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D35 -> Sj D44 ?

Amund2

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Norway
Broke my rear diff yesterday, cracked the whole carrier and broke teeth of all the inner cogwheels. Wasn't even hard on it, hope it was due to metal fatigue.

I'm searching for parts to build it back together, but I don't want to use money on stuff that's likely to break again. Over here XJ parts are hard to find, and especially D44 for XJ. But the market seems to be flowing with D44's for the fullsize Cherokees and Wagoneers. Is there a good reason why I've never seen anyone put one of those under their XJ? Too wide? I've noticed there are wide track fullsizers and not. Do you know anything about the track widths, would it be possible to pull this stunt off? Different bolt patterns don't scare me to death, but it would of course be nice to have the same front and rear so I can rotate my tires every now and then. (How about a front D44 as well? :) Guess that's too much work... but I've seen a set of D44 (front and rear) with 4,10 gears for sale, same gearing as I'm running now, I could swap the rear axle, and swap the front later...

What are your thoughts about this?
 
I think the 44 axles from a later model SJ are pretty close to XJ width. JnJ recently converted a SJ44 front to coils/longarm for his XJ. Awhile back Billa Vista swapped in a front SJ 44, but he converted his XJ to leafs up front...this IMHO is the 'easy' way but not neccesarily a bad idea.

The front 44 is a low pinion (standard rotation) housing, but 30 spl axleshafts and hubs are common items. What size tires are you planning to run? the RR30 is generally OK up through 35"

You could swap the rear now, and do the front later if you could live with the mismatched lug patterns (keep 2 spares???) or it's possible that you could have the R axle flanges redrilled for 5 on 4.5?

Hopefully JnJ can chime in with better tech / specific info
 
I just came up with this idea right now, instead of investing more money in buying another used D35 which may break at the same place again... I don't really need a D44 up front, just thought the thought since a set of 4.10 D44's were for sale. I guess the D30 is better, high pinion, reverse cut, probably a lot tighter turning radius, and it will probably be a lot of work aligning and making all the brackets, and the steering is probably not easy to do either. Besides, it needs to be road legal, they're quite strict around here.

I've just bought 31" tyres, they will probably stay there for a couple of years, but I have a dream about 33" in the future and then a rear D44 would mean it's ready when I get there. My XJ will, in addition to offroading, be used for long road trips, and I really need axles I can count on, this crash makes me worried about D35's.
 
I have another question as well, will a Dana 35 from a YJ Wrangler fit my XJ? Width, spring perches and shock mounts?
 
They are the same axle but set up for S.U.A..
 
The waggy rear 44 is a pretty easy swap, the narrow track is very close to the same width as the XJ rear (it is a bit narrower), the spring purches line right up and is basically a bolt up swap.
The front is where the work is, brackets, etc.
If you really don't mind different bolt patterns, then go for it. I'd pick up both front and rear and you can build the front as time and $$ allows.
BTW, my rear is actually the waggy 20, not a 44. Here are a couple pix;
frontquartershot.jpg

frontmount3.jpg

MVC-017F.JPG
 
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