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jeepsr4ever
12-15-2002, 04:31 PM
I have welded in many a front axle and i found this to be a great upgrade bringing strength and stability to a jeep. For this page i will talk about installing a dana 44 from a mid seventies wagoneer or jtruck or cherokee. These came in 3 different lengths one was narrow track, I cant remember the other ones name but the last came in golden eagle cherokee's and was the widetrack, Now the narrow track is the one i will focus on right now, but it wont matter untill later(YOULL SEE) the first thing is that the narrow track dana44 (fullsize jeep) is only 1.5"s wider than a widetrack used in cj's 82-86 this makes it a great axle to swap, you get tough axles and bigger ujoints plus the addition of a tougher ring and pinion, the amc dana 44 (fullsize) version also shares 3/4ton axle tubes which are thicker than standard ford axle tubes used on 1/2 ton ford 4wd's and they are thicker than chevy 10bolt front end axle tubes, the 10 bolt shares the same outer axles,brakes,hubs,spindles. But i wouldnt advise swapping a 10 bolt as the tubes are weak and I have seen the case crack. OK back to the swap, so the 44 is sitting on the ground and your dana 30 is next to it. You will notice that the dana 44 has a spring purch width 4"s greater than the dana30 front, remeber this because it is essential for your new purches, I believe avalanche engeneering makes a fullsize bolt on setup for cj frames, The beauty of this swap is the fact that once the spring purches are there, the axle can be swapped out for any other fullsize axle that shares the spring width, CHEVY, FORD,DODGE. I will be upgrading my dana 44's to dana 60's with disk brakes, i will post pictures with full notation. I would go to a dana 44 from a fullsize jeep rather than a 44 from a scout due to differences in caster braking turning radius and spring width, although spring width can easily be modyfied by cutting the inner knuckle off and rewelding it as well as the passenger side purch.

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