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78 Bronco axtles on a Jeep ?

Jeep'n On

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Ohio
I have a 78 Bronco And a 89 Jeep Cherokee.
What is involved with swaping axtles ?

The D44 (front) and 9' Ford (rear) on the bronco were newly rebuilt when I started the rebuild on the bronco, Front is locked, both have 3:55 gears. I rolled the bronco it's first time out. Bent the frame up and trashed the project. The axtles on my jeep need replaced because the front is warped from heavy off road use - river crossing, jumping etc. I hear the Bronco axtles will work without shorting them ?

The Bronco axtles are 7" wider then the ones on the jeep. The spring cups on the Bronco are 56 inches apart from the center of the cup. The ones on the jeep are 47 or 49 inches, I cant find where I wrote them down but that's about right. The bronco front axtle has the cast wedges and a high pinion.

Besides moving the cups for the springs in, what else would you need to do ?

The track bars and radius arms, I hear, can be used off the Bronco ?

What other mods will I need to do ?

Same questions for swaping in the Ford 9" rear axtle. Mods that are needed, etc.

Also, Would the NP205 gear drive T/C on the bronco be better or worse to use in place of the stock chain T/C ?

Goin for the cheepest way I can do this.

Thanks.
 
the np205 would be stronger but it has a higher low range, but you can make a doubler out of it with a 203. also twin stick the 205

im mating a np205 behind a np435 for a while after i do my axle swap. then when i can find an adapter that wont break my wallet im going to do the 203/205 combo

as far as the axles, i havnt begun to fab mine up yet. but if your keeping coils you need to fab up the coil buckets/LCA/UCA and TB brackets. im not sure on the bronco TB myself so i cant give you an opinion on that.

i know a guy with a ZJ (same setup up front as XJ) that used the ford radius arms, he is using the same axles that you are 44/9"

good luck with the project
 
I need to know about the front 44 myself (I have a '79 bronco donor) but the 9" will bolt right in with no mods.
 
I've installed 78 Bronco axles under my 88 Comanche and used the Ford radius arms. But rather than lecture on about it here, go check out:
http://www.picturetrail.com/petermontie and look in the "synthesis" folder. Then email me with any questions. I was on a very small budget so some parts were harder to invent, but most were easy and straight forward.
Jeep on!
--Pete
[email protected]
 
I am thinking about doing the same swap in my 95 XJ. I found a 77 for $300 body is shot but everything else only has 80,000 original miles.

Pete
why didnt you re-weld the spring buckets so the coils were straight? They look like they slant inward as the go up. And how does it flex with the radius arm set up?
 
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