MWinland Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Is a Grand Wagoneer Dana 44 front axle a worth while swap? I want to go full width, and I found one in a local JY for $250. I realize I'll have to re-gear and all that jazz, but in terms of strength vs. effort, is it a good swap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motion Offroad Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Waggy axle's are not "full width". They are basically the same width of your D30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWinland Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 "Full size" is probably a better description, but is it a good swap? I only have experience with front D30's. I'm currently running 31's on a D30 with an Aussie and CAD. I want to up size to the 33-35 range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountianrider Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 I Bought this Bulk Freighter for parts, it's a Canadian Cherokee and it's got Dana 44 Axles! As luck would have it the only thing wrong with the old girl was a broken heater valve. Those plastic vacum controlled heater switches blow up after ten to seventeen years. Mine went after seventeen years, cheap crap, and if you don't know any better you'd think it was a blown head gasket. Well, lucky for me a Boeing Engineer had it towed home on 12/24/2004 with that exact problem! Only thing was, he thought it was a blown head gasket! It sat in the garage for the next, ah, four years! I bought it and got it home with a U-haul and the vaunted J10 recovery vehicle. My best buy ever! I checked the oil and it was clean as the day Mr. Engineer had it changed. Well, that just didn't square with a blown head gasket, which is almost impossible to accomplish with the 4.0L any ways, and, since I had started the Cherokee to get both on and off the trailer, and it ran fine, well it just couldn't be a blown head gasket. I added water to check and a bunch comes running out on to the garage floor. I look and am astonished to see the broken heater valve. Lucky for me I bought it from a Boeing Engineer! Kinda makes ya wonder about flying though? Any ways, $350.00 all total and I've been driving it for over two years now! Ok, so this doesn't have a lot to do your question, but the point is that some Cherokees did come with Dana 44 Axles. There out there and they should just bolt right up. The only thing you have to swap is the rear springs I think. :Canadaflag: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLHTAZ Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Yes...it is a good "quality" swap. It will take a little work as the Waggy D44 is leaf sprung so you will have to fashion some perches for coils, but the axle is definitely good for what you want. OH...BTW...be sure that it is not the one with the vacuum assembly on the upper left side of the differential. It can be done away with, but it's kind of a pain in the @$$. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motion Offroad Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I Bought this Bulk Freighter for parts, it's a Canadian Cherokee and it's got Dana 44 Axles! As luck would have it the only thing wrong with the old girl was a broken heater valve. Those plastic vacum controlled heater switches blow up after ten to seventeen years. Mine went after seventeen years, cheap crap, and if you don't know any better you'd think it was a blown head gasket. Well, lucky for me a Boeing Engineer had it towed home on 12/24/2004 with that exact problem! Only thing was, he thought it was a blown head gasket! It sat in the garage for the next, ah, four years! I bought it and got it home with a U-haul and the vaunted J10 recovery vehicle. My best buy ever! I checked the oil and it was clean as the day Mr. Engineer had it changed. Well, that just didn't square with a blown head gasket, which is almost impossible to accomplish with the 4.0L any ways, and, since I had started the Cherokee to get both on and off the trailer, and it ran fine, well it just couldn't be a blown head gasket. I added water to check and a bunch comes running out on to the garage floor. I look and am astonished to see the broken heater valve. Lucky for me I bought it from a Boeing Engineer! Kinda makes ya wonder about flying though? Any ways, $350.00 all total and I've been driving it for over two years now! Ok, so this doesn't have a lot to do your question, but the point is that some Cherokees did come with Dana 44 Axles. There out there and they should just bolt right up. The only thing you have to swap is the rear springs I think. :Canadaflag: Your talking rear axle, the thread is about FRONT axles. The XJ/MJ never came with anything put a D30 in the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motion Offroad Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 "Full size" is probably a better description, but is it a good swap? I only have experience with front D30's. I'm currently running 31's on a D30 with an Aussie and CAD. I want to up size to the 33-35 range. If your only going to run a 33-35" tire your probably better off just doing some minor upgrades to your D30. In the long run it will be cheaper and will hold up just fine. We run 35's on D30's and wheel "hard" and haven't had an issue yet that's made me say "man I wish I had a D44 front". An easy upgrade is to find the newer style shafts with the 297x joints in them. If you go hunting at a junk yard you can find them for cheap; throw in a set of quality