Finally got my axles

I finally got my axles picked up last thursday. I got my tax retyurn back also. that means progress. My front axle is out of a wagoneer. I am unsure of the year. the guy told me 87 first then said early 80's. so i am kinda screwed till i get the year. I already bought the new brakes, bearings, and warn hubs for it too. the brakes were all wrong, so i am kinda worried about the bearings and hubs. I got them from my parts store so i can return them. anyway...
This is the front axle-

it is a little rough looking but it came from a junkyard as did the rear. like i said earlier, it is out of a wagoneer so it is the 6-lug. it is a non-disconnect axle. when he cut it out he left the track bar and frame mount attached along with the steering stabilizer and its brackets and a couple inches of the driveshaft after the slip part. He also left all the steering parts and cut the pitman arm.

view from another angle.

the one end. the backing plates are both rotted and bashed up anyway but i figured i could cut them off and leave them off anyway. I bought new calipers, pads, and rotors for it but like i said, theywere wrong so i will have to return them and take the old parts to match them up and hopefully get the year narrowed down.

this is the other end. i took the dust cap off and everything looked ok but i am gonna replace the bearings and i got warn hubs for it.
As for the rear axle-

I forgot to take pictures till after i had this one tore down. but it is out of a 93 isuzu rodeo. it is also a dana 44 with disc brakes and he told me it was limited slip but when i tore it apart i found nothing but spider gears. o well. it is about an inch and a half shorter than the front but it wont be an issue.

These are the calipers and rotors and e-brake parts for the rear. it has the drum brake setup as the ebrake that sits inside the rotor hub. I will not be using that as the ebrake so i am gonna leave that stuff out when i put it back together. I bought new rotors and pads for the rear and they were right. i was gonna get new calipers but they were $70 each and that was at my shops cost. so i figured i would reuse the old ones. they seemed to work, were not froze up.

I took me awhile to figure out how the axle came out. I pulled the cover and saw the usual center pin and bolt but no c-clips.

Yah the person prior to me had been in here and broke the little bolt off in it so i have to deal with that now. o-well
Anyway, i had taken off four nuts that i thought were just holding the backing plate on but i got on All-Data at work and started looking. i found that the outer bearing it held to the axle with a clip and the backing plate hold it to the axle.

Here is the axle shaft out. all i had to do was give it a tap and it popped out. They are 30 spline axles too. The thing that sucks is that the bearing is pressed onto the axle shaft and you cant get the backing plate off the axle with out removing the bearing.
you can see the clip.

The oute bearing race sits right in that first groove. it slid right out.

The last thing i did was remove the ring and pinion. this axle came with factory 4.10 gears to my surprise. i won't be reusing them though. also to my surprise is that there were no shims with the carrier bearings. i thought that was unusual but i really havent been through too many rear ends yet. I am gonna finish tearig apart the front axle after work tomorrow and drop them in the hot tank at my dads work for a day or two. I am still waiting for some parts to get hear and need to get some tube so i can start my radius arms. Hopefully this will be done for the Spring Jamboree in Lima. It is may 18-20 this year i believe. I would like t be able to cruise it down there. Thanks for reading and i will update soon.-Tom

looks good.

A friend of mine had the exact same axles in his Jeep for a little while before he decided to go 1 tons.

why are you going with a d44 in the rear as well?

Im goin d44 rear because it was disc brake, almost same width, and is already the same bolt pattern. this way i do not have to worry about converting or anything. plus i got them both for $150. it was a deal IMO. and i was told that it had a locker or posi in it but i found out that it doesn't. they were offered but this particular one did not get it. o well.

I don't think the rear 44 has the strenght of the 8.8, but that is a pretty good deal.

Yah i was told that but i figured for the price and not having to deal with the bolt pattern, it would be worth it. and i would like to truss the axle when im done. i wanna run a tube from one end to the other and copy the contour of the housing. weld it on both tubes and then mount my shocks to that. that is just an idea at the moment tho.

Alright. so i got home and had to finish tearing down the front axle so i could drop them both in the hot tank tonight. I was in a hurry so i didnt get any pics of the tear down but i got some of the parts when i was done.

First thing i did was remove the tie rod and drag link, the shocks and the calipers. Then i removed the dust cap. first there was a snap ring. after that was removed, there was the piece that is splined to the hub and shaft. that slides out and the big spring comes out after that. then came the lock nut, the fancy washer and the second lock nut. once they were off the hub/rotor assembly could be removed with the bearings.

this is the rotor with the hub still attached. then came the fun part. the spindle was next. i read in an article to thread one of the lock nuts onto the spindle and wack it with a hammer. so thats what i did. I bet it took the better part of a half an hour to get both sides off. i had to hit them and then i used a chisel around the edges to help it off. I also pushed the spindle studs out. it seemed to help. I just hope i can find replacements cause i messed a couple of them up in the process. o well.

