Well i thought i had found a donor jeep but the donor is kinda older. my jeep is a 98 my question is would i be able to swap older axels ( the donor is late 80s) into my 98 if its the right axel the fabled dana 44 ? I know that was rare but most of the junked jeeps here are late 80s early 90s here so unless i want to drive axel options are kinda slim

 

Yes you could swap it in. But what axle do you have now?

 

The factory Dana 44 XJs are pretty dang rare. As far as I know, only the 87-89 model years with the towing package had them. It is possible to swap them over and the XJ ones are easiest but you can also swap over a FSJ 44 too.

Check out this dude's build - he has a XJ 44 in his 99.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f177/...53/index2.html

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with a Chrysler 8.25...

 

Ya I've heard they are pretty rare lol I do have the Chrysler 8.25 and for that I am thankful. Haha I've heard horrible gnarly things about the d35 I was wanting to regear my xj though and was told swapping the axels is much easier\better than doing a regear kit and that automatics had 3.55 gears. Mi es a manual so I've got the 3.07 gears . I'm only going to be running 31s maaaaybe 32s . I know 4.10s or 4.56 would be better and I would like to upgrade to that but from what I hear and have been told like I said axels much better than regear kit :\

 

Oh and I know that xjs with the 2.5l 4cyl had 4.10s but those are the holy grail here the unicorn of the parts world in my neck of the woods haha so very little if none to be found

 

I understand. Mine is a manual and 3.07s were getting to be a bit frustrating. I found a set of axles (HPDana30/29spline8.25) from an auto and did the swap. I'm running 31s. It's not bad as a daily.

 

There's no need to swap axles, the 8.25 is plenty strong for 31's/32's. If you want 4.10's or 4.56's (4.10's being optimal for that tire size) then just regear front and rear and call it a day.

Otherwise you are going to have to swap out both axles, which will still only get you 3.55's. You won't be happy with that (you already said you would like 4.10's) and will eventually end up gearing anyways..

Do it once, more money in your pocket in the long run.

 

3.55 should be a pretty reasonable choice for a ax-15 with 31-32. The 4.56 is probably way to high for a DD.

Swapping axles is easier and cheaper than re-gearing.

Your donor d30 is going to have a CAD axle with the smaller u-joints though.

 

I agree, I was just going off of him saying he would like to upgrade to 4.10's. In his case it'll be one or the other (hopefully.)

4.56 would definitely be way to high for his projected tire size.. I'm running 4.56 with 33's and ax15 which is perfect.

 

I agree I was thinking about it and 4.10 would be awesome and the 4.56 wouldn't be a bad idea either considering I'm going to be towing a trailer for wood haha had to sell my old Franken ford pickup so my jeep is all I have left . Even if the gears are more on the lower side I dont live far from work so I wouldn't mind. Seems like motive gear has a gear swap kit for front and rear for about 500 bucks and I have a shop here that would do it for me. Just so everything is correct my luck would be I miss something and blow out my rear end haha