the hubs redrilled for 5x4.5" mostly because I already have wheels I want to run. BUT, if you left the axles as 5x5" there are lots of JK moab wheels out there. You see sets of JK moabs for $200-$300 for a set, sure you would also need new 17" tires.....but you could recoup costs by selling your old stuff.

The JK 44 stuff is stronger, bigger shafts, bigger ujoints. comparison:

This it what the JK coil buckets and stuff looks like: and an XJ: so very different, and like I said earlier the coil buckets are just too wide, so since they need to be rewelded further in, you might as well just use XJ buckets so everything will just boltup. IMO not a bad conversion.....oh and JK uses a CV style input too, not a yolk.....not sure what to say about that.

I took a bunch of comparison photos too between the XJ dana 30 and the JK D44 and I'm wondering what happened to those...... I just rechecked the measurements, the upper control arm mounts on the JK axle measure 1" wider than the XJ axle. The Lower control arm mounts measure the same width. So each upper arm needs to be able to mount .5" further apart than stock on the axle.....hell I think there is that much extra play in the stock arms.

I'm doing this in my MJ, well the front at least. The rear is easy, just cut off the existing brackets and weld in some new ones. The front is harder. As previously stated its wider and its a 5x5 bolt pattern. Personally I am going to get the hubs redrilled to 5x4.5 so I can run my silverstar wheels. (And then I can redrill rotors myself since they are hub centric and a little variation in the bolt pattern on the rotors is OK. If you are running aftermarket control arms with johnny joints then you ought not to need to move the brackets. I've been through all this before but my conclusion was that I would be fine leaving the brackets where they were. IIRC the lower control arm brackets are 1" further apart than a stock XJ/MJ/TJ/ZJ, which means each side is .5" further apart. I remember the uppers being the same......hmm, I might need to get the axle back out and remeasure these things. The coil buckets, shock mounts, etc, are all different on the JK axle. You can cutoff the JK coil buckets(which are too wide anyways) and toss them, then from a donor axle cutoff the XJ coil buckets, which include the shock mounts and swaybar links, and weld them to the JK axle. Thats my plan at least. The JK axle does seem to have some kinda weak tubes, so if you are gonna be running big tires on it or wheeling it a lot I would recommend either trussing it or using the internal reinforcing kit. I forget who but some company makes a kit where you can insert a tube in the axle tube complete with new seals, to reinforce it without an external truss.

"we cannot escape ourselves"

Damn, that's a good clip Sam. :rotf: