Finally found a d44 and will be replacing my d35. Question, will I need to do anything to the brakes to make the 4 wheel abs work? Change out master cylinder or anything? The 44 is out of an 04 TJ non rubicon with trac loc. The 35 is out of my 98 TJ. Is there anything else I need to worry about. It should be a pretty straight forward swap, right?

I've never seen a straight forward swap. They're always full of little problems.

Yes, it should just bolt under your jeep. Springs fall into place. Track bar and Control arms bolt up the same. Then life gets miserable. My guess is that the drive shaft won't be right. Might be, might not. You can eyeball it and using a straight edge from the centerline of the rear Ujoint to the leading edge of the axle tube, get a good idea.

Things like the vent tube should just fit the same, as should the brake lines and ebrake cables.

I have no idea about anti-lock brakes. I've never owned them on a jeep, and never intend to.
I tend to think you're out of luck with them because most jeeps aren't built with the sensors and you've got to reuse the rear disks to get them working.

I've done 4 or 5 of these swaps now, and it's pretty straight forward.

1) Your driveshaft will be to long, the snout on a Dana 44 is around 2" closer to the tcase output. Even if you can get it installed, it will shove the tcase output shaft through the front of the case when you flex. Find a good local driveline shop and you can get it shortened for less then $100.

2) Ventlines, brakelines both hard and soft, and donor e-brake cables will swap over as needed. If you get the disk conversion you should be OK, some folks report having to remove an o-ring in the brake bias valve, I've never had to do that in any of the swaps I've done.

3) Because of the longer snout, your driveshaft angle may be hosed with the stock control arms, you may need asj upper rear control arms to fix this. When you pull the snout down to get the correct angle, you may start to bind the rear track bar bushings and create a harsh ride, aftermarket rear track bar will do wonders to clear that up.

4) The only way to get the anti-lock to work again is if the replacement axle shafts have the sensor ring, looks kind of like a large gear. You can buy Dana 44 axle shafts for a TJ with anti-lock from the dealer, but that's probably pretty expensive for a semi-weak axle shaft. You will also have to fab up whatever little brackets are required to keep the sensors located correctly and the wires out of harms way. Easiest route would be to copy somebody with anti-lock if you can find one...try your local club.

Should you decide to go aftermarket axle shafts for strength, your anti-lock will be done because nobody in the aftermarket makes shafts with tone rings that I'm aware of.

The ABS dash light will light, but this will not affect the braking ability at all, just indicate there's an electronic issue with the system. When I replaced my wife's rearend (Keep those comments to yourself! ) I just disconnected the sensor plugs and wrapped the connections with elec tape. I haven't pulled the dash to remove the lightbulb on the ABS light yet, as older Jeep dashes have had connection problems in the past and I don't want to introduce any probs to a working system.

5) To remove the old e-brake cables, there's three prongs around the metal end of the cable that goes through the bracket, it takes a little work, but it's pretty straight forward process to push those three prongs in and remove the cable without damage to bracket or cable. Helps on resale value.

If you have any other questions, you can reach me quickest at www.midsouthjeeps.com with the same user name...or try Fyathyrio@midsouthjeeps.com and give you a call or whatever.

Good luck,
Mark

OK, so I have decided to forget about the ABS.

Should I go ahead and try the install and see if I need adj. control arms or go ahead and try to get some before I start the install? I don't have a sye yet was planning on doing that on down the road, should I go ahead and do that now since it sounds like I may have drive line issues?

Yes, do all the driveshaft mods at one time. That means you'll need to be doing the Tcase first. As an added bonus, you'll get a longer driveshaft and it might be enough to cancel out any vibrations.

If you take that route, you may discover that you don't need the adjustable control arms. Normally the vibs aren't so bad that you can't live with them short term (until you get the new ones if necessary.)

quote:

Originally posted by Squid in a Jeep:
When I replaced my wife's rearend (Keep those comments to yourself! )

You're a real killjoy!

TJ's have a horribly short driveshaft, when you install the d44 it's even shorter. One way around that is to us the JB Conversions Super Shorty SYE. It costs about $50 or so more then the regular heavy duty style SYE, but it's also gonna give you about 3" more shaft! In addition to the extra $$ for this particular SYE, you will need a speedo correction unit from Dakota Digital for about $80.

This route isn't needed for a daily driver that's not getting heavy mods or hard wheeling, but it's a good way to go for 4" or more lift that sees occasional weekend wheeling or more use.

If I did a sye could I reuse my current drive shaft?

Squid in a Jeep I am to try and register at MSJ tonight if I get a chance.

The SYE requires using a different style driveshaft, one with a double cardan joint. Looks like this...



That's a picture of the whole setup...taking apart the transfer case to install the SYE is pretty easy. The double cardan joint is on the left side of the driveshaft, it's basically two u-joints captured by the large outter housing that work together to split the steep angle and prevent the driveshaft from binding and destroying itself.

By the way, what is this Jeeps setup and planned near future mods?

Sorry to hijack thread I have a factory 44 rear future mods include lockers, gears and 35's. This will be a dd/light wheeling rig. Sig Jeep is for the tuff stuff. I have been told the TJ dana44 is not as tuff as a Dana 44 out of something else. Is this true? In my CJ7 it has a Scout Dana 44 rear and a Chevy Dana 44 front. I'm thinking it this is a weaker housing I might go 9in. Thanks for the advise.

A dana 44 is a dana 44, mostly. That designation only refers to the pig, or center section. Where they find difference is in the axle tube thickness and sometimes (but rarely) the axle diameter and material.

Some Ferd trucks used a much thicker wall, like in the 3/4 tons some years. We used to collect the axle shafts for resplining. I don't think I saw any difference in those from Dana. I feel equally certain that you can purchase much better quality steel on the aftermarket today. You'll also pay for it, big time.

I ran factory CJ wide tracks in both my 83 and 86 CJ and never had a problem. The 83 with a 360 for the last 4 or 5 years. The only axle shafts I twisted were the Summers(Smothers brothers?) brothers joke replacement shafts in the corporate unit. Go figure. Just because they're after market doesn't mean they're good.

As I recall your jeep from Moab, it was high and heavy. Weight is probably your enemy, but most of us have used 44 for a long time (me for decades) and haven't had a problem. Its as strong as a good driver needs.

A few years ago some guys were staying at the same motel in Moab. They were running D60s and managed to break them. Young guys, full of piss and vinegar, but without sense or any restraints. The rule of thumb is that a fool can break anything if he tries hard enough. A good driver can make anything last if he uses sense. Some people work on their jeeps to use them, others break their jeeps because they enjoy fixing them. Its important to figure that stuff out early in your jeeping career.

Mr. Burg I'm surprised you remembered me, Thanks. I've not broke anything yet on the 7. However I came across a 98 TJ that has a 44 in the rear. A friend of mine said they was weaker or there was something different about them. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks Paul