79 CJ7 axle swap J20

[RazorbackCJ7]

I've found a matching set of axles out of a 74 J20 truck. Front is a Dana 44 with disc brakes and passenger side drop. Rear is a Dana 60. 373 gears. I know these are 8 lug and are wider than my Dana 30 and AMC20 , but will these mount up with moderate modifications? They look really good and priced at $500 for the pair.

 

[Posi]

IMO, the J-truck axles are too wide and look goofy on a CJ. The price is a bit high as well. If you looking for 44s a better option would be NT wagon axles.

 

[Old Dog]

They might be a good idea if your going to run 38's or bigger, anything smaller and that 60 will turn into a plow.
The j20 axles should be about 65" wide, your nt's are only 50" wide. Big differance. You could also cut them down to 61" or so, not so bad than.

 

[Posi]

A 70s J-20 front axle is 67" wms to wms the rear 60 about the same. You could buy a NT waggon front that's 61" wms to wms and lose 6" without cutting.

However, I cut my waggon NT front down by 4" to 57" and used a 86 CJ rear 44 at 56".

 

[Jimbos76cj]

Im gonna run the J-10 axles under mine..

 

[RazorbackCJ7]

My plan was to cut these down if I were to buy them, but I think I've found a better deal on some Dana 44 's out of a 91 Grand Wagoneer

 

[Posi]

The diff is driver side on a 91 wagon, you need passenger side.

 

[RazorbackCJ7]

I guess I should have elaborated. I was going to use the drivetrain out of the Wagoneer that includes a 727 AT and a NP229 Transfer Case which would allow me to use the drivers side drop 44. This plan has since changed. I literally just bought a Jeep T-18 4 speed, so yes I will need a passenger drop 44 now. What is the best donor axle for my application? Thinking no wider than 58 inches from WMS to WMS. Sounds like I'm going to have to cut anyway.

 

[Posi]

First, you got yourself an excellent tranny. For the best front axle that would depend on the size tire you’re running. Assuming your running 37” or under I would suggest a 74-79 wagon axle as mentioned their 61” wms to wms so you would need to cut it to desired width.

Cutting down an axle isn’t hard you can use a chop saw or band saw.

Most websites have the front NT waggy width between 59”-60” I measured mine out at 61” wms to wms I ended up cutting 4 1/8 off the long side.

I removed the long side spring pad and shock mount.







I cut the inner knuckle first and made the cut close to the weld to aide in the tube removal.



Final tube cut





I ground down the weld until I could see the separation between the tube and inner knuckle. You will see a definite separation I just wasn’t there yet when I took this pic.



I made two 90 degree cuts then punched out one half at a time.







I had the waggy long side shaft cut down 4 1/8” and the extra chevy shaft spare cut to match.





Primed with a couple coats of gloss black

 

[RazorbackCJ7]

Great pics and info.