Axle Swap?
agood1
Jeeper
Will the axles from a 78 Wagoneer swap to a CJ?
Axle Swap?
- Thread starter agood1
- Start date
agood1
Jeeper
Thanks, I kinda figured that....but can they be modified to work? Just shorten them a little?
What axles are under this Wagoneer? 44s?
Thanks
What axles are under this Wagoneer? 44s?
Thanks
Incommando
Senior Jeeper
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- Location
- SW Ohio
- Vehicle(s)
- '77 CJ7 360/T18/D20 D60F/14bolt on 38's,
Stock '91 MJ 4.0/2wd parts runner
Dana 44 front and rear. If the donor was an auto it had a QuadraTrac Transfer Case with an off-set rear diff that makes using a centered diff more difficult. Even the manual tranny FSJ's in '78 had a light off-set to the pinion but it is not as severe as the q-trac rigs and the factory used them with a centered output Transfer Case by running an early version of a cv joint drive shaft. A better choice would be to find an '86 or newer Grand Waggy Dana 44 rear or even an '80-86 AMC model 23 ( heavy duty model 20) rear as they have centered pinions. Makes the drive shift a bit cheaper.
For the swap:
The rear is cake with you just cutting off and re-welding the spring perches where you need them.
The easiest way to put the front in is to "outboard" the springs so the springs match the perches on the front axle. Tons of ways to do this and much cheaper than narrowing two axles. Barnes 4wd & Ruffstuff can sell you some great front/rear spring mounts to make this easier. There are tons of ways to do this with the most common probably being just welding flat plates to the frame that extend outward and welding the new spring mounts to those.
Narrow track FSJ axles like a '78 Waggy had are about 59"-60". Don't know what kind of jeep you are working on but that is only 3 or 4" wider than a wide track CJ and that difference isn't that bad if you are careful with rim width & off-set. Wheel bolt pattern is 6x5.5 for the FSJ versus 5x5.5 for a CJ.
For the swap:
The rear is cake with you just cutting off and re-welding the spring perches where you need them.
The easiest way to put the front in is to "outboard" the springs so the springs match the perches on the front axle. Tons of ways to do this and much cheaper than narrowing two axles. Barnes 4wd & Ruffstuff can sell you some great front/rear spring mounts to make this easier. There are tons of ways to do this with the most common probably being just welding flat plates to the frame that extend outward and welding the new spring mounts to those.
Narrow track FSJ axles like a '78 Waggy had are about 59"-60". Don't know what kind of jeep you are working on but that is only 3 or 4" wider than a wide track CJ and that difference isn't that bad if you are careful with rim width & off-set. Wheel bolt pattern is 6x5.5 for the FSJ versus 5x5.5 for a CJ.
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