Which Dana 44 gear ratio?

[BotakBeng]

Hi ya,
I'm planning on doing a 4.5-5.5" lift soon with 33"x12.5" tires and would like to swap my D35 to a D44 with 4.56 gear ratio.


This may sounds silly (since i'm gonna upgrade to a 4.56 ratio ) but while searching for Dana 44 on Car-part.com, i was given a few gear ratio option.

Pls comment on which Spicer 44 (i'm assuming they are Dana 44 :dunno should i be looking for.
1)Spicer 44 w/3.07 ratio
2)Spicer 44 w/3.54 ratio or
3)Spicer 44 w/3.55 ratio.

Appreciate if someone can help a newbie out.

Thx ya.

 

[Dest]

Shouldn't matter since you're regearing as long as it came from an XJ, get whatevers cheapest.

 

[rkates]

None of those are what you are looking for. Those are other stock gear ratios available. Since you are a noob I'll help you with a couple of things. First off what is this rig being built for? DD use, weekend warrior or strictly off road.
DD or weekend warrior your on the right page with the gears. offroad only I would suggest stepping up to 4.88's

Your setting up for 33's right? Well are you planning on staying with this size or working your way up to a bigger tire? If you are thinking you may jump up to 35's in the future do yourself a favor and just do the 4.88's now. You'll save money in the long run.

As far as gears you need to look into an aftermarket gear supplier, brand is up to you. You can run cheeper g2's and have them last as long as higher priced yukons. As long as you have it set up properly.

Take this as you will, this is all my opinion. What works for me here may not work for others.

 

[BotakBeng]

Shouldn't matter since you're regearing as long as it came from an XJ, get whatevers cheapest.

None of those are what you are looking for. Those are other stock gear ratios available. Since you are a noob I'll help you with a couple of things. First off what is this rig being built for? DD use, weekend warrior or strictly off road.
DD or weekend warrior your on the right page with the gears. offroad only I would suggest stepping up to 4.88's

Your setting up for 33's right? Well are you planning on staying with this size or working your way up to a bigger tire? If you are thinking you may jump up to 35's in the future do yourself a favor and just do the 4.88's now. You'll save money in the long run.

As far as gears you need to look into an aftermarket gear supplier, brand is up to you. You can run cheeper g2's and have them last as long as higher priced yukons. As long as you have it set up properly.

Take this as you will, this is all my opinion. What works for me here may not work for others.

Thx for all the comments.

Jeep is not my DD and i don't see myself going any bigger than 33" for now.

What i gathered from reading was the stock D35 which i have is crappy and i swap it to either a Dana 44, Chrysler 8.25, Ford 8.8......
Dana44 being the easier (TOTAL NEWBIE here) was how i came to the decision.

My plan was to get a Dana 44 and install a 4.56s, install my 4.5-5.5" lift, followed by some 33x12.5" tires.

None of those are what you are looking for.

Don't quite understand this.....
Pls advise which Dana 44 should i be looking then.

Thx in advance.

 

[Shorty]

any of the ones listed will work fine (assuming they're from an XJ), as long as you're planning a carrier and gear change

a D44 is a D44-- the only real difference you're gonna come across in an XJ D44 is gear ratio and all of the ones you listed will still require a change of carrier for 4.10 or deeper gears.

 

[BotakBeng]

any of the ones listed will work fine (assuming they're from an XJ), as long as you're planning a carrier and gear change

a D44 is a D44-- the only real difference you're gonna come across in an XJ D44 is gear ratio and all of the ones you listed will still require a change of carrier for 4.10 or deeper gears.

Thx Shorty!
Guess i need to do some reading on carrier, ring and pinion and 4.56 kit huh?
"I'll be back"!

Thx again ya.

 

[DezertTitan]

Just wanted to take advantage of this thread to say thank you to Botak for asking the question and rkates for a nice detailed response.

This is something I have been giving a lot of thought on lately now that works picking up and I'll have a little extra $ to spend. I have an '87 on 31"s with the 6 cyl & 5 spd stick. D44 sitting in my garage has 3.54 gears with LS, but i cant even run it cause gears on the jeep arent the same. This will be an off road toy, next to no road driving other than maybe a trip to the market or down the street to the climb hills. Absolutely no intention of hitting the freeway. Plan on getting a four to one reduction box for the transfer case when i can afford it. Plan on 33"s eventually, and probably going to 35"s somewhere down the road. Been thinking 4.88s, but wasn't sure if maybe i should go even lower?

Currently the D35 is welded up (til i snap an axle lol) hopefully by then I'll have gears

Anyways, suggestions - should i go lower? Or 4.88s good, and lower w/ 4-1 gonna be too low?

 

[rweaver138]

Unless you've swapped out your front dana 30 for something bigger the lowest your going to be able to go are 4.88s since that's as deep as you can go with the 30, and you'll need your rear dana 44 to match

 

[DezertTitan]

Ah, didn't know that was the limitation of the 30. Good to know thanks!

 

[BotakBeng]

Thx all for the comments.

Been doing some reading after i started this thread and i think this "project" may be a little bit more than i could chew :dunno:.

Gonna kiv this for the time being, :read::read::read: time.
Thx again for all the help eace:

 

[BotakBeng]

Ok guys/gals, after some intense :read::read:, this is what i came up with.....pls stop me if i'm heading the wrong direction.

