lakesideguy

Hello,

My stock dana is crapping out due to the seals and it was a junk yard wrecked car. It bent the axle in the back and you hear "roaring" scraping from the rear end. The shop said it has to be replaced as it leaks the oil out as well. But he said since you hear the scrape its done.

So out her I was not able to locate another dana from the I6 4.0 to replace it with. I was told grab a dana 44 from the v8 which I was able to do. The gear ratio is the same as what was in the car.

This is for a 99 Jeep grand cherokee WJ 4.0 I6. has anyone swapped them out with that for the V8 and am I going to run into a problem?

Yoke seems to be one of them but the axle looks almost identicle to the old one. I mean identicle.

Thanks

dave1123

First of all, your 99 4.0 jeep has a Dana 35 rear axle. I know that because my 2000 WJ does. The D44a comes in the V8s. It has an aluminum center section and uses a bigger driveshaft yoke. That is unless someone has already swapped one in! If it's identical, go for it! Just be sure to check the universal joint yoke to make sure it's the same. If not you'll have to change the yoke or buy a special u-joint. This may be why the car was junked. The previous owner swapped the rear axle, changed the yoke and overtorqued it, destroying the pinion bearings. It that point, he decided to junk the car.

Changing the driveshaft yoke is a critical procedure and must be done correctly. I can run you thru the procedure, but it's best to have it done by a professional. Do it BEFORE you take yours apart. Find out what you've got, then private message me for more info.

lakesideguy

Thanks. I'm going to get some pictures together to show you.
And you have no idea how appreciative I am.

Just as an understand of what I went through with everything I've already done with this jeep it makes total sense why replacing the yoke is cautious and can damage the gears. I do get that and see exactly why too.
I doubt it's just bolt and go. lol.

I just finished practically rebuilding everything under the hood of this car.
If I feel anything is quesitobable for me to do I'll have a shop do it for sure.
I can take the axle to them that I got from another V8 jeep.

The local dealership ran my VIN it is a Dana 35 that should be in there.
But to me they look the same as the dana 44 but yeah it's housing does seem a bit larger and yoke. I doesn't appear to be direct fit with that respect but everything else is. They gave me the drive shaft from the V8 also.

But that don't fit either.
I really was at a big loss here as there wasn't a v6 Dana 35 around within 300 miles of where I live. So it's this option.

Thanks again pictures coming soon of the axle I got and pics coming of whats in it.

dave1123

Since posting with you, I've checked rockauto.com and the u-joints are the same part number and the yokes are the same size. I'd say you are good to go. If you have the 242 Selectrac transfer case, the V8 shaft won't fit because they generally use the 247 Quadratrac t/case in the V8s.

lakesideguy

Oh well that's awesome. I just had them grab the drive shaft just in case.
But it doesn't like I need it then as this is direct bolt up then as you checked?

I still need to get pics to confirm. And can confirm its the selctrac 242. I just changed the transfer case fluid.
And no way does that drive shaft from the V8 fit. LOL. NO WAY.

I just ran into another issue I caused. After I finished the engine job after start up it was fine then I flushed the new cooling system out. I think I got tons of fluild over my new serpentine belt. Now it squeals like a pig.

Crap. Sound like another new belt. It didn't do it until after I flushed and it went everywhere. Lesson learned. Always remove belt?

SO the rear end is a direct bolt up replacement with the Dana 35 on I6 from V8?

If so that's awesome.
That being for 99 WJ 4.0 I6
PIcs incoming for sure.

Thanks for helping. I would have put the Dana 35 back in but as I said there aren't any around and Chrysler dont have them anymore. So I was SOL.

EDIT:
Someone in another site told me the shaft I have going from the dana 35 to the crankcase going with the Dana 44 won't fit and have to modded but I'm not sure he wasn't talking about the jeep WJ 4.0 I6. It's questionable so I don't know. I just didn't want to get all into to make a discovery that the shaft is a big problem.

EDIT 2:
I'm not clear why the other poster had to shorten the drive shaft at all on there post. Especially if what they were saying was true about his 99 WJ. If the yoke and pinion is the same part this should be a direct bolt up right? That's what I'd think..........

I had intended to clean up the rust on the "new" axle and paint it before putting it in. I like to do things correctly.
I also purchase (since its being swapped and the condition of everything in it is aweful in the rear), new brake pads, rotors, callipers, shocks since all that is coming out anyway. I thought, well the crap is bad anyway and been sitting in junkyard so long its best to replace it all. So I did. Is there a way to check to make sure the gear ratio is correct on new axle? My jeep has tow package and I beleive at time I did confirm with junkyard the dana 44a axle I got was out of an 04. But is there any marking on the dana 44a anywhere that I can look at to confirm the gear ratio in fact does match mine? I know junkyard said yes it does and that was a while back but I want to make absoulte certain its a match. Mine is tow package with mechanical fan currently and the gear ratio I beleive is 3:73 according to VIN look up. Ill confirm it with Chryseler again. I just want to check the dana 44a to make certian its the 3:73 also. And I was told WJ with tow has 3:73? Ill confirm it with Chrysler. But if I could manually check my dana also that would be great.

dave1123

Okay, here's the story as far as I know. On the ZJs (93-98) the Dana 44a used a larger diameter driveshaft and u-joint than the Dana 35c. I thought this was true of the WJs as well, but checking parts for both on rockauto.com, I find there are 2 different sizes of joints. One is 3.218" outside-to-outside on the caps, and one is 3.625". The yoke on the differential has 2 little nibs sticking up on the ends of the bores to retain the caps. The driveshaft has snap-ring grooves. You've got to measure both of them to see what they are. If they are both the same, that's good. If not, something needs to be changed. Measure them and get back to us. The cap diameters are the same. The joint numbers are 1310 for the small one and 1330 for the large one.

