Incommando

IIRC a '95 & newer solid axle explorer will get you the axle you want. The lowest ratio available stock is 4.10, though. If you are going to drop in a locker find an open version as there are more lockers available for less money. Many folks recommend staying with a 4.56 for the D30. Apparently the 4.88 requires making the pinion thinner and creates a weak point. Here is a pretty good primer on the 8.8 swap http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?371713-8-8-FACTS-OPINIONS-amp-HOW-TO-S-%28F-A-Q-%29

10"? maybe 8"? I drove one of these for years on 12" tires: The MIGHTY 1990 Ford Festiva. 5-spd. Not a single factory or dealer installed option.

I pointed out that the JK REAR D44 may be the strongest D44 REAR ever. As to the fronts the JK D44 Rubi FRONT and The JK HP D30 front do fail. But they fail under circumstances that our MJ axles would fail also. A JKU may weigh 1,200 #'s more than an MJ BEFORE you add larger tires & rims, bumpers and other armor. Also the 3.6 JK/JKU has between 95 & 180 horsepower more than any stock MJ/XJ. Add in that the average tire size on most of these rigs where the failures are most common is 37". No factory rear MJ axle comes near the JK rear as it is an extremely strong unit with a larger ring gear among other things while the holy grail MJ D44 is weaker than the average D44 rear due to the tubes and diameter being smaller than any other. A front JK HP 30 is more stout than our HP D30's which are about a tie with a Rubi TJ D44 front IF you go to big u-joint shafts. The JK Rubi HP D44 front is more stout than any of the other three front's listed. So JK axles under a lighter rig with less power and a smaller tire size would seem to be a solid upgrade. :thumbsup: Bring your MJ up to a 5,000+ # curb weight, bump it to 285 horsepower, and hit it even moderately while running 37" tires on your stock MJ/XJ axles. :rotf: I'll wait for a report back.

Amen: That PO sounds like such a winner that he may have butchered the frame-side mounts as well :doh: You will also have to cut off the XJ shock mounts to re-use the MJ spring plates/shock studs assuming that PO did not butcher or replace those, too. If the are gone/butchered pick up some simple shock mounting tabs when you get new perches.

Sometimes such speed sensitive issues can be the wheel balance anyway. But this is darn good advice. The body side track bar mount gets wobbled out and is something that is usually overlooked

The J/k axles are good ones and should be great under something as light as an XJ or MJ. The JK rear D44 may be the strongest D44 to date. But they have yet to drop much in price :(

If you want a lift and are swapping in a rear axle IMHO the SOA makes sense. Factory MJ springs are very flexy and should be retained if possible. You have to weld on rear spring perches and shock mounts whether you go SOA or not. This saves the expense of any sort of new springs and you will just have $100 or so in the same parts you would need to stay SUA. On the front you will probably need at least 5.5" of lift and may need to go higher or trim. I stayed with adjustable short arms at 5.5 but long arms or control arm drop brackets would be a good idea. Adjustable track bar with heavy duty body side mount is a must. You can get a truss set for as little as $40 from rusty's or you can spend over $300. Make sure you brace or upgrade your axle side lower control arm mounts and pass. side upper control arm mount.

From the title I thought this would be about my ex....

nevermind

Yes but you are apparently trying to pass off a pic of a 3" leaf-sprung front axle of another truck as the leaf-spring rear axle on a Comanche. Again, the top picture is not of a Comanche. A more suspicious person would believe that you went out to photograph what you "knew" to be correct about spring widths, found out you were wrong, and then photographed a tight picture of a vehicle with 3" springs hoping to pass it off as the rear of a Comanche and also hoping that no one noticed. I of course am not that suspicious. But a picture of a tape measure across both sets of springs that also shows they are clearly under the rear of a Comanche would help clear up whether or not you have 3" wide springs. It would not clear up their origin if you did have them, though.

A low-pinion D44 front like what is found in a FSJ really does not give you that much over most high-pinion D30's. If you want to go with a stronger axle without paying $5K to an aftermarket company then you are probably looking at full-width axles. An older Ford F250 HIGH pinion D44 front and matching D60 rear is a nice set-up. It gives you both a stronger high pinion front center section and thick axle tubes...but still the same size u-joints as a later D30. Pairs like this are getting harder to found and more expensive, though. Almost any axle can be adapted through the use of pre-made kits from numerous sources like Ruff Stuff. All of this is doable it is just time consuming and can get pricey.

Also as the previous owner of several multi-carbed vehicles of three different makes I would still love to see that dual six-pack ( 6 2-v?) set-up. Perhaps you could start a thread in The Pub while you are snapping pics?

Perhaps you are confused as to which vehicle is the Comanche. The top picture that you show is a passenger side drop front axle with leaf springs. Are you claiming that is a factory Comanche set-up as well? As it is also closed knuckle it is a very old axle. Are you sure that you are know which vehicle to measure/post pictures of?

