Rear axle swap ? Consider the Ford 8.8

[Old Dog]

One of the photos shows the 5x5.5 bolt pattern drilled into the stock explorer axle flange before it was installed in the housing.

RangerRick

Not much left to the flange once it was redrilled.

mrblaine, one question. Is the Superior axle flange the same dia. as the stock axle?

 

[iCEMAN]

Good of you to join us Mr.Blaine. Excellent information, helps me spend even more money on the rigs.




Looking at the proper kits so we can proceed with our build up.

 

[RangerRick]

Not much left to the flange once it was redrilled.

Going to update this thread after 9 years in the dead.....

I have had the Ford 8.8 in the CJ7 for close to 14 years now. In all this time the Jeep has had several engines in it, (5 different) some making considerable HP & TQ or both. Tires ranging from 32" to 36" and all kinds of environments including rock crawling, sand dunes, remote overlanding and plain daily driving. When your Jeep gets 600 miles to a tank of diesel, you tend to roam far & wide.

I (STILL) recommend an 8.8 for anyone not wanting to spend one dime on the lousy excuse of an axle that is the corporate AMC20 . It was a cost cutting measure only and makes zero sense to spend any money on the 20 when you can get serious beef for as cheap as $75 on half price day at the junkyards for a (1995-2001) Explorer 8.8 that comes with factory disc brakes.

This has been your long-term update.

If you want more details in specifics of my CJ, just ask me and I will post details.

RR

 

[diddy2003]

Going to update this thread after 9 years in the dead.....

I have had the Ford 8.8 in the CJ7 for close to 14 years now. In all this time the Jeep has had several engines in it, (5 different) some making considerable HP & TQ or both. Tires ranging from 32" to 36" and all kinds of environments including rock crawling, sand dunes, remote overlanding and plain daily driving. When your Jeep gets 600 miles to a tank of diesel, you tend to roam far & wide.

I (STILL) recommend an 8.8 for anyone not wanting to spend one dime on the lousy excuse of an axle that is the corporate AMC20 . It was a cost cutting measure only and makes zero sense to spend any money on the 20 when you can get serious beef for as cheap as $75 on half price day at the junkyards for a (1995-2001) Explorer 8.8 that comes with factory disc brakes.

This has been your long-term update.

If you want more details in specifics of my CJ, just ask me and I will post details.

RR

Good to hear. After my AMC20 grenaded I was in a similar situation where I didn’t want to invest a dime into something that wasn’t worth anything. I never thought about the 8.8. My friend had a 60, so I went that route.

 

[RangerRick]

14 years later, I still say YES I would swap an 8.8 in all over again.

Especially for the price, strength upgrade & availability. They are everywhere, almost dirt cheap if you shop wisely!



However, if such as you @ditty2003 , I had a friend and he let go on the cheap, or was "gifting me" a D60, I would take advantage of that deal too.



Is your D60 a full-floater or is it Semi-float? From the pictures, I'm gonna' assume it's semi-float but did you cut it down to NT or WT CJ? Did you upgrade it from 30 to 35 splines? Custom shafts then? Did you install a locker of some sort or is it open carrier? Just curious of the details. Nothing made that I know off-hand had a D60 that was anywhere even close to NT or WT CJ, so curious on if there was an application that you were able to use two "short" side shafts in a D60 to get anywhere close to stock, like I did on the 8.8 install.



RR

 

[diddy2003]

14 years later, I still say YES I would swap an 8.8 in all over again.

Especially for the price, strength upgrade & availability. They are everywhere, almost dirt cheap if you shop wisely!



However, if such as you @ditty2003 , I had a friend and he let go on the cheap, or was "gifting me" a D60, I would take advantage of that deal too.



Is your D60 a full-floater or is it Semi-float? From the pictures, I'm gonna' assume it's semi-float but did you cut it down to NT or WT CJ? Did you upgrade it from 30 to 35 splines? Custom shafts then? Did you install a locker of some sort or is it open carrier? Just curious of the details. Nothing made that I know off-hand had a D60 that was anywhere even close to NT or WT CJ, so curious on if there was an application that you were able to use two "short" side shafts in a D60 to get anywhere close to stock, like I did on the 8.8 install.