The gear ratio should be on a tag under one of the bolts on the cover. If not, you can pull the cover and count teeth. Ring gear count divided by pinion gear count equals ratio. Same with the front axle. The idea of turning the wheel 1 turn and counting the driveshaft turns is bogus. Both wheels have to turn the same turn TOGETHER and the difference in the driveshaft is 1/4 turn between 3.55 and 3.73. Hardly accurate!

lakesideguy

Ok thank you very much. I went to rockauto to see what you were talking about.
I get exactly what I need to measure and look for. There's a bit of hand holding here but, I've never done this before so , again, it is appreciated with your help I bet we figure it out.

dave1123

Don't worry about it. I love to help other people. That's what I'm on this forum for. I'm 71 years old and have worked on all types of vehicles most of my life. Some of the old tricks still work and many people have forgotten them. I'm still learning myself! My Grandad used to say "Any day you haven't learned something is a day wasted." I'm retired now, but am still a toolmaker with 50 years experience building plastic injection molds AND a sideline of making drag racing parts. Admittedly, I've slowed down some! LOL.

We could do this by private message, but this way everybody gets a chance to learn and add to it. AND correct me, Haha!

Fred/N0AZZ

My 04 WJ an Overland package with a Tow Pkg. also came with 3.73 gears but only with the tow pkg. Another upgrade in my D44 and many others was a limited slip differential in the V-8's. Might pull the cover and check yours.

dave1123

Fred brings about a good point. It would be best if you pulled the diff cover and inspected the gear condition at least. Make sure they have a normal wear pattern and no chipped teeth or spalling. You can verify the ratio at the same time. It would be the absolute pits to put it in and find out it's no good. Most places will give you another free, but who wants to pull it out again? You've had it a while, maybe you've done this already?


The differential is the most critical part of the drivetrain and often the most neglected. Name a car on the road today that doesn't have at least one (often built into a transaxle).

lakesideguy

Hi Dave,

Sorry for the late replies I've got college coming up.
In any case here's what I found.

I measure where the shaft connects on my 35 and on the 44 axle.
The measurements were identicle so it appears to be a direct bolt up.
It was roughly L/W/D (length, width and depth) was 2"x3.5"x2"
That was pretty rough but it appears between the two its direct bolt up they measured up where the axle connects.

Here's a problem I found. I measure the distance from the axle itself on the center to the edge of where it would connect to the axle.
The housing on the 44 is longer by about 1" than the dana 35.
So while the driveshaft will bolt up I'm seeing an issue with length of the driveshaft in my jeep with the 35 may be a bit too long.

I'm guessing the only option here is to have the drive shaft machined.
Sigh. I've read about this before on other forums and I was hoping this wouldnt be the case. But the distance I measure every time always comes up 1" with the dana 44 housing being a bit longer than the 35 installed now.

I suppose there is no hope but to have it machined unless there is another way.

Cane

i don't know if it has been stated or not, but i always hear you shouldn't jack the d44a from the pumpkin due to the alluminum, maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong but a good thing to keep in mind.

Bearstream

Cane, your caution may be well advised, as the 44a is known to be subject to distortion, especially when subject to heavy tow / torque loading. Better safe than sorry. It was my understanding that Chrysler bought a mess of 44a's for use in their performance cars, and ended up using them in their Jeep Cherokees. I could be wrong though. My brother-in-law has distortion issues in his '02 WJ with the 44a. I was going to swap a 44a into my '03 WJ but decided to go with a gear change in my 35 instead, on the advice of my driveline tech. The 44a is a good unit, but would be careful not to expect more out of it than it's design parameters can handle regarding load bearing capacity.

dave1123

Yeah, okay, I forgot to mention that the np237 and the np242J t/cases are different lengths! The 237 has a housing that the shaft slides into and the 242J has a rubber boot and extended shaft. I must be getting senile to have forgotten that!

Anytime you try to change something from it's original form, you run into problems. Nothing that can't be fixed, but things you don't expect. I just ordered a CPS from makeitmoparparts.com and they wanted my VIN to make sure they sent me the right part! Now that's customer service!

lakesideguy

I guess the question of the day now is how much to shrink it.
Is there any play room here or does if have to be EXACT down to the millimeter?

I found a machine shop that will do it. I should also state going to the 44 wasn't a choice. I had no choice the 35 is unavailable in all the yards. Dave I don't care how old you are. There's something to be said about grey hair and experience.

I'm just now getting half a head of grey hair. And everyday I run into a "kid" with drama I thank god I'm getting older and don't care.
lol

I'd hire someone to help me with this swap. I live in the country and no one wants to touch this swap with a ten foot pole and said get another car. I said , I've already rebuilt just about everything under the hood and got new brakes, shocks etc. It's too far in at this point to get rid of it.