D44 time bomb?

[Cole]

Specs.

http://dynatrac.com/images/pdf/New_Gen_D44_comparison_chart.pdf

 

[w squared]

I'm more of a crawler than hammerer.

This is good news.

The Dana 44 in the JK is substantially different. The only part they share in common with earlier D44s is the cover.

I recently swapped the gears out of my JK Rubicon (4:10s) and have a 74 Chevy 3/4 front D44 with 4:10 also sitting here. The size of the gears, pinion, bearings etc are all VERY different. The JK stuff is HUGE compared to the earlier dana 44s. I really need to take a good picture of it. Technically closer to D60 sized pinion bearings etc. 32 spline rear shafts, reenforced center housings etc.

D44s were used for decades in 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks in the front and rear.

You also need to consider that guys breaking stuff on the trial are mostly running older D44s, running REALLY deep crawl ratios, small pinions, HUGE tires and lots of bounce or throttle.

It will probably do just fine for his application.

Yup.

You've said that you've already sleeved, trussed, and gusseted the front axle and are planning on cro-mo shafts front and rear. The only other thing that might be reasonable to consider would be trussing the rear...but that's very much a "nice to do" item.

I would be surprised if intelligent off-road use causes you any axle-related problems with this setup.

 

[bigredcherokee]

This is good news.



Yup.

You've said that you've already sleeved, trussed, and gusseted the front axle and are planning on cro-mo shafts front and rear. The only other thing that might be reasonable to consider would be trussing the rear...but that's very much a "nice to do" item.

I would be surprised if intelligent off-road use causes you any axle-related problems with this setup.

going to agree with w squared. I'v been run a 87 dana 44 from XJ for years now both in a XJ and YJ now. Running 4.56 gears and have wheeled it hard and towed with it in my XJ. My dad has a 16 foot trailer that weights in at 2200lbs and it towed it and a XJ fine. More tounge weight that I should have put on the XJ at the time but it ran fine with no problems.