u-joints and they will hold just fine with 33's or 35's. If your dead set on a waggy 44 swap your best bet is to call up Bob @ Treks (TNT Customs) and order a waggy 44 truss to swap into the XJ/MJ. It's the easiest and in the long run the cheapest way to get the D44 into your XJ/MJ. Also remember that waggy 44's are 5 on 5.5 (you currently have 5 on 4.5), so your going to have to run a different set of rims for the front than the rear if your keeping your current rear axle. If you do any amount of wheeling carrying 2 different spares gets old quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I Bought this Bulk Freighter for parts, it's a Canadian Cherokee and it's got Dana 44 Axles! As luck would have it the only thing wrong with the old girl was a broken heater valve. Those plastic vacum controlled heater switches blow up after ten to seventeen years. Mine went after seventeen years, cheap crap, and if you don't know any better you'd think it was a blown head gasket. Well, lucky for me a Boeing Engineer had it towed home on 12/24/2004 with that exact problem! Only thing was, he thought it was a blown head gasket! It sat in the garage for the next, ah, four years! I bought it and got it home with a U-haul and the vaunted J10 recovery vehicle. My best buy ever! I checked the oil and it was clean as the day Mr. Engineer had it changed. Well, that just didn't square with a blown head gasket, which is almost impossible to accomplish with the 4.0L any ways, and, since I had started the Cherokee to get both on and off the trailer, and it ran fine, well it just couldn't be a blown head gasket. I added water to check and a bunch comes running out on to the garage floor. I look and am astonished to see the broken heater valve. Lucky for me I bought it from a Boeing Engineer! Kinda makes ya wonder about flying though? Any ways, $350.00 all total and I've been driving it for over two years now! Ok, so this doesn't have a lot to do your question, but the point is that some Cherokees did come with Dana 44 Axles. There out there and they should just bolt right up. The only thing you have to swap is the rear springs I think. :Canadaflag: Your talking rear axle, the thread is about FRONT axles. The XJ/MJ never came with anything put a D30 in the front. This isn't entirely true. In the US, yes. In other countries, it depends. I know some export markets - Brazil - got XJs with a D44/D30 hybrid similar to the Rubicon D44. I don't know anything about Canadian XJs, but if Brazil got them maybe Canada did too. :dunno: Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchamakalit Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 A waggy front will be a passenger side drop diff. You need a drivers drop unless your swapping the tcase also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 "Full size" is probably a better description, but is it a good swap? I only have experience with front D30's. I'm currently running 31's on a D30 with an Aussie and CAD. I want to up size to the 33-35 range. If your only going to run a 33-35" tire your probably better off just doing some minor upgrades to your D30. In the long run it will be cheaper and will hold up just fine. We run 35's on D30's and wheel "hard" and haven't had an issue yet that's made me say "man I wish I had a D44 front". An easy upgrade is to find the newer style shafts with the 297x joints in them. If you go hunting at a junk yard you can find them for cheap; throw in a set of quality u-joints and they will hold just fine with 33's or 35's. If your dead set on a waggy 44 swap your best bet is to call up Bob @ Treks (TNT Customs) and order a waggy 44 truss to swap into the XJ/MJ. It's the easiest and in the long run the cheapest way to get the D44 into your XJ/MJ. Also remember that waggy 44's are 5 on 5.5 (you currently have 5 on 4.5), so your going to have to run a different set of rims for the front than the rear if your keeping your current rear axle. If you do any amount of wheeling carrying 2 different spares gets old quickly. I agree. The nominal strength increase from a high pinion D30 to a low pinion D44 just isn't worth the effort of swapping over all the brackets, etc. In my opinion your weak point will still be the axle shaft u-joints, which are the same with 297/760 shafts for both the D30 and D44. For the most part, you should be fine with 33" to 35" tires on your D30 if you upgrade to 297/760 shafts and don't launch it off any sweet jumps. :brows: Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 A waggy front will be a passenger side drop diff. You need a drivers drop unless your swapping the tcase also. Early Wagoneers had a passenger side front differential. Somewhere around '79 or '80 they changed to driver side. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motion Offroad Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 A waggy front will be a passenger side drop diff. You need a drivers drop unless your swapping the tcase also. ONLY pre 1980 axle's are pass. side drop. 1980-82 are driver drop and good axle's to swap into a XJ/MJ. 1983-84 are driver drop but 95% of the time vac. disco and not worth the time. 1985+ are driver drop and good axles to swap into a XJ/MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchamakalit Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 ok thanks for the correction guys. I thought all the fullsize waggys were passenger drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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