Desertfox1023

Well over the past 2 days I've assembled the D44 rear axle and added another 1" to the front lift netting me 4.5" now. Here's a few progress pics from the end of the work day tonight:


Using rear sway bar end link mounts I made some customs BPE's




Right after I got done, I'll take some better ones tomorrow in the day light.




Yellow calipers and Diff cover.


The rest is the good ol' black, course you really can't tell with the night pick.

Tomorrow I'll be removing the rear axle and suspension and bolting up the new S-10 pack and D44.

Also I just remembered that today is the 2 year anniversary of me getting the jeep.

Desertfox1023

Well I just finished picking up some diff fluid for the rear and I'm about to through the D44 in. Figured I'd through up a pic of the Dana 44 before I do:


Here's the D44 before we assembled it Monday.


Here it is today after being painted up.

Desertfox1023

Well I've spent about 12 hours a day for the past 3 days working on the jeep. Got everything put together and I have to be the unfortunate one whos driveshaft is to long. So I had to pull the D44 back out and put the D35 back in till I get another drive shaft cut to length. I did get the suppension done and she's sitting at a pretty healthy 4.5" right now with S-10 springs in the rear instead of the old blocks. I'll work on getting pictures up later to night.

Desertfox1023

D35 being pulled out of the jeep.


Axle out springs ready for building of the S-10 springs


D35 and the old blocks


D44 after being pulled back out becuase of the drive shaft being to long


D35 back in and s-10 springs installed


New ride hieght after the supension swap


D44 in back of mule ready to be driven back out to the storage shed till I can get another drive shaft cut to the right length.


Hopefully I can get a new drive shaft cut to length here soon so I can get that D44 back under the jeep. So just a note as to what I accomplished. I installed some new spacers up front to lift the front up to 4.5". Installed some S-10 rear springs. Also used some swaybar endlink mounts for bar pin elminators at all 4 shocks to extend them.

a1racer

dang that sucks so close then you have to put it back away

Desertfox1023

Well had a fun experince this weekend in the jeep. Was going fishing with some freinds when the brakes went out. Had to limp it back to campus and see whats up. I decided it was the brake booster and that I should go ahead and replace the master cylinder to since it was 15 years old and it might go out some time hear soon to. After taking out the old booster I compared the function of the two and it was easy to tell that the old booster was bad and needed replacing. Also got incontact with a guy about getting the driveshaft for the D44 fabbed up and I should have the D44 installed next tuesday. Big thanks to UNCCXJ for comming out to lend a hand on the booster and master cylinder swap. I'll throw some pics up later with how it all went down.

Desertfox1023

Today was a doors off Sunday



Road around today with the doors off before I had to go to work. Tomorrow is a big day for the jeep as I atempt to put the D44 in for the second time. Hopefully this time things will go alot better and I'll be able to move it...

Desertfox1023

Well I made some big head way today on the D44 install. D44 is installed now and the jeep is sitting on it's on weight. Only thing left to do is finish running the new hard lines for the calipers on the disc brake swap and hook up the e-brake cables. Then I just got to drive it down the road in 4wd to the drive shaft shop so the new driveshaft can be made. Should be ready for some wheeling tomorrow.

D35 comming out.


Axle out.


D44 Under the jeep ready to go. Just not stop...

chrisdm4

Looks good so far man! What are you doing about the front? Keeping the 30, or are you going to put a 44 up there as well.

Desertfox1023

The front I'm going to keep the HP D30 for now. The next phase of the build will be trimming the fenders and throwing on a set of 33's. After that depending on how the 30 seems to hold up I will likley keep it. Then I'll be throwing in 4.56 gears and lock right lockers front and rear.



Also a little update on the D44:

Yesterday I went to finsh running the new hard lines and one of the lines I bought had a messed up thread on it. This damaged the threads on my rear YJ line and thus I had to buy a new hard line and a new rear line . Went down to the store to get the new rear brakes hose and of course no YJ lines in stock so I went for the upgrade and got the dodge dakota line . 6" longer than stock over the 3" longer YJ line. I have a little extra slack in the line but it has plenty of travel now.

