I'm just trying to figure out the logistical aspects of this. I'm outside of Philly while the prospective axles are in Jersey, still attached to their original host. I've redone the springs on the back of my 92 XJ, so I know how to get the rear axle off--pretty easy, ignoring rust issues. The obviously more complicated front end I have no experience with.
The larger scenario is this guy in Jersey has the truck, with a blown motor, and he wants to sell it whole for $500. I already have a parts XJ in my driveway, and may be moving soon, so I hardly want to spend extra money on something that will have no interchangable parts with the XJ family I've been collecting, and may have to ditch soon anyway. But the axles. . . that's another story. So I offered him $100 per axle if each is in fact a D44 and then he said, let me wait a few days to see if anyone will take it whole, and also see if a junkyard would pick it up in an axle-less state. So this isn't solid yet, but I'm definitely interested in going with a stronger axle for my 92 XJ. Here would be a good chance to get two matching width axles on the cheap. . . if he goes for it. I'm hoping he does, but I'm just trying to figure out the best way to 1) Remove them, mostly thinking about the front axle, and 2) get them home. I think that getting them home is probably going to be do-able, after considering the comments already made here. I'm thinking that removing the rear axle under time pressure will be fine, too. Now the front, I'm a bit more worried about that. I guess I need to investigate that more.
Can anyone suggest a typical time frame for removing the front axle on something that almost certainly has rusted fasteners?