Waggy axles on cj-7

viper red cj-7

viper red cj-7

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Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Location
charlotte
Guys,
looking for opinions..i'm kinda new to this so bear with me.

i have a 84 cj-7 with dana 44 in back, 30 up front. i'd like to put wider waggy axles in it, on both ends to get a little more width out of it.
question is, can i just move the spring plates on the axles inward a little or do i have to outboard my springs? i'm thinking it would be more difficult to do this on front, vs the rear...

or...should i just narrow up a 44 to match the stock 30 and be done with it?

thanks,
brian
 
Which Waggy axles? they came with Drum brake D30's and Disc Brake 44's up front, and 44's and 20's in the rear.

I'm gonna assume the most common and/or desirable 44 front and 20 rear ( rear 20 because it's centered and if memory serves me right, the 44's were offset for the QuadraTrac)

The rear you can just more the perches on the axle.

The front 44 however ends up with the Diff housing sitting under the frame rail, thus the need to outboard the springs. If you wanted less work, but a less desirable axle. the Waggy 30 front has a smaller Diff housing and you can relocate the spring perch, but then you have Drum brakes up front.
 
i thought that the rears were Dana 44's and were centered? Did J trucks come 44 and centered?
i wouldn't have any problems putting discs on a 44 rear and i would def want the discs up front...

thanks for the reply
 
J-trucks had 44 rears that were slightly offset, not sure if that applied to all. I'm also not 100% certain their weren't centered 44 rears in Waggy's, just that most I've ever seen were Offset 44's in the rear of Waggy's the Centered axles tend to be amc20's, which by the way are stouter than the CJ 20's so don't fully dismiss them. ;)
 
mid 86-91 waggy rears were centered D44s
80-86 waggy/chero/j10 were AMC 20s with one piece axles

79 and back had offset D44s for J10s, waggys, and cherokees. like a 4" offset for D20 equipped rigs and like 7" for QT

80-91 had driver side drop fronts (d44s)
79 and back had passenger drop D44 fronts (all open knuckle after 74 IRRC with some open since 72)

an 86-91 D44 rear will get you an xtra 4" of width (they are about 59" WMS-WMS)

A 79 and earlier front is what you need unless you want to swap transfer cases.

You will need to regear one or both axles. The post 80 axles had 2.72 or 3.31 while the pre 80 axles had 3.54 or 3.07 in most cases.

If you want to go wider look for J-truck or WT cherokee axles (64-67" WMS-WMS).

A lot of people like to get WT FSJ axles and just cut down the long side about 4 inches. That makes them wider than a WT CJ axle and you don't need to outboard.
 
ajbirken said:
mid 86-91 waggy rears were centered D44s

79 and back had passenger drop D44 fronts (all open knuckle after 74 IRRC with some open since 72)
an 86-91 D44 rear will get you an xtra 4" of width (they are about 59" WMS-WMS)
A 79 and earlier front is what you need unless you want to swap transfer cases.

If you want to go wider look for J-truck or WT cherokee axles (64-67" WMS-WMS).

A lot of people like to get WT FSJ axles and just cut down the long side about 4 inches. That makes them wider than a WT CJ axle and you don't need to outboard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great info,
so if i got a 79 FSJ and cut down the long side about 4in., how would that be compared to a 86-91 waggy rear?. comparing widths...

thanks again for the info..
brian
 
viper red cj-7 said:
Thanks for the great info,
so if i got a 79 FSJ and cut down the long side about 4in., how would that be compared to a 86-91 waggy rear?. comparing widths...
thanks again for the info..
brian
Click to expand...

If you get the front from a WT cherokee and cut down four inches, it should work out pretty well. The 86-91 waggy rear should be about 59.5" and the front will be 60-61. If it is from a J-truck, then you will have to cut down 5-6 inches to get that width.

If you get a narrow track FSJ front and cut it down 4" then it will match your current rear end width well, assuming that you now have a CJ WT axle width.

This chart might help you. http://members.cox.net/tadsal/WMS.html
These are supposed to be real-world measurements (which could be good or bad depending how good people were with the tape measure).

If you just get a matched set of 79 and back J-truck or WT cherokee axles you could also probably cut down the long side of both the front and the rear axle the same amount. This would make the rear nearly centered, match the width and you'd only have to find one axle donor vehicle.
 
ajbirken said:
If you get the front from a WT cherokee and cut down four inches, it should work out pretty well. The 86-91 waggy rear should be about 59.5" and the front will be 60-61. If it is from a J-truck, then you will have to cut down 5-6 inches to get that width.

If you get a narrow track FSJ front and cut it down 4" then it will match your current rear end width well, assuming that you now have a CJ WT axle width.

This chart might help you. http://members.cox.net/tadsal/WMS.html
These are supposed to be real-world measurements (which could be good or bad depending how good people were with the tape measure).

If you just get a matched set of 79 and back J-truck or WT cherokee axles you could also probably cut down the long side of both the front and the rear axle the same amount. This would make the rear nearly centered, match the width and you'd only have to find one axle donor vehicle.
Click to expand...
A Wide Trac Cherokee Front axle should be the same width as a J Truck Front axle. The Narrow Track Waggy is about 4 inches narrower.
If you narrow a NT Waggy front axle 4" on the long side it will bolt in your current spring width in front and match your rear axle. It also will be within about 1 1/2 " of the width of a Scout rear Dana 44 which you could make up with a 1" spacer in front and longer wheel studs.
Remember Waggy axles are 6 lug, the front can be converted to 5 lug either by using CJ outer knuckles, hubs rotors etc. and scout stub shafts or getting "small bearing" spindles for Wagoneer (J Truck) front axle if it doesn't have them and using full size ford turck hubs and rotors.
If you narrow either the WT or NT axle on the long side you will have to get a custom axle for that side (or cut and respline).
If you out board the springs and run Narrow track Wagoneer all of the replacement parts will be stock items (either junk yard or new CROMO stuff.)
PM me your phone # and I can go over some of the many options available.
I also have just about all of the different axles here (no waggy centered 44 at present).
 
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