i got a 00' cherokee sport with a 5 speed manual tranny and my axles are stock and ive replaced the 35 in the rear several times. what im trying to do is find out what vehicle has the strongest dana 44's that will bolt up in to my 00'. im not apposed to doing minor cutting and welding but im not trying to get to crazy with it. i also have a question about if a 88' xj set of 44's would bolt into my jeep. if y'all could help me out on my first build it would be awesome cause in the long run im trying to find a good set of axles to be able to run 38's to 40's and what gears would push them with no problems

 

Look at the ford 8.8 for the rear axle or Dana 60. Don't know about gearing, but I think 4.56 would work for a 5 speed with 40s.

 

if you want bolt in the d44s are hard to find. look for a 8.25 with 29 splines. the 8.8 is better but will need all the mounts welded on.

 

If youre wanting 40's. Then go to 1ton axles.


44's and 40's arent a good mix.

 

And only 4.56's? Isn't that closer to stock with like a 33" tire? idk..

OP- you mentioned minor trimming for 40"? How big a lift you got?

 

Gearing is a lil different for a 5 speed compared to an auto... If your running 40's ditch the stock axles and go 1 tons or something like n20 said

 

I dont understand how you "dont want to get crazy" with axles but you want to run 40s. There is no direct replacement xj axle to run 40s on, unless you enjoy how you brake the 35 all the time and you are going for the same experience. 8.8 is not enough either.

 

wow. you want to run 40's and you dont want to do more than minor cutting and welding???

 

For 40's your gonna want late 70s ford Dana 60s. 1 ton and BUILT. and since your running 40s leaf sprung would do you no good for the hardcore wheeling you would be doing to need 40's, so rear coil conversion... I think 40s might be a little much for you now since your looking for a direct swap or a minor Fab swap

 

i really dont crawl at all i just bog and im pretty much gonna build a mud racing truck and wouldnt having leafs front and rear be better for boggin? im going to have enough power from the engine getting put in it i just want to figure out what axles will turn 40's good and what gears to go along with it

 

Found a chart on regearing, sorry i gave you the wrong answer (i was talking out of school lol).

 

For 40" tires if your wanting to be able to spin them good enough to compete than you will have to be at nearly 6.00 gearing. You can't even go that deep unless you go with BIG axles and there's never been a Cherokee with factory equipped BIG axles lol. You need to be looking at like corporate 14 bolt with a Dana 60 front or like Rockwell axles. Otherwise you will break it right as you hit the gas. Your not looking at minor fab... Your looking at having to fabricate all new brackets, plate the frame and make all new wheel wells along with a completely new custom suspension.
My honest opinion is that this seems like a project that is just way too big for you.
If it only required "minor" fab to run 40's than you'd see xj's on 40's all the time.... I've seen less than ten probably less than 5 cherokees in my life with 40's and they all took like over a year to make and the people doing it had years of experience.

 

who runs 40's when mud racing? suggesting axles is rather pointless unless you tell us how much power you going to have. i would say 9" in the back and d60 up front to be safe

 

Check out freegdr's rig. He runs 40's on his he had to go low on the gearing but he also has a manual trans and not an AW4. His spins em just fine.

 

I'm gonna be different and suggest a pair of 9" axles, the front would be a HP "Hybrid" 9" with D60 outers. That way you can get the inherent strength of a 9", but at a slightly smaller size for better ground clearance, you also get the humongous aftermarket of the 9" with gear ratios, lockers, and axle shaft choices galore. Mud racing on 40s is different from trail riding on 40s, if this was gonna be a trail rig then I'd also agree that bigger is better as far as the axles would go, but since this is gonna be a mud bog truck that sees a few hundred ft or mud at a time the weight and overal size of the bigger axles would be a bigger detriment then benefit, IMHO a 9" with some carefully selected parts is the way to go. If you're on a budget grab a HP D44 and 9" out of a late 70s F-series or Bronco, can run a pretty good mud bog truck with those axles, several of the trucks that run our local mud bog run this combo with up to uncut 44s. Anything that will bolt in either like it is or without much fab is either gonna be too small and weak for both the tire size and HP that you're wantin to get out of it, or isn't gonna be able to go low enough with the gearing to allow you to effectively use the power you're making to be able to spin the tires well enough to do good in a bog pit. Just my $.02.