Waggy D44 front, anyone done it? how did you go about it?

[lostissues]

I have a set of D44s out of a waggy and I want to put them under my manche. Has anyone done this on here? if so what did you do for brackets? I know that TNT has a nice truss system, but nice also means 600 dollars. are there any good full bracket kits out there? did you do anything to change the bolt pattern to be able to run 5 on 4.5 wheels?

 

Thanks.

[Comanche County]

I do not believe you can go to 5 x 4.5" due to the inner diameter, but you can redrill the waggy shafts and rotors to 5 x 5.5" and use CJ wheels, or depending on the year of waggy axles, you can just mount Ford 5 x 5.5" hubs and rotors. Several companies sell brackets, check MORE, I know they have em.

[mvusse]

Friend of mine runs a Waggy 44 front. Don't know what he runs in the rear off hand, but they both have matching 6 bolt wheels. He left the axle leaf sprung.

[Swampy]

What would be a good match for a front waggy d44? 8.8? 8.25?

Also does anyone have pics of an xj/mj with a waggy axle?

[derf]

The rear D44 or AMC 20 is a good match.  Both are a bit narrower so some 1-1.25" spacers make it look more even.

 

I had a set of 44's from a 1988 Grand Wagoneer under my XJ for a while but took them out.

 

I'll dig around and see if I can find pictures.  I know I have some.  Somewhere...

[derf]

And for the record, the Waggy 44 in the front uses Chevy style knuckles, spindles, and hubs.  You can swap in Ford 5 on 5.5" knuckles/spindles/hubs easily enough.  But there's no way to go to a smaller bolt pattern as no one makes a replacement hub assembly similar to an XJ's unit bearing.

[Pete M]

for the rear you'll want to hunt down a mid 90s Rodeo rear axle.  it's a disk braked d44 of the correct width and 6 bolt pattern and comes in some decent ratios like 4.10 and 4.30

[neohic]

55 minutes ago, Pete M said:

for the rear you'll want to hunt down a mid 90s Rodeo rear axle.  it's a disk braked d44 of the correct width and 6 bolt pattern and comes in some decent ratios like 4.10 and 4.30

You need to change out the pinion flange also. The Rodeos use a goofy driveshaft flange from the factory. Easy enough though... all just standard parts. 

[ghetdjc320]

6 hours ago, Swampy said:

What would be a good match for a front waggy d44? 8.8? 8.25?

Also does anyone have pics of an xj/mj with a waggy axle?

The 96-97 rodeo/passport axle is the best. 98+ also works great since it’s an HD44 with 8.9” ring gear. 6 on 5.5. I ran this combo with the waggy front, stroker and 35’s and wheeled it to death in Texas, Arkansas and Utah. Added warn hubs and built a nice crossover steering setup using ruff stuff specialties heims and dom. I sold that YJ but absolutely loved that axle combo. More room under the axle in the back than an 8.8 and 6 on 5.5 looks like they belong on a Jeep. Overall stronger axle than an 8.8 also. Thicker tubes, way bigger brakes, D60 pinion and bigger ring. Only thing that ever let me down was a warn hub. One of the seals failed after a waterfall climb 

 

Here is the info I wrote on jeepforum years back. I bought and built several of these axles specifically to gather accurate data on them:  

 

 

[Smokeyyank]

I have a waggy 44's on mine

 

 

[CMMagnussen]

Barnes4wd has the truss you need for the waggy front was around 400 I got mine during a black friday sale so ended up paying 300.

 

As for the rear 96-97 rodeo/passport axle

[ghetdjc320]

If your fine with cutting off the old brackets of the axle, grab a 98+ rodeo/passport rear axle. 63” wms and would fit the wider rear of the MJ well. Those are the HD44’s and are very stout. 

[Swampy]

20 hours ago, Smokeyyank said:

I have a waggy 44's on mine

 

 

Your axle looks great. What do you have done to it and what tires are you running?

 

[Swampy]

On 12/2/2020 at 8:17 PM, ghetdjc320 said:

The 96-97 rodeo/passport axle is the best. 98+ also works great since it’s an HD44 with 8.9” ring gear. 6 on 5.5. I ran this combo with the waggy front, stroker and 35’s and wheeled it to death in Texas, Arkansas and Utah. Added warn hubs and built a nice crossover steering setup using ruff stuff specialties heims and dom. I sold that YJ but absolutely loved that axle combo. More room under the axle in the back than an 8.8 and 6 on 5.5 looks like they belong on a Jeep. Overall stronger axle than an 8.8 also. Thicker tubes, way bigger brakes, D60 pinion and bigger ring. Only thing that ever let me down was a warn hub. One of the seals failed after a waterfall climb 

 

Here is the info I wrote on jeepforum years back. I bought and built several of these axles specifically to gather accurate data on them:  

 

 

Will look through this info. Thanks!

[Smokeyyank]

1 hour ago, Swampy said:

Your axle looks great. What do you have done to it and what tires are you running?

 

 

I can't take the credit, it was meanlemon's rig I bought from him earlier this year. TnT truss, 4.27 gears, custom trackbar and steering, ARB all new everything with 33's. Neal did some great work on it. Once I get settled into my new place it's going to get stripped down to the cab and built back up. Will move up to tons and 37-40s eventually. Going to finish building up my WJ  first. So maybe in like 5 years the MJ will get some love.