Jeep Axle Conversion Questions

.:Scooter:.

New Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Location
Hickory, NC
1979 cj5 aniversary eddition

D30 - AMC20 with 3.54's right now, posi in the rear.

i dont want D60's/70's or rockwells. mainly because the trails and moutains i ride are in dense forrests. need the shorter wheelbases and a little more stability plus ill want to run 35x15.50 TSL-SX's.

common axle swaps ive seen are widetrack D44's out of later CJ's.

D44 - D44 waggy swaps.

and D44 - Ford 9" or Ford 8.8"?

Scout axles too.. but the nuck's have to be rotated back about 6 degrees right?

i am aware of having to outboard the front springs and such.

fronts gotta be pass drop. could someone also refresh my memory on the high-pinion? ill be wanting to go SOA and put the tie-rod over the springs. possible or what am i missing?

also, are F250 shock towers what most Cj5 guys are using for the shocks or custom making or something else? i cant find anything to be 100% sure.


theres alot of questions in there. any links to info would be appreciated and any local guys around Hickory NC that know a good bit on axle rebuilds. thanks for any help on clarifying what i know and correcting me.

-matt
 
you said short wheelbase and more stability in the same sentence :)



a high pinion axle helps lessen the pinoin angle... and i a HP axle is stronger than a low pinion. hp axles are reverse rotation. low pinions are standard rotation. they are especially good if your rig has much flex and more than a few inches of lift.. ie. soa


why don't you just upgrade the 30 and 20 and roll with it? they'll be fine on 35's for the kind of wheeling it sounds like you plan on doing....
 
I've been running 35s for a 4-5 years on my 20/30, and 36" SXs for a couple more years. Powertrax NoSlip in the rear, Lockrite up front. Both axles have Superior shafts in them. I did the rear shafts years ago, I used stock fronts for a while. when I swapped in a T18 w/granny low, I kept breaking axleshaft U-joints, so I upgraded the shafts. I'm also running a ground clearance robbing Con-ferr truss/skidplate up front, no trus on the back, but the AMC20 tubes have been stich welded to the chunk.
Oh yeah, these axles came from a widetrack CJ7, so I built them, then swapped them in for my narrowtrack axles. I cut off the front shack mounts, then used the bolt-on style from the late model CJ. A lot of people are using F250 shock towers; they are even taller than widetrack CJ towers.

google found this... http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/susp/cj_shock_ext/

I might have been able to do a ~'78-79 Ford HP44/9 for the same price, but I used what I had available. That might be the best option if your going SOA. I would think your stock narrowtrack axles are too narrow at lifted height.
 
If you do decide to beef up the axles you have, you could help your stability with wheel spacers. There is only a 4" difference between narrow and wide track jeep axles under the CJ. You could add 2" wheel spacers on each side. A little extra stress on the wheel bearings but wont be that much of an issue for what you want to do with your rig.
 
My buddy has been doing exactly what your doing with a D30/AMC20 for over 2 years now. Only thing he has done is both have been rebuilt, geared 4.88, rear axles are one piece, and he has a locker in the front. No problems other than we tore some chunks out of the front ring and pinion because it was set up wrong. I also plan on doing the same as I like the narrow stance, and I don't plan on being on hills that steep. PM me if you end up needing any help, I am in the HKY area.
 
if you want ot go a little wider the I would go with a Waggy D44 up front and a Waggy AMC 20 Rear
 
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