Have a guy interested in trading me some axles I need for my wj build, he has 1979 Ford F-150 supercab axles Hpd44 / big bearing 9" The 3rd is not nodular. Have stock gears, looks like the driver side knuckle is cut and studded for high steer. Newer warn hubs Xj bracketry already welded on front end, which all has to be removed for my wj. He will deliver axles. They are complete axles with brakes and shafts In return he wants.... Stock xj d44 w/ no backing plates or brakes. Cragar soft 8s with about 5k miles almost new. And $400. Is that worth doing or is it possible to find these supercab axles ( leaf sprung front ftw, easy to build off of ) fairly commonly? Pictures of his stuff And my d44, which is really bare, and farm fresh haha.
Can I just switch out the non nodular housing for a nodular?

 

Kinda sounds like hes getting the better end of the deal to me.As far as the 3rd members they should use swap out as long as they are the same axle spline in the diff.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking, these are the exact axles I want for my wj though, hope I can find another pair haha. Thanks for the input

 

Only way i would do it is open up both axles to see if they are good and it would be a even trade no cash or keep the rims and trade rear end and some cash.But in your case i would find junkyard fresh axles and weld on what you need.Or maybe find jk rubicon axles they are wider and would fit the wj body good.

 

I let them go, I'll just wait to find them, appreciate the help guys, those axles are 65" and wj is 63".

 

Those axles aren't that rare. I found my front 44, 8 lug version though, for 150 already geared and had a truetrac that I sold for 150 so free axle. 9" rears are a dime a dozen. You can swap the hubs and get 5, 6 or 8 lug depending on what you want. If you EVER plan on running anything larger than a 37 skip the D44. Even with chromos mine likes to eat shafts and joints.

 

If your going to do the work to swap axles i would go ford dana 60 front the rear 14 bolt full float or sterling.

 

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Wish someone had told me before I built mine.

 

Going big will give you more room for upgrades later with out starting all over.Ground clearance on them with 35s will be tight but you can run 44s on a dana 60 with a lot of upgrades.The dana 44 is good tell 37s/38s,The 9 inch as a 31 spline is good about the same,If you build the 9 inch in to a full float 35 spline or 40 then its about bomb proof.But for the price to do that you can buy a 14 bolt full float and throw a ton of parts at it and have money left lol.