After they are removed, the shafts will slide right out. this is hte short side(drivers side)

and the long side(passenger side). these are 30 spline inners with 19 spline outers. With those out i was able to pull the diff out.

If i counted right, these are 2.72:1 but that didnt sound right to me. it doesnt matter though. i won't be reusing them.

Just my luck! the previous owner broke the center shaft bolt too!!
thats ok. i am gonna put a spool in the front. wont need the old diff case anyways.
So i dropped off both axle housings, the spindles, knuckles, and caliper brackets for the front and both diff covers. They are soaking in a hot acid bath as i write this. I am gonna get them tomorrow and hopefully bring them home and glass bead them.
I also got some of the stuff i ordered.

Got my axle brackets and bushings for the radius arms. i got the sleeves too but i didn't want to put them together fearing they would not want to come apart.

They look nice.

My spring perches came in for the rear also.

They look pretty heavy duty.
and last for now, i got my warrior lift shackles.

They are huge. They are only 1.5" lift but they look a lot bigger than that. I don't have a small hand.

I also got my hardware. All grade 8 compliments of my dad's work. 1/2" bolts, washers, and lock nuts for the bushings and 9/16" bolts washers and lock nuts for the johnny joints. I will update when i get parts back tmro hopefully. thanks for reading, hope it helps someone. Please feel free to comment on anything. id appreciate any input.-Tom

wow fancy parts there...i usually make mine and they look like **** ya know....

well i am making the radius arms and mounts but all i really have is a notcher and a welder. and everywhere i look, steel is price wise. i figure it will be cheaper to buy these little parts than buy steel and TRY to make them. I just ordered my 4.88 gears, front and rear, master set-up kits, a spool for the front and a lock-right for the rear. almost $900 shipped. not a bad deal. got it off of ebay and Completeoffroad.com.

I also bought a diff guard, $70 shipped

I am bidding on this one-

I think i will put the bar one in front and the plate one in the rear. it is 3/16" thick. ought to do.

SuperEx91 said:

Yah i was told that but i figured for the price and not having to deal with the bolt pattern, it would be worth it. and i would like to truss the axle when im done. i wanna run a tube from one end to the other and copy the contour of the housing. weld it on both tubes and then mount my shocks to that. that is just an idea at the moment tho.

Click to expand...

The weakness of the d44 is not in the housing but always from its internals.

I'm not sure whether or not the front D44 has the same exact axle shaft diameter as the rear d44 but I busted this guy recently:



Here's a shot of the 8.8's axle shaft compared to the d44's axle shaft:


I read a thread on PBB a while ago and one of the magazines tested these two axles.. the dana 44 broke its axle shafts around 4,600 ft/lbs of torque where as the 8.8 axle firmly reached the limit of the testing machine at 6,400 ft/lbs of torque.

As I remember it, even the "weaker" 28-splined 8.8 axle is stronger than the dana 44. And as you may know, jeep guys are bashing their rear dana 44s on 35" or 36" tires and upgrading to 8.8s -- and then putting on 38" tires . There are even some rare competition buggies that run modified 8.8s (chromos, 35 spline, semi-floater kit, etc.. but all parts readily available and used in the street-and-strip world .. i.e. Mustangs) and 39" competition labeled Krawlers w/o any problems. And as for the ring & pinion of the 8.8, its plenty strong and is even used in the Currie Hi-9 axle set.

So it may be worth it in the long run to get some wheel adapters or whatever now and sticking with the stronger 8.8 -- especially considering that your vehicle is heavier than a Jeep (which puts more strain on the driveline as friction between the tire and the terrain is a function of weight).

Just my $0.02 -- good luck with the build -- looks great so far

It seems backwards to my you are using a lunckbox locker in the non steering axle and a spool in the steering axle. It makes alot mroe sense to me to have the spool in the rear and locker up front for ease of steering. I have a spooled rear and love it, and am getting an aussie locker front soon.

Well maybe i am backwards but in my head, since i want to be able to drive this daily, i figured i would want the locker in the rear and the spool up front cause on the road, the front will be unlocked and there will be no bind issues when turning. and the rear would function like a open diff. but if you use a spool in the rear and dont have any tire problems, then maybe that is the way i will go. i just thought it might bind too much when turning on asphalt.

As for the rear D44.......
i appreciate the advice and i beg that you keep it coming. i just think i will have to try it this way cause of the deal i got at the moment. The conversion is not in the budget. though neither is replacing parts every trip. If it makes a difference, this is gonna be a mud/trail truck, it wont see any rocks, so i figure that there wont be too much stress put on the shafts. and also, you don't think i should go above 35-36 inch tires? I should still be safe with my 4.88's.

