I was looking through a jeep mag and saw that 93'-up Honda Passports and Isuzu Rodeo's had 58" Dana 44 that came with 4.30 &/or 4.56 gears and disc brakes. Has anyone gotten a hold of one of these for thier Xj? I was wondering about price cause it seems to be an easy swap. They also talked about '80-'91 Wagoneer 60'" front 44's with driver side drop! Ihave never came across either in the Junk Yards but I really didn't look at these very hard either especially the rodeo & passport's.

 

The Rodeo and Passport D44s have the six lug pattern so you would need to get new rims. The only weak link of those axles is the wheel studs. They use the gold colored studs that are a softer grade metal and can not hold up to the torque an 4.0 XJ sitting on large tires can produce. Especially with that gearing. I have heard of several people who transplanted those D44s in an XJ and broke all six studs on the first large rock they attempted to climb.

 

Wow! but wheel studs is a minor problem to fix if you can find one for a good price.

 

Here's a link to a fairly informative thread courtesy of NAXJA:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthrea...ight=Isuzu+D44

 

build using both the izuzu rear, and a waggy drivers drop 44. believe that the izuzu rear is a couple inches narrower then stock tho.

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthrea...ghlight=xjdoug

 

The u pull it in Aurora had ALOT (5-10) of passports/rodeos - i don't know the years though. Maybe when I get back up to Denver I will take a look at them! I also just read that the Isuzu Corp 12 bolt is stronger than a 44 (according to the author: http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/axle/xj_dana44_02/ ) if you want to try something different... The only problem would be the lack of aftermarket lockers for it