Scout Dana 44 prep for a CJ with Pics.
Kane
Full Time Jeeper
- Posts
- 2,796
- Media
- 2
- Thanks
- 1
- Location
- Berlin, CT
- Vehicle(s)
- 1984 CJ-8 Restomod Scout axles 4 wheel disks, 258, ax15, D300.
This thread is an explanation on what is needed to be done in order to prep the Scout II Dana 44 front axle for using in a Jeep CJ. This is getting installed in my 1984 CJ8 . This does NOT include the required out-boarding of the spring but remember it has to be done as well. If you were planning on doing this type of job you must be pretty proficient at two things. One would be welding and the other is to have a basic understanding if steering geometry. Now there are some good articles on the web about this so I am not going to write about it here but the main purpose of all this work is to correct two issues in this axle. The first is the steering caster which is at a dead 0 degrees. This is fine for a bias ply tired vehicle but not a CJ running radial tires. The CJ is happy with 5-7 degrees in order to keep the wheels centered at speed. The second issue is the center section (differential) points practically at the ground which does not help when the CJ is lifted. So this little write up and the pictures will give a little more insight into what is needed for these fixes. Do I think it is worth it? Well if you do not want to shorten tubes and install custom cut axles then yes, for me it is worth it.
With the axle disassembled the first order of business is to cut off the inner C’s. You need a good angle grinder with a cut off wheel and grinding wheel. Grind the welds around the inner C’s as close as you can to tube and then switch to the cut off wheel and cut at a slight angle inward toward the C. Be careful because you do not want to hack into the tube to much but remember that you can just fill the cut back up with welding rod anyway. Once you have cut far enough into the welds then get a big damn hammer (I used a sledge with a 4 foot handle) and smash the hell out of it on both top and bottom until you see a crack form at the weld joint. If you do not then cut some more and smash some more until you do. It will take upwards of two hours to get these suckers off.
Here is the axle ready for cutting.
Some pictures of the Inner C’s cut off.
With the axle disassembled the first order of business is to cut off the inner C’s. You need a good angle grinder with a cut off wheel and grinding wheel. Grind the welds around the inner C’s as close as you can to tube and then switch to the cut off wheel and cut at a slight angle inward toward the C. Be careful because you do not want to hack into the tube to much but remember that you can just fill the cut back up with welding rod anyway. Once you have cut far enough into the welds then get a big damn hammer (I used a sledge with a 4 foot handle) and smash the hell out of it on both top and bottom until you see a crack form at the weld joint. If you do not then cut some more and smash some more until you do. It will take upwards of two hours to get these suckers off.
Here is the axle ready for cutting.
Some pictures of the Inner C’s cut off.