All MJ rear springs are 2.5 inches. 3" wide springs as you claim would require different spring perches, shackles, hangers, and probably u-bolts & spring plates. It did not happen from the factory. Far too many people have swapped springs without such modifications and there would be different factory parts required. If you are correct then you may have hit the nail on the head: it came from the *dealer* that way.... But not the factory.

I have said it several times before and I will say it again: The booster/MC upgrade is worth its weight in gold.

Not so much. The metric ton springs are the same width as any other MJ springs. The factory D44 is also the same width with the same width perches as the D35. All MJ rear springs are 100% interchangeable. If your spring perches are in a different place or are for a wider leaf spring then the leaf attachments on the frame would have to be different, as well, yes? And that is not the case. Metric ton spring trucks did not have rear frame attachment differences, If the frame mounts are the same ( and they are) you cannot put a wider leaf spring in it, either. If you have "metric ton springs" for an MJ that are wider you must have had to change your spring perches and cut-off both front and rear frame mounts to replace them with ones that will have to be wider to accommodate the wider spring. Did you do that? Because the factory didn't for metric ton springs.

Don't get hung up on internet scuttle butt about having to have D44's. That is mostly BS and shows that whoever told you that doesn't really know what they are talking about. There are no direct bolt in 44's except for a rear MJ unit that is #1 IMHO way over priced & #2 about the weakest Dana 44 rear made in decades due to tube weakness and being undersized. Even the also rare and IMHO overpriced XJ rear requires the same mods as a FSJ axle, or any other axle, to fit in: New spring perches and a provision for shock attachment as well as a possibility for drive shaft length mods. If you have a D35 rear it is admittedly a weak unit for off-road use, If you are actually going to go off-road then the cheapest & easiest swap is a later 29-spline 8.25 from under an XJ. Plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to match your current gear ratios. It is in the ball bark of D44 strength ( probably stronger than an MJ/XJ D44) and is both the correct width and bolt pattern. Another common upgrade is a mid-90's Explorer 8.8 with disc brakes. Very strong and you can match 2 of the 3 common MJ gear ratios but it is more expensive than an 8.25. It requires adapters though as it is narrower than MJ axles. The front HP D30 is much stronger than a low pinion D30 in some ways. The later ones with 297 u-joints are arguably as strong as a TJ Rubicon D44 front due to the Rubi axle having a low pinion and being mostly D30 stuff. If you swap in big-joint front shafts and truss a HP D30 it is pretty darn stout for a light vehicle. Unless you get a matched set of axles to swap in you will have other issues such as axle width front to rear, bolt pattern, gear ratio, and many little things. Swapping gears if you cannot do it yourself will be about $500 per axle. Adapting the factory front MJ suspension to any donor axle other then from another MJ/TJ/or XJ is pretty involved in both time and expense. The other option which is equally labor intensive is changing the front suspension to leaf springs to match the axle. Just the way this post is worded leads me to believe that you have a lot more research to do before making what is ultimately your and yours alone decision. Why would you want to change leaf springs? The MJ rear leafs are very flexy. Leaf springs do not much care what axle you put on them and the smart thing is to adapt the axle to the position of the existing springs. That question leads me to think that you may be too inexperienced to easily accomplish the kind of swap that you are talking about. Around here you can buy an 8.25 and get new perches for about $100. Nothing else will come close to meeting that price unless you find an amazing deal. Getting big shaft front axle shafts for your HP D30 ( either used from a later XJ or TJ or new stock pieces if you don't want the expense of aftermarket shafts ) and then trussing it will be good on an MJ for the vast majority of users including those who keep tire size to 33" or so, do moderate or harder wheeling, and know how to drive. You don't list your year or anything else about your MJ. If it has CAD then you will need to block that off to use the better shafts. No loss as it is unneeded and failure prone anyway. I paid $75 for a used 29-spline XJ 8.25. I had about $35 bucks in spring perches & shock tabs, and then was able to weld it at home. I added an Aussie locker for $240. For less than $400 I have a decent rear axle that is locked. For my front HP D30 I bought new spicer shafts ( all 4 pieces) with the new stronger 760 u-joints for about $300. I use 32" mud terrains. I have not trussed it yet but I take my MJ off-road at least a couple of times a month and don't shy away from much unless my tire size limits it. I have yet to break anything in the drivetrain and I am fairly aggressive with the gas pedal. It is not an unbreakable combo but it is a decent combo for me and, honestly, 95% of the other MJ owners here. You need to be brutally honest about how you will use your MJ to make a decision on the best way to go. You may want a hardcore wheeler but if in reality it spends 95% on the street than build it for how it will be used.

The 8.8 lsd is a good one. Clutch type and rebuild able. I know more than one person who uses them off road with little issue. They are probably all you need most of the time unless you do a lot of rocks. However the open axle + a lunch box locker is about the price of the lsd version and is a true locker. So it comes down to: what do you want?

Some are trying to save them from the graveyard: http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/DaytonDailyNews/

The A10 is truly awesome. The pounding that they can take and remain in the air is amazing.

Nice clean install

I am first in line for that pay per view

Front inner fender liners run about $25 a side from numerous sources

Nope

Then I change my mind. :)