What?! No Dana 60 or Rockwell axles? Are you guys nuts? Nope. We just don't expect to do much more than light towing, street driving, and mild expeditionary-style wheeling with our '68 J2000 pickup. As we stated from the beginning, this truck is all about moderation. While budget isn't our primary concern in building this truck, we are keeping an eye on the bottom line. And for our 33-inch all-terrains and sub-300hp power level, we just don't need more than a pair of Dana 44s.
However, since our '68 left the factory with a rather pathetic 19-spline, closed-knuckle, drum-brake Dana 44 front and a Dana 44 rear with two-piece, 19-spline shafts, it really didn't make much sense to keep the stock axles. Cappa still had the original Dana 44 rear from his '73 J2000 (Hot Dog) that he put Rockwells under, and a buddy had given him a hammered '83 Dodge Dana 44 front. So one dark and stormy night, we sneaked past his elaborate chain-link security system and pirated them for our truck. All right, Cappa was clearing house and just gave us the axles. Regardless, the J-truck rear axle is a bolt-in replacement for our '68, and the front Dodge axle can be installed without too much fuss. We'll cover the installation next month, so be sure to tune in.
Would you want to work on something that looks like this? Us either. Thankfully, MIT has a huge industrial cleaner and degreaser that can swallow several fullsize axle assemblies. Our grungy Dodge Dana 44 came out squeaky clean and ready for a rebuild. | 
We brought with us several boxes of parts, but MIT stocks an impressive array of replacement and upgrade items if you simply want to send in your component for a rebuild. Randy's Ring & Pinion supplied the new 4.56 gears, install kits, bearings, and other parts needed to fully rebuild our axles with the Detroit Truetrac limited slips by Eaton. |
Before dropping off our axle at MIT, we removed the passenger-side knuckle and took it to Dynatrac in Huntington Beach, California, to have it drilled and tapped for the company's steering arm. The crossover steering arm accepts a large GM tie rod; however, you can also get the arms undrilled or drilled for a rod end. | |
As for this month, we found that both our donor axles needed a full rebuild to deliver reliable service. If saving pennies had been on the agenda, we probably would have reused the '68's 4.27 gears. But since we wanted the peace of mind afforded by entirely new parts, we put in a call to Randy's Ring & Pinion for new 4.56 gears and a couple of rebuild and installation kits. Randy's also had new spindles, ball joints, and axleshaft U-joints for our front axle and a full set of front and rear bearings and races.
In keeping with our theme of moderation, we opted to leave the lockers for another day. Instead, we selected a pair of Detroit Truetrac limited-slips by Eaton. The Truetrac is one of our favorite traction-aiding devices for a street-driven vehicle, offering stellar on-road manners while giving up hardly anything in the traction department. Since our '83 Dodge axle was missing hubs, we ordered a new pair of Warn standard hubs. For our hard-core off-road rigs, we go with the Warn Premium hubs, but the standard hub's chrome cap and nylon dial will serve us well for the lifetime of this vehicle. And since our spring-over suspension would make it difficult to hook up the drag link, we took the axle rebuild as an opportunity to have Dynatrac machine, drill, and tap our passenger-side knuckle to accept a crossover steering arm. You'll see more on that later when we install the axle.
After hitting the local Napa for brake calipers, pads, rotors, and all the other odds and ends we needed to complete the axle rebuild, we headed to MIT Drivetrain Specialists in El Cajon, California. MIT handles just about every facet of Jeep and 4x4 engine and drivetrain work-from rebuilding stock t-cases to intricate engine, suspension, and drivetrain swaps. Rebuilding our little Dana 44s was right up MIT's alley. Follow along as technicians Moises Prado and Christian Garcia rebuild our axles. And don't forget to check back next month when MIT helps us install them in our project truck.
Moises Prado began the rebuild of our front Dodge Dana 44 by installing the Yukon ring gear on our Truetrac. Once the ring gear was in place, Prado adjusted the shim pack and pressed on the carrier bearings before putting the pinion in the housing. | 
It's a much longer process than one paragraph in a magazine would have you believe, but eventually Prado got the proper pinion backlash and depth. Then he ran a pattern with marking compound to check the gear mesh. |
With a good gear pattern indicated by the marking compound, Prado removed the carrier to set the pinion bearing preload. Once the right amount of shims were determined for the pinion preload, Prado installed new inner axle seals and the pinion seal, then assembled our diff. | 
While Prado was wrenching away on our gears, Technician Andy Thomas put on our new rotors by driving new lug studs into the hubs. New bearing races were also installed. |
After pressing in new ball joints and replacing the old axleshaft U-joints with new Spicer joints from Randy's Ring & Pinion, Prado slid home the shafts and installed the spindles. Randy's carries most major components you'll need when refurbishing your axles and even offers upgrades like alloy shafts and heavy-duty axle U-joints. | 
After greasing the bearings and installing hubs, Prado topped off the front axle rebuild with new Warn locking hubs. Throw in new Napa calipers and our front axle is ready. |
While Prado was working on our front axle, Christian Garcia was rebuilding the rear J2000 axle from Cappa's '73 Hot Dog. Garcia installed the ring gear onto the Detroit Truetrac and then quickly got the gear setup completed. | 
Unlike our '68's lousy two-piece shafts, the '73 axle is a flanged 30-spline unit. Garcia cut off the retaining collar so new bearings and seals could be installed on the stock shafts. |
After lubing up the bearings and seals from Randy's Ring & Pinion, Garcia pressed them on. Like a Ford 9-inch, the FSJ Dana 44 isn't a C-clip-type axleshaft. The retaining plate seen on the bottom prevents the shaft and tire from leaving the vehicle in the event an axleshaft breaks. | 
The finished rear axle is largely a bolt-in swap for the earlier pickups and wagons. Tune in next month to see MIT install them in our project pickup. |