Topic: axle

[Liljeepz]

Ok so a guy I know wants to sell a
MJ (Comanche) D44, 3.54 gears, open diff
and a
XJ D44, 3.54 gears, open diff
The MJ doesnt have shock mounts, so I was thinking that would be better for installing on my TJ... I know I will have to weld new mounts on it... any suggestions? I have never done this... so I don't know what I'm totally getting into here, but I'm not afraid to dive in with a lil research.
Are the bolt patterns the same?
The length of the tubes the same?
Just asking here for non bias answers.

[Jeffy]

The XJ (SOA) and the MJ (SUA) D44's are the same except for the location of the leafs.

BTW: I run a XJ D44 under my YJ.  http://www.4bangerjp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14

I also wrote this: http://www.4bangerjp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=474

[iismet]

Either will work. If you are putting in a TJ you will have to grind off all the brackets and weld on new ones. RE, Clayton and others sell the kit. Make sure it is for a D44 not Ford 8.8 as the tubes are not the same dia. Have you thought about brakes? I converted to disks using a kit that uses chevy calipers. The TJ uses an integrated vent tube - brake line block. After welding on the brackets we located the block and drilled and tapped the axle tube to attach this block. I purchased new hard lines and we bent them as needed. If you are running an SYE, measure your pinion angle and rotate the new axle on the bench to that angle then weld the brackets parallel and normal to the table as dictates. This will keep the springs from pinching, and rotate the brackets back to where they came from the factory. This will also help with trackbar clearance and fitment. One thing we did that worked very well, was use a  4'X6' piece plywood to layout the bracket locations and wheel mounting surfaces from the D35 . Jack your jeep up, take off the rear wheels, and set on jackstands under the frame rails. Using a plumb bob, straight edge and a square, layout all the bracket intersect points on the plywood. When we were done we even had the contol arm outer edges traced. We then set the plywood on a table and built stantions out of tube steel and plate to hold the axle. We hoisted all of that up on the plywood and squared the axle to our layout on the plywood and then rotated the pinion to the proper angle. We then tacked the axle tubes to the stantions to hold the axle at the proper angle.  If you go to Stu Olsons site he has a table showing bracket location dimensions. We checked everything to this table and it was right on. I had mine media blasted with wallnut shells after stripping the old brackets and am spraying with POR15.  Also if you go to JU or JF you should be able to find posts about building 8.8's. Much of it applies.

[Liljeepz]

Great! Thanks guys for the tips!
I forgot about that wright up jeffy, I read that a long time ago when I first came over to the board, it was a nice refresher.
Iismet, do you have any pics of that table your talking about, sounds like a great idea, I'm having a hard time picturing it in my head.

[iismet]

Using a 4'x6' piece of plywood, we jacked up the Jeep and layed out the D35 axle locations.


Plywood, Stantions, and Axle placed on table. Axle squared to layout on plywood and pinion rotated to match angle of D35


Tack welded tubes to stantions


Started with spring perch - this kit is RE


Tack weld it all together and Check Stus table one more time.


Setting up Track Bar bracket


This is the block I was referring to. It is tight between the brackets. We drilled and tapped the tube to accept the D35 vent bolt. Notice the stainless fittings - we could not bend the hard lines tight enough to fit in there.


Mocking up the rear disk conversion. This is a TSM kit.


Still have to weld the brake line brackets to the bottom of the spring perches. Then tear it down, paint it, reassemble, and install. We are out boarding the shocks using Nths' kit so we will install those brackets with the axle installed.

[Mozman68]

looks good...I need to take a shop class.....I need to win the lottery tonight....

[jagular7]

Looks real nice. I'd suggest mutliple colors to bring it some 'BLING' as once it gets dirty, you won't clean it.....lol.

See those spring plate retainers on your mounts. Make a copy for the upper mounts. Use the bump stop mount (it screws into the tube) to hold it on the bump stop tube. Then you won't have the ability to 'drop' a coil at full droop. The top of the spring will be retained.

On my 8.8, we did a little finnangling on the brake/breather 'T' also. What we did is trimmed the track bar mount little enough to get the brake line to come underneath it some.

[Liljeepz]

Thanks for the pics!! It makes so much more sense now!

[iismet]

Looks real nice. I'd suggest mutliple colors to bring it some 'BLING' as once it gets dirty, you won't clean it.....lol..

Sorry all black. We are building a blingo aluminum plate to replace the factory plate that has the ratio stamped in it.

See those spring plate retainers on your mounts. Make a copy for the upper mounts. Use the bump stop mount (it screws into the tube) to hold it on the bump stop tube. Then you won't have the ability to 'drop' a coil at full droop. The top of the spring will be retained.

That we can do - thanks.

On my 8.8, we did a little finnangling on the brake/breather 'T' also. What we did is trimmed the track bar mount little enough to get the brake line to come underneath it some.

I couldn't convince my team - I'm the weak one. :roll: