What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

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Adventure_Wagon88
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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

4 hour trip and $600 later I've got a complete set of 1 tons now. Pretty happy with this purchase! I will post in my build thread about installing it.

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Stuka
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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by Stuka »

Awesome!
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Pevious Jeeps: 1981 J10, 1975 Cherokee, 2008 JK, 2005 KJ, 1989 XJ
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tedlovesjeeps71
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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

Jealous...


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cmaje72
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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by cmaje72 »

Nice. Keep us updated on the outboarding/soa process. I am trying to decide what to do...converting the front to 8 lug would be easiest but I have both Ford and GM D60's available to me for reasonable prices and its making me want to jump off the deep end.
79 Cherokee 5.3/4l65E/NP241C
79 CJ7

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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

cmaje72 wrote:Nice. Keep us updated on the outboarding/soa process. I am trying to decide what to do...converting the front to 8 lug would be easiest but I have both Ford and GM D60's available to me for reasonable prices and its making me want to jump off the deep end.
I'm still very much in the head scratching stage. I know I will end up with a linked front end eventually so it's difficult for me to want to do a lot of work for leafs. Trying to keep it super simple if I do it and making sure I'm at least able to retain my steering setup if I start leaf and go link.

So my axle is an 86. It measures roughly 36.5" Center to center of the spring pins. That's with 3" leafs. I dropped some 2.5" Waggy leafs on it today and measured Center to center and it's of course 1" closer so 35.5". The Jeep's springs measure 31.75" apart. Cheat that to 32" and we've got to outboard the springs 1.75" on each side. It appears I could possibly sneak the spring perches on the axle closer together maybe 1" total with a little modification (grinding).

As far as the frame side goes, the rearmost front spring hanger is basically directly under the front body mount. I dislike the idea of welding and later grinding off a spring mount from this area but I can get over it. The stock spring hanger basically sits flush with the outside of the frame rail and goes past it 3/4" on the inside. So moving it out 1.75" still leaves it under the frame rail some. I would probably just reuse the stock hangers and gusset on the outside of the frame rail. I'm not worried about the front shackle hangers, those will be easy.

I also need to really think through everything else involved making sure I'm locating the wheels exactly where I want and that steering and track bar would later work with a 3 link setup if I do use leafs as a "stepping stone". I would really like to have this Jeep on the road early this summer and my main reason for shying from the 3 link right away is that I feel pretty certain that diving into that, given the learning curve and cost would cause me to scratch that goal. I'll keep you all posted.

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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

No leafs
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Can cheat 1/2" closer to pumpkin?
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Waggy leafs
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Stuka
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Re: What's needed to swap to Dana 44 8 lug outers?

Post by Stuka »

You can probably move both sides in a half inch. Weld up that old alignment hole, drill a new one. Then move the perch on the long side. Would most likely need to cut the webbing for the u-bolt though.
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Pevious Jeeps: 1981 J10, 1975 Cherokee, 2008 JK, 2005 KJ, 1989 XJ
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