RR

It’s a Dana 60-2, which came in certain jeeps a long time ago. It has 35 splines. It also had a power trax LSD and 4.10s when I bought it. I paid 500 bucks. A big appeal was that it was a 60 I didn’t have to regear. I actually didn’t know it had a LSD until it was at the differential shop. Then, rebuilt the LSD, narrowed it, put in new shafts as the stock ones couldn’t be narrowed, and put on 11 inch big ford drums. Parts for the stock drums that were on the 60-2 were impossible to find. I can just go to Napa for anything now. And the e brake actually works now. Wasn’t cheap, but it’s a 60 for less than what a new 44 build would have cost me. It’s all in my build thread.

Jeep Axle Swaps: Rear Dana 60

Swap ideas to get a rear Dana 60 axle into your Jeep.

www.jeeptech.com

 

[diddy2003]

Its a 1984 WT CJ7 . Narrowed to WT specs.

 

[hole]

Good looking 7!

 

[RangerRick]

It’s a Dana 60-2, which came in certain jeeps a long time ago. It has 35 splines. It also had a power trax LSD and 4.10s when I bought it. I paid 500 bucks. A big appeal was that it was a 60 I didn’t have to regear. I actually didn’t know it had a LSD until it was at the differential shop. Then, rebuilt the LSD, narrowed it, put in new shafts as the stock ones couldn’t be narrowed, and put on 11 inch big ford drums. Parts for the stock drums that were on the 60-2 were impossible to find. I can just go to Napa for anything now. And the e brake actually works now. Wasn’t cheap, but it’s a 60 for less than what a new 44 build would have cost me. It’s all in my build thread.

Jeep Axle Swaps: Rear Dana 60

Swap ideas to get a rear Dana 60 axle into your Jeep.

www.jeeptech.com

Last night I went over to your thread and read the whole thing. Nice work you've done on saving that survivor CJ. Snow Plow is a hard life for most vehicles, especially CJ's cause AMC never galvanized their bodies and unfortunately everywhere that needs snow plowing usually also salt the roads.

I read that you wanted to go with a Dana 44 flat-top high steer up front so when I get the chance, I will post up some pictures of mine. Back in 2007 I built a Dana 44 for my CJ and it has morphed a few times over the years refining just to how I wanted it to be.

If you want me to, I can post up on your build thread of how I did my Dana 44 front axle. It has all the goodies and built kinda how you guys like with the flat-top Hi-steering and some premium parts, yada-yada. I am making some more changes to it this summer while the engine is still out as I fabricate the motor mounts for the Cummins 4BT. Making changes to the original mounts for reduced vibes and to better balance the Jeep out.

RR

 

[diddy2003]

Last night I went over to your thread and read the whole thing. Nice work you've done on saving that survivor CJ. Snow Plow is a hard life for most vehicles, especially CJ's cause AMC never galvanized their bodies and unfortunately everywhere that needs snow plowing usually also salt the roads.

I read that you wanted to go with a Dana 44 flat-top high steer up front so when I get the chance, I will post up some pictures of mine. Back in 2007 I built a Dana 44 for my CJ and it has morphed a few times over the years refining just to how I wanted it to be.

If you want me to, I can post up on your build thread of how I did my Dana 44 front axle. It has all the goodies and built kinda how you guys like with the flat-top Hi-steering and some premium parts, yada-yada. I am making some more changes to it this summer while the engine is still out as I fabricate the motor mounts for the Cummins 4BT. Making changes to the original mounts for reduced vibes and to better balance the Jeep out.

RR

Thank you. That would be pretty cool to see. I don’t need to do the front axle, more of a want thing. My 30 has 4.10s and a truetrac, and I don’t wheel a lot, so it’s been fine for now. But a 44/60 would be pretty nice.