D44 front; long thread

[xjrugger]

ouch, thats big $, nice to know it can be built, do u think i could build it for half the price?

 

[CRASH]

ouch, thats big $, nice to know it can be built, do u think i could build it for half the price?

Depends on what you want, here's a breakdown:

Used D-60 Ford housing, shafts, brakes: $1,200

Gears + setup kit + setup: $600

ARB: $700

Brackets: $250

Housing and shafts narrowed : $500

So that's $3,350, if you can weld the brackets on yourself.

CRASH

 

[xjrugger]

now thats more like it, when i saw the 6k i figured why not just build a rock buggy at that point and leave the cherokee on 35's. Crash your input is a big help. BTW i have an extra 4.0, tranny, np242, dana 44rear out of an 87 xj and a d44 front but regular pinion from an early bronco. if it were yours would you build a cage, and put in coilovers with a home built 4 link on each end and do max low gears fittable with lockers and hi steering. Or should i use that EB 44 for my xj? I like what u put together for my front end, i just might do that and keep the rest for the eventual rock buggy.

 

[Goatman]

now thats more like it, when i saw the 6k i figured why not just build a rock buggy at that point and leave the cherokee on 35's. Crash your input is a big help. BTW i have an extra 4.0, tranny, np242, dana 44rear out of an 87 xj and a d44 front but regular pinion from an early bronco. if it were yours would you build a cage, and put in coilovers with a home built 4 link on each end and do max low gears fittable with lockers and hi steering. Or should i use that EB 44 for my xj? I like what u put together for my front end, i just might do that and keep the rest for the eventual rock buggy.

Man, I'm having trouble seeing where you're coming from with all this.........quite a few contradictions. Not meaning to pour cold water on your ideas, but you can't have everything unless you have tons of time and money. I heard a saying once, which I think applies: "you can get it good, fast, or cheap....pick any two".

DD and 37's......home built custom axles and not any time.....bought custom axles and not much money.......hell, home built custom axles and not much money......any custom drivetrain and suspension work and only having the rig down for a week. I see some major re-evaluations needed here, and to your credit, it seems as though you are trying to get some good information.

Putting in a custom front axle is going to keep you down more than a week, unless you take a weeks vacation and just work on the Jeep. I built mine myself after work and a couple of weekends, and it took over two months of hard work. A D60 will be hard to fit, and not cheap, and the best and lightest axle shafts aren't much lighter and are very expensive.....the weight of a D60 is in the tubes and housing, and the huge outer components, not the axles. If you have to buy a custom front axle due to your time constraints, you're much better off buying a custom built D44 that will be much cheaper than a d60 and much easier to fit, and still strong with chromo shafts and u-joints.

If you build a front axle, you won't want to keep the stock 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern in the rear, you'll want new rear shafts to match the front bolt pattern. Really, I don't see how you can consider a front D60. It is very expensive to build a HP front 60 with a 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern, and I don't know how you can change a rear D44 to an 8 lug pattern to match an 8 lug D60. Besides, it just wouldn't be right to have a front D60/rear D44, which would just make the D44 iffy with the bigger tires and new driving style.

If you have these time and money restraints, and it's a DD, why are you trying to go with 37's? Every rock trail out there that you can navigate your XJ down can be run with 35's.....if not 33's. The modified stock classes in the rock crawling competitions are running 35's.......how much more difficult are you going to get than that?

I politely challenge you to re-think your goals for your rig.

 

[xjrugger]

Goatman, my friends say the same thing. Which is what brought me to the idea of using all those spare drivetrain parts mentioned in my last thread to build a rock buggy, then i can have it at my friends shop in NH and take all the time in the world, stress free. What i might just do for now is tighten it up, i did a disc conv. and would like to chop more off the fenders and do a cage next. Also get more power from the motor w/o getting too far into it. I think that might be money better well spent. I liked the idea of the d60 Ford housing from Crash, but as the day has went on im thinking about how i could use that money to tighten up the rig and begin the buggy. I want 37's but the money for the front end and the 37's could help build a rock machine that i dont have to drive to work. Im trying to get the best opinions b/c w/o them i could never make up my mind with my jeep.

 

[CRASH]

OK, sounds like you are re-evaluating, which is good.

I would keep the D-30, stay on 33's or so, and find a 1 ton Ford or Chevy pickup to cannabalize for a buggy build. You could use almost everything off of it, package it in a tube chassis and run whatever tire you wanted.

37's and a DD do not go well together, for the safety of yourself and others. Not to mention the cost of gas these days.

CRASH

 

[xjrugger]

my jeep is reliable with 35's and so i guess if it aont broke...but u think i should just go to a full size to hack down, would u bother with a rock buggy with the lighter cherokee drive train on a tube chassis? Or would u scratch that and buy the 1 ton equipment?

 

[CRASH]

If you want to run 38's or so, you'll want the 1 ton diffs. To turn big meats, you'll need more motor than a 4.0, which means you need a beefier driveline to handle the extra torque of a V-8.

It's SOOOOO much cheaper to just find a beater 1 ton PU, strip it for all it's worth and repackage the whole thing in a tube chassis.

I assume you have a tow rig to haul around this buggy? If not, better factor in that cost as well.

CRASH