I got my axles back from the hot tank. the rear cleaned up really well cause it was painted before i dropped it in. needless to say it is not anymore. The front on the other hand is clean but still rusty. i plan on glass beading them this week. i want to take them into work tomorrow and use the torch to cut off the old perches and brackets so i can get them clean and painted. By that time i should have my gears and be ready to put them in.
I am also expecting my coils and my tube notcher tomorrow.

I appreciate all the comments, please keep them coming.

IZ: do you think it would be worth getting the chromo shafts for the rear?

SuperEx91 said:

IZ: do you think it would be worth getting the chromo shafts for the rear?

Click to expand...

At this point, hehe I hate to say this again but the cost of a chromo shaft is probably more than the cost of a pair of wheel adapters.

But if you're going to run a locked D44 in the rear on a 4-door Explorer, then yes you probably need the chromos because (as stated), even the Jeeps break these axle shafts (and they are lighter vehicles in general). But I'm not 100% sure because I don't exactly know what type of trails you are going to be on.. there are different types of "trails" and "mud" . I mean you could run the stock shafts for now .. if and when they break, then you could switch over to chromos

Good idea on hot-tanking the axle btw -- its always nice to start from bare fresh metal without all the disgusting crap from the previous years

SuperEx91 said:

Well maybe i am backwards but in my head, since i want to be able to drive this daily, i figured i would want the locker in the rear and the spool up front cause on the road, the front will be unlocked and there will be no bind issues when turning. and the rear would function like a open diff. but if you use a spool in the rear and dont have any tire problems, then maybe that is the way i will go. i just thought it might bind too much when turning on asphalt.

Click to expand...

I see your thinking behind your decision, but the locker isn't going to function like a open diff in a turn, it's going to act like the spool, just not quite as aggressive.

I'm with IZ on the rear d44. I think you would be better off keeping the 8.8 in the rear, buy some adapters and a brake kit for a '95 and convert to disk.

If you not running trails the spool should be fine. If you plan on running any trails you will hoping in and out of your rig connecting and disconnecting your hubs.

ya, sell the rear 44 and buy adapters and be done with it. You'll proly need adapters or spacers to match track width front and rear anyways.

I do know that chromo's for a Bronco HP D44(F/S) will run around 680.00(complete), thats with Randy's Ring and Pinion's superjoints, and a set for 9"will cost 160.00 ea. I plan on the chromos for mine.

IZwack said:

At this point, hehe I hate to say this again but the cost of a chromo shaft is probably more than the cost of a pair of wheel adapters.

Click to expand...

I know i read about a problem with adapters for these bolt patterns. I am not sure if the problem was from going from 5 on 5.5 to 6 on 5.5 or the other way around. I remember there being an interference problem and you would have to use a 2 piece adapter and it was frowned upon.

And if i would keep the 8.8, what is the width difference approximately?

JoshC; said:

I see your thinking behind your decision, but the locker isn't going to function like a open diff in a turn, it's going to act like the spool, just not quite as aggressive.

Click to expand...

I said that wrong, i meant it will allow turning without the bind and tire chirp.

Positive Vibes; said:

I'm with IZ on the rear d44. I think you would be better off keeping the 8.8 in the rear, buy some adapters and a brake kit for a '95 and convert to disk.

Click to expand...

Would it be cheaper to get an disc brake 8.8 out of a newer ex? where can i find these adapters and the brake kit?

sn0border88; said:

ya, sell the rear 44 and buy adapters and be done with it. You'll proly need adapters or spacers to match track width front and rear anyways.

Click to expand...

It isnt a bad thing to have a little wider track width in the front, i would think it would allow for more traction in some situations because your front tires would make one path and your rears would make another path as apposed to falling into the groove your front tires just made. make sense?

I made a little progress tonight. I took the axles over to my brothers work and we cut the old perches, shock mounts and track bar mount off. i got them home, ground them smooth and shot them with primer so they dont start to surface rust anymore.
I also got some more parts today. i returned the brake parts that were wrong for the front. Matched parts to parts for a 78 wagoneer. so i will go off that year for my parts from now on.

I got bendix pads, rotors, calipers, all the bearings and races, and the ball joints(had to order the uppers, will be here tomorrow). I got all of it for $195. Thats the advantage to working at a shop- Discounted parts My coil springs also came into today. They are the 5.5 inch springs for an early bronco from jeffs bronco graveyard. I guess they are actually Deaver Springs though. They are about two foot long.

I set one in the bucket just to see. this is gonna be fun! im excited already and i dont even have the old suspension out of it yet.
I also got my hubs. ive had them but just now really looked at them.

They are the Warn Premium hubs. Kinda fancy if you ask me.
I am still waiting to hear from my uncle about some DOM tubing. Thats kinda holdong me up. I guess now im waiting on parts.