86jeep Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Hello my name is Tony I have a 86 MJ 2 wheel drive. I want to make it 4x4. I want to do leaf springs in front. I think dana 44 front would be all i need out back a amc20 or a 44 or a chevrolet 12 bolt. Now i have these two parts truck I have a 79 4x4 Chevy Suburban 350 Runs great turbo 400/203. I also got a 91 Chevy Suburban 4x4 bad 350 good 700r4/242. I would like to take my MJ and put the 79 350 and 700r4/242 Not sure which tranny be the best to use the 400/203 or the 700r4/242. here's my question what axles be the best. It will see highway driveing and light wheeling no hard-core 'wheeling will be done. i will do some wheeling lets call it light hard core at the most. would the axles from the 79 be ok. thanks Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alleydog Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Maybe you like the wide look, but those full size axles are awful wide for a manche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Axles are indeed very wide for an MJ but I have a '66 Travelall D44 to put under mine with Chrysler mini van rims for back spacing. Leaves in the front requires adding framework to handle the weight because they weren't designed for that. The TH400 is passenger's side drop so it's a no-go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 could it all be switch to right side drop i found a j20 with a hd 44 a a dana 60 out back that is right side drop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Axles are indeed very wide for an MJ but I have a '66 Travelall D44 to put under mine with Chrysler mini van rims for back spacing. Leaves in the front requires adding framework to handle the weight because they weren't designed for that. The TH400 is passenger's side drop so it's a no-go. How can a transmission be any side drop. It's a transmission, not a transfer case. And I'd opt for the 700R4. Plenty strong for a compact truck like ours and overdrive would be good on the highway. Making the 350 fit over top of the front axle would probably mean either a lift or a custom oil pan. Don't have any input on axles as there are so many good choices out there, but do have a little input on springs. I have seen two front leaf spring conversions. One was on an MJ in the junk yard. They put a YJ axle under the front, attaching one end of the leaf springs to the lower control arm brackets, and the other end to a custom made front bumper that stuck like 8" out past the front of the truck and looked like crap because of it. A friend of mine has an XJ with a SJ D44 under the front, but I never looked to see how he attached the leaf springs, or what length springs he used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnkyboy Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 If its not gonna see heavy wheeling why not just bolt in a D30,the 4 link will work better then leafs anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 well i want to go up to about 6 inch lift and i just rather get away from junk steering. I just wondering what axles will be the best. I don't want real wide ones. I all ready got the motor tranny and Transfer case my Transfer case is right side drop. so my axles has to be right side drop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 IIRC, I believe older full size Cherokees/Wagoneers and J trucks had a right hand drop front axle and they are almost identical in width to ours. Some (most? all?) of those are Dana 44s. Junk steering has little or nothing to do with the type of suspension. It has to do with a correctly setup steering system for your type of suspension. With leaf springs the drag link has to be as close to parallel to the axle as possible. With 6" or more lift this may mean having to go to a high steer set up and/or using a (large) drop pitman arm. This in turn means you have to reinforce the frame around the steering box so it doesn't rip the bolts through the frame from the additional leverage (actually a good idea anyway when running large tires). You also have to make sure the drag link and leaf springs don't interfere with each other. With a 2, 3 or 4 link with panhard bar, the drag link needs to be parallel to the panhard bar (track bar) and ideally the same length as well. This usually means you keep your stock pitman arm, or in some cases depending on steering modifications, a lesser drop (rise) one. Theoretically a coil sprung multi link suspension could ride nicer, handle better and flex more than leaf springs, but in practice I have witnessed leaf spring set ups that performed as well as or better than poorly executed coil spring suspensions (like a radius arm type long arm setup.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 IIRC, I believe older full size Cherokees/Wagoneers and J trucks had a right hand drop front axle and they are almost identical in width to ours. Some (most? all?) of those are Dana 44s. and if you go with an older SJ dana 44 front, you can pair it with a rear axle from an isuzu rodeo which is a dana 44 with disks and 4.10 or even deeper gears (can't remember what the exact number is) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 the axles I found is a j20 heavy duty 44 up front a dana 60 out back i think these would be a good choice are they a way to swicth these to 6 lugs i will get the flat top kunckles for high steer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 J20 are all 8 lug stock (I swapped J10 axles into a few because I wanted the upgrades for other rigs). J10, wagoneer, cherokee are 6 lug (74-83) FSJs with RH drop FSJ axles are '74 to '79. Pickups and Wide Track Cherokees are wider that 4 dr Cherokees and Wagoneers. On the TH400, I meant to say any stock TH400/tcase combo is going to be RH drop, even in Chev until after '88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 so what would be the the axles to find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 If you go '80 and newer FSJ except the truck you'll get the correct width Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 1978 Jeep Cherokee Narrow Track will this work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Width wise, but the front driveshaft is passenger's side until 1980 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnj92131 Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 IIRC, I believe older full size Cherokees/Wagoneers and J trucks had a right hand drop front axle and they are almost identical in width to ours. Some (most? all?) of those are Dana 44s. and if you go with an older SJ dana 44 front, you can pair it with a rear axle from an isuzu rodeo which is a dana 44 with disks and 4.10 or even deeper gears (can't remember what the exact number is) My 98 Rodeo 5 speed had a 4.30 rear end. My 2000 Rodeo Automatic has a 4.10 Both were/are V6, 4 cyl may have steeper gears, like 4.55, just do not know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 then it will work with my 350 700r4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 what truck will i need to get the flat top knuckles from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 what truck will i need to get the flat top knuckles from? http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavist ... search.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 got my front axel 78 grand waggy narrow track passer drop so my 350 sbc and 700r4 will work just eed to find a rear i bought one allready out what gear ratio will u think it will be it was a 360 auto quard track Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 please use some punctuation. your posts are somewhat hard to read. the ratio in a stock grand wagoneer axle will be crappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I'm guessing 2.72. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86jeep Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 I bought a nother set of axel. 78 cherokee narrow track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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