So a little bit of a back story. I moved from Southern California up to Utah a few months back for school and work. I grew up here and used to spend a lot of family outings in Moab and south-eastern Utah. So naturally when I found out about the Easter Safari I knew I had to build my old, stock Cherokee into something I that could hang with the built rigs on the gnarlier trails and yet still drive highway 6 two hundred miles home. So lets get to what I have done so far...

 

Before I left California for Utah I left town with a bang, which only broke my trans cooler lines
So after towing it 600 miles to Utah I started making plans to build it the right way. After looking at a lot of "Cheromanches" or "chopped-Cherokees" I decided to go ahead and chop mine. Contrary to popular belief I did not have too many beers and drunkenly cut the back of my Cherokee off. It was semi-well-thought-out. Before everyone starts bashing me for making it structurally unsound, its getting a full cage. from the front bumper all the way to the rear bumper also being tied into the roof rack.

 

Im in for this one

 

 

So thats pretty much up to date. For axles I know I want a dana 44 in the front and an 8.8 in the rear. I found a front dana 44 on craigslist about an hour away from me so I went and picked it up, the owner said it came out of a wagoneer and that it would fit my cherokee. I didnt realize until I got home that the diff was on the passenger side.
I found another front dana 44 out of a wagoneer with a drivers side diff today at the junkyard. So my plan is to hopefully take the lockouts, and high steering off of the old dana 44 and put it on the new one.

 

So the plan for the Jeep to be done by the Safari is:

-Rebuild the motor.
-ARB locked front D44 and rear 8.8
-4.88 gears
-alloy shafts
-35s (dont know what brand of tire I want yet)
-Fully caged
-Full Traction Long Arm kit
-Rear Deaver Springs
- 3.0 bypass shocks in the rear
-3.0 piggy-back shocks in the front
-Hydro bump stops
-Beard racing seats with Crow 5 point harness
-PCI prerunner radio system
-Dual 40" LED light bars an the roof.

Im sure Im forgetting some small stuff but that about the gist of it.

 

Either or the next day Ill be pulling my Dana44 with the diff on the correct side. Ill post some pictures up when I get that out.

 

Looks like a good progress.


Did wagoners come with both drivers and passenger side drops on the front axle?

 

Yup. The older ones had some with passenger side droops. The 80s and newer ones have the drivers side droop.

 

Sounds like your build plan is very similar to the way my Jeep is built. Good luck.

 

Lowrange2 yours is pretty awesome, any problem with the lengths of the d44 and the 8.8 matching?

 

Nope. I converted the 44 to 5x5.5 and then run an adapter out back to make the 8.8 a smidge wider to match the width and bolt pattern of the 44.

If it's any narrower I can't tell.

 

Please be sure to weld the tubes to the diff on your 8.8!

 

Sub'd.

 

Yeah, definitely.