Hey Brian

I'm way down here in socal norco thats in riverside co. i see you have the same 91 as i do cool.
Ive also been to pismo beach a few times too. the family and i go to lake Lopez and camping once in awhile.
Since you have an 91 that would be great if i could ask you some questions thanks.

What I'm doing right now is lifting it and changing the rear end from a Dana 35 to an 87 xj Dana 44. Mine had bad spider gears. The bad part is i bought the spider gears all ready for it at 145.00 (guess ill just sell the now good 35)
The great part is while at the junk yard yesterday picking up some things i cant be leave what i found an 87xj with an 44 in it!. I ask the yard how much he said 148 bucks.
i said "sold "and took it home. its drum to drum and i opened it up at the yard and its perfect

I got one for you do you think the gearing is the same between my 35 and the 44 i havent looked yet?
I did ask one question in the forum and no one has answered it
thanks Mark

 

Hey Mark,

That was a awesome score on finding that 87 XJ with the OEM D44 in it. That is the exact same thing I did. I found an 87 XJ that I grabbed the D44 rear out of and I also grabbed the front skid plate and gastank skid plate. The gearing in the donor axle out the 87 XJ and your 91 should both be 3.55 so long as both rigs have the auto tranny. The D44 I grabbed was a direct bolt in to my 91. I found out later that I had a better axle to start with in my 91 than I first thought. I thought I had the POS D35 when I actually had the much stronger Chrysler 8.25. I'm still glad I grabbed the D44 but, be sure what axle you actually had in your 91 so if you sell it, don't sell it for less than it is worth thinking it is a D35. The Chrysler 8.25 and D35 look VERY similar but, the 8.25 is a much stronger and better axle.

 

hey Brian
Mines a 5 speed ,and you know what i didnt even look at the donor
well ill just have to check out the gears in both. i have the diff covers still off.

i was thinking that if the 44 was lower "I hope" i could go back and take out the donor xj front gears, i know there still there. i might just get the hole axle might be easer only 170 for the front. what do you think?
mark

 

If you can handle the expense of the donor front axle, it would be MUCH MUCH MUCH easier than transferring the gears out of that axle and into yours.

 

If the donor XJ was an auto, you will be going from 3.07 gears to 3.55 gears with the swap. While not a huge difference it is lower and you should feel it in the seat of your pants with your 5-speed.

 

I just looked at the gears in both diffs, and you are exactly right
its a good thing though it will help with the 31's I'm planning on getting.

Well as soon as the rain stops I'm going to have to get the other front diff out of the donor but thats OK i don't mind the time or cost. i just hope its in good shape too.

mark