grandpa1041

Folks reading all the help you give us newbe's I ran across country boy454 saying probably good that a diff 44a was changed. I just bought a 1996 GC with all wheel drive and a 5.2 v-8 that susposedly has a dana 44a for a rear in. Seems to have a bearing problem when I turn right I can hear some noise like a bearing going bad. Would one or more of you give me a run down on this GC being a future problem or if all is good not a bad jeep. At this point it was garage kept but has a lot of salt look on all the engine, runs perfect but needed all new rotors and pads which I put on. Also in process of changing all fluids. All electrical works and there is some kind of front head lights that start off dim and then get bright, which I guess are some kind of halogen, it has these little cases hooked up to the lights on each side. Sure would appreciate your opinions on what I have and what is going to possibly happen. Thanks in advance.

ol"blue

I had a great '97 Grand Cherokee with no problems except for the one it came with.
I had a '97 ZJ for 6 years. It was a loaded V8 model, with the D44a rear axle, and 160,000 miles. It looked in mint condition inside & out, and ran great when I bought it. Shortly after that I noticed a noise coming from the rear end. I took it in to have it checked. The pinion bearings, carrier bearings, axle bearings, and the ring & pinion gears all had to be replaced because it apparently had been empty for some time because of a bad pinion seal. The previous owner had been lax on having it checked. That doesn't make it a bad axle.
I put about 20,000 miles on it in 6 years since we also had the '04 WJ at the same time. A lot of those were from pulling the tow dolly or a loaded trailer back & forth between Tenn & Mich. Never had any issues with it again.
I sold it to my son, who still has it.

Can't tell you about those lights.

Gee oh Dee

The lights sound like HIDs. Fairly common nowadays.

I have HID Projectors.

biggoofy

I loved my 44a never had a single issue out of it!

2Stangs

There's nothing inherently wrong with the D44a, there just isn't much aftermarket support for it, and it lacks the strength to survive when used with larger tires in severe conditions. If the Jeep is just a driver that you take out on the trails occasionally, and you don't have huge tires, then it's a totally adequate axle.

FWIW, if you do have axle problems someday, instead of sinking tons of coin into the D44a you could always buy a Ford 8.8" to swap in. There's a local shop that sells a bolt-in Explorer axle package, ready to run for I think $1200, which isn't a bad deal when you consider it's a truly bolt-in package with 3.73s and a limited slip, and a shop would probably charge most of that to rebuild your D44a.

gs69350

Not to hijack this thread, but, can anyone confirm the proper gear oil for 44a ? Is it the 75w140 synthetic stuff that is like $59,000 a quart?

ol"blue

This is from the '97 ZJ FSM:
LUBRICANT SPECIFICATIONS
A multi–purpose, hypoid gear lubricant which conforms
to the following specifications should be used.
Mopar* Hypoid Gear Lubricant conforms to all of
these specifications.
˛ The lubricant should have MIL–L–2105C and
API GL 5 quality specifications.
˛ Lubricant is a thermally stable SAE 80W–90
gear lubricant.
˛ Lubricant for axles intended for heavy-duty or
trailer tow use is SAE 75W–140 SYNTHETIC gear
lubricant.

gs69350

So d44a behind a 5.9 is probably "heavy duty". Thanks for the info!

ol"blue

No problem.