Here is my current stock set up,
DJKS Dana 30/181MM Front Axle
DMDS 3.55 Rear Axle Ratio
DRMP Dana 35C/194MM Rear Axle

It didn't say anything about my gear ratio for my front Dana30, but i'm gonna assume is 3.55 since my rear axle ratio is 3.55, right?

If that being so, i should be looking for a Dana 44 with 3.55 gear ratio and i would work even without re-gearing both axle, right?

If I'm right so far, my plan would be to find a Dana 44 w/ 3.55 gear ratio, bolt it on and run 33x12.5" with 3.55 gear ratio until i figured out how to do the 4.56 gear upgrade.
Pls correct me if i'm wrong.

Finally, i found a Dana 44 with 3.55 gear ratio (claimed by seller) off an 89 XJ but i'm not sure how to confirm the gear ratio. Is there a way i can tell by looking at the axle?

One last question before i bored everyone,
Should i be particular with the axle spline count?

I would really appreciate all the help i can get.:worship:

 

[rweaver138]

you are way over thinking this. just buy a dana 44 with 3.55 gears and bolt the thing in.

worry about gearing it after when you feel you've read enough on the interwebz

 

[bdahlg]

Front and rear axle match ratios; you have a 3.55 ratio front and rear.

I would just get the tires and the 3.55 D44 and run it before you upgrade gears. It's very doable but it just robs power.

I hope you aren't assuming you can just throw gears in and call it a day. I think you may be alittle farther out of you element than you think on this...

Just bolt up the D44 with the 3.55 ration since your D30 is the same and run it. you won't break anything and will give you time to save the money if you really want to upgrade gears and have them installed for you. A gear upgrade is very meticulous and VERY expensive to have them installed (~500 or more per axle depending on who installs them), which it seems to me like you definitely will have to.

Good luck

 

[BotakBeng]

you are way over thinking this. just buy a dana 44 with 3.55 gears and bolt the thing in.

worry about gearing it after when you feel you've read enough on the interwebz

Front and rear axle match ratios; you have a 3.55 ratio front and rear.

I would just get the tires and the 3.55 D44 and run it before you upgrade gears. It's very doable but it just robs power.

I hope you aren't assuming you can just throw gears in and call it a day. I think you may be alittle farther out of you element than you think on this...

Just bolt up the D44 with the 3.55 ration since your D30 is the same and run it. you won't break anything and will give you time to save the money if you really want to upgrade gears and have them installed for you. A gear upgrade is very meticulous and VERY expensive to have them installed (~500 or more per axle depending on who installs them), which it seems to me like you definitely will have to.

Good luck

Thx for the quick comments.

Good read and great advice :yelclap:

:eyesana 44 begins.
Appreciate all the help :cheers:

 

[clean4drxj]

you'll need 2 carriers, 1 for the dana30 and the other for the 44.

 

[2stix]

if all he wants to do is re-gear, then he can buy a "thick gear" for the stock D44 3.55 carrier. the D30 is another story as there are no thick gears that i am aware of at this time. so he will need a new d30 carrier. but factory D30 carriers that will hold a 4.56 gear are still available quite cheap. this will give you the re-gear you are looking for at a lower cost. but since he is building a rig like this, i would suggest looking into lockers both front and rear, and do them now so you wont be paying for gear set up twice.

 

[Oatmeal]

Delete

 

[Oatmeal]

if all he wants to do is re-gear, then he can buy a "thick gear" for the stock D44 3.55 carrier. the D30 is another story as there are no thick gears that i am aware of at this time. so he will need a new d30 carrier. but factory D30 carriers that will hold a 4.56 gear are still available quite cheap. this will give you the re-gear you are looking for at a lower cost. but since he is building a rig like this, i would suggest looking into lockers both front and rear, and do them now so you wont be paying for gear set up twice.

You beat me to it....hey, Victor how's it going! As for the D30 carrier, if you scrounge th JYs like I do, find a 4 cyl XJ as they usually have 4.10 gears and the carrier you'll be looking for ----------Hans

 

[BotakBeng]

you'll need 2 carriers, 1 for the dana30 and the other for the 44.

if all he wants to do is re-gear, then he can buy a "thick gear" for the stock D44 3.55 carrier. the D30 is another story as there are no thick gears that i am aware of at this time. so he will need a new d30 carrier. but factory D30 carriers that will hold a 4.56 gear are still available quite cheap. this will give you the re-gear you are looking for at a lower cost. but since he is building a rig like this, i would suggest looking into lockers both front and rear, and do them now so you wont be paying for gear set up twice.

These carrier and re-gear things is waaay out of my league......for now :wow:.
I'm just gonna get a 3.55 D44 and bolt it up, run 33" tires and go from there.

Thx ya!

 

[nochance9]

I didn't read anybody answering your question about axle spline count... As long as the 44 is out of an xj (or most anything for that matter) the 44 will have 30 spline axle shafts. correct me if I am wrong someone, but the 33 spine shafts are purely aftermarket, I don't think any factory 44 had them...

Edit: some older (pre 1970 I think) had 19 spline shafts... not that that is relevant at all, but good to know I suppose.