Original Jeep Axles - Old School

I was determined to build a cheap Dana 44 frontend. I could have crudely narrowed a 44 from one of the then-scarce 4x4 trucks, but I most likely would have had to pay dearly for even a salvage-yard axle. For whatever reason, I had dragged home a very trashed Jeep Wagoneer. After looking at it for a while and doing some measuring, I found that its Dana 27 front axletube, with just a bit of lathe work, would slide inside the tube of the Wagoneer Dana 44 rear axle once the flanges were cut off. This was kind of cool because the tight fit kept everything straight, and the bell end of the tubes could be rotated to set proper caster and pinion angle before welding it all up. Being CJ width meant CJ axleshafts, but the benefit was the 44 ring-and-pinion and the availability of a wider array of locking differentials. Now remember, this is the old closed-knuckle style axle housing and, like any frontend, there are axle seals in the differential housing that are not used on rear axle differential housings. The 44 rear has no provisions for these seals, so I had to figure out how to make them. I found a large, worn-out surplus tap and, with some grinding work, modified it into a cutting tool to make the seal seat with. Coupled to a long rod and an electric drill, it was a slow process (but worked).

Later, I ran across an FC170 frontend, which was Wagoneer width, had 11-inch brakes, and it was a Dana 44. OK, it was closed-knuckle and the spring pads were on top, but it went into my '68 Wagoneer that way along with a narrowed Dana 60 in the rear.

A big problem with the closed-knuckle frontends was that they used bolts to hold the spindle to the knuckle, and it was all too common for the threads to pull out of the cast-iron knuckle. When this happened, the spindle would fall off the knuckle, taking the wheel, brakes, and maybe even the tie rod with it. The trick here was to take the knuckle off and machine a small pad on the inside above each hole then screw in a button-head Grade-8 bolt from the inside. Now you had a stud that wouldn't pull out.

By the '80s I was learning that wider was better. I was using Scout axles because they had Dana 44s both front and rear from about '73 on up. Then I discovered that the Ford 9-inch from some Mustangs and Rancheros was about the same width as the axles found in the early Broncos and the Scout 44s. All of which were wider than a CJ rearend. The only problem was the low-pinion made for some really steep driveshaft angles, but lifts weren't as high as they are now so it wasn't as much of a concern.

Ever heard of a guy named Basil Smith? Probably not, unless you have been Jeeping for over 30 years. How about Rock-ett Products, or maybe the name Smittybilt rings a bell? Yep, he was the founder. I believe he was building roll bars back as early as the late '50s. He was a smart dude (along with several other great ideas that we will get into when we cover other subjects). In the early '60s he figured out a way to make front spindles and hubs work on the rear. He made up some double-splined axleshafts and used Jeep drive flanges for a great, full-floating rearend. About the same time, another guy by the name of Harry Buschert, who owned a machine shop east of Los Angeles in the town of Hemet, California, was also putting together custom full-floating axles, along with specialized Jeep parts.

The weight of the vehicle was being carried on the spindle, so all the axleshaft had to do was the driving. Up front, the Dana 25 (and later Dana 27) front axles were eventually the weak link. However, they did seem to hold up to some pretty high-horsepower V-8s. Once in a while we would break an axle or two, but it was the ring-and-pinions that I seemed to have the problems with. Tires were just getting to where they actually provided some real traction.