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MJ Dana 44 Swap?


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Guy down the road pulled his '87 MJ out of the weeds and put a for sale sign on it. My quick study: 155K, SWB, AW4, Rusted through and through, tan buckets, winch, and a DANA 44!!!! He wants $250 for the truck and $250 for the winch. Not bad, I would probably not take the winch unless he is willing to do a really good package deal.... $300. Any chance this thing would have the metric ton springs?

 

What is involved in swapping the D44 into a rig with the D35? Are the U-Joints any different? Will the drive shaft length be an issue?

 

If I end up getting this thing for the axle I'll part it out or use as a farm truck with my current D35 installed.

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It should be a straightforward swap for you.

Glad to hear it.

 

Factory installed winch??

I do not think so. It has some sort of winch bumper. Winch looks well used and aged.

 

I think I will head over tomorrow and talk to him with some cash ready for the truck.

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From front to back of the diff.. the dana 44 is longer than the dana 35, so you would need to shorten your rear drive shaft, but for less than a $100 to shorten the drive shaft, it's a worthwhile swap!

 

The cost of $250 for the truck is about the same price as buying that dana 44 so it sounds like a GoodBuy to me jamminz.gif

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All Metric Tons were longbeds. So unless someone swapped them in, then no, not likely.

 

It should be a straightforward swap for you.

 

 

not true.

 

I've had two short beds with m/t packs in them.

 

 

the springs are IDENTICAL between lwb and swb in length and mounting location, and Jeep was very inclined to let their buyers have what they wanted.

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I swapped an MJ d44 into my 88 shortbead MJ and used the stock d35 shaft for a while - ran fine w/o any issues. The d35 shaft was very close to bottoming out (it never did while I had it) but I eventually had it shortened about an inch for a better fit - it cost me $119 dollars at a local shop.

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:fs1: Went to offer the guy cash for the truck today and he had sold it a few hours before. Grrrr. These trucks are darn near impossible to find around here!

 

Maybe next time. Thanks for the 'how to's' for the D44 swap. Its only a matter of time ;)

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