This morning I hooked up the e-brake cables with a little modification to the ends. I went for the cable clamp method. I'll get some pics up of it later. Then we sealed up the rear tail shaft with a gaturade bottle and some ducktape to keep the t-case from leaking. -little redneck engineering- Then we made the trip over to the driveshaft shop to get the drive shaft cut down and rebalanced. My drive shaft measured 33 1/8" it needs to be 32". So now I'm sitting in class waiting on 1pm so I can go get my jeep and drive it around town with the new rear end.

As for being able to tell a difference. The jeep stops great!!! between the new booster mastercylinder and now new 8.8 disc brakes I can lock them up. I didn't want to really test them since I only had front wheel drive but I did play with them a bit to make sure they worked comming out of the drive way. Also the e-brake has a really good adjustment on it. I have it so it beings to engage at 3clicks. At 5 it reduces wheel spin by about half power and at 7 it is full locked. This usefull when wheeling as I can bring it up to 5 clicks and slow down rear wheel spin in mud while the front wheels are fighting for traction. I'll get some pics up later when I go to pick the jeep up.

Desertfox1023

Well it is finished! The jeep is on the road and driving around like a champ. Brakes work great and no vibs at all with the new driveshaft so everything seems good. I'll be making a trip to URE on Friday & Saturday to make sure it's ready to take a beating. Should be a fun trip now that I've throwin out the old blocks in favor of some S-10 springs, lifted it up to around 4.5", New Double Booster and master cylinder, and now the D44 out back with 8.8 disc brakes on it Well see how she holds together and I might even take a snap shot or 2 to show her off on the trail.

Desertfox1023

Well after lots of frustration the rear axle build is complete on XJ D44 out of a 87 with Ford 8.8 disc brakes. A great improvment over the crapy D35 I've had back there.

Here is how she began after being pulled out the J/Y:


New bearings, seals, longer wheel studs (Rear ZJ ones for Disc brakes), and Rubicon plates drilled to fit.


Here she is before assembly:


After a fresh coat of paint:


Fully assembled in the garage:


Old D35 Comming out:


No more leaking rear:


New D44 bolted in under the rig:


For the E-brake I went with the loop and clamp method:


Original Drive shaft was 33 1/8" long, it need to be 32" so here it is after a trip to the shop:


Looks like a good amount of slip yoke travel to me at ride hieght and no vibs at all:


Here she is sitting out back:


I can now tell a big diffrence in stoping power going down the road and I no longer have a leaking rear end. Still need to do a little fine tuning on the jeep like installing a ZJ porportioning valve for the disc brake setup. Heading out to Uwharrie this weekend so hopefully this thing will prove it's worth.

Big thanks goes out to Steve and the guys over at TarHeel 4WD and Tim over at Unviersal Driveshafts for doing all the hard work.

Also to everyone else that helped and provided advice along the way.

Desertfox1023

Took the jeep out for a little wheeling: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/showth...874#post161874

The jeep did great and the rear axle held it's on when it took a little drop on a rock, oops. Everything was good to go so we keep on rolling. I could tell a big diffrence having the Disc brakes in the back as I didn't lose anybraking power in the mud or water. Now it's time for me to cut up the fenders and get some 33's

Desertfox1023

Took the Jeep out again this weekend. Really got to test out the suspension and flex it out. Also had a little bump up with a tree that bent the passenger side bumper in a bit. It bent around the steel reinforce ment for the winch so it would have been worse if it wasn't there. Time to start working on a design for a new custom bumper. Here's the link to the Pic thread:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/showth...735#post171735

Desertfox1023

Well summer is hear and the work has begun. My D44 lockright has shown up in the mail. So now I have F&R lockrights for the jeep (Just waiting to regear them now so I install it all at one time.) Also did a little matince on the jeep today. Cleaned out the K&N filter, installed a new O2 sensor which solved the rough idle problem, Also installed some new motor mounts since the old ones were SHOT. I noticed whenever I would get on the throttle real quick or if the jeep was bouncing up a hill climp I would hear a loud thump comming from under the hood. One of the motor mounts had more than a 1" of travel in it where the bushing was completly worn out. It's good as new now though. Also noticed that my belt is cracking in a spot so it's time to replace it along with one of my speaking pulleys, just got to figure out which one it is...