Junkyard Built Dana 44, Part II

In the last issue, we built up a junkyard-scrounged Honda Passport Dana 44 rearend for our four-banger '98 TJ. This axle allowed us to run disc brakes, bigger shafts, 5.89 gears, and a Detroit Locker. We gained serious traction and beef, all held in place with stout, weld-on axle brackets that you can install at home. This month, you'll find the buildup of possibly the best uncut front axle you can get at the junkyard for a YJ or KJ.

This axle is also a Dana 44, but it comes from a Jeep-namely '80-and-later FSJ Wagoneers. It has a driver-side drop differential, making it perfect for newer Jeeps with chaindriven, aluminum transfer cases. It's an extremely beefy assembly that features 2 3/4-inch diameter axletubes, desirable internal-spline locking hubs, 30-spline axleshafts, and big disc brakes (just like a 1/2-ton Chevy/GMC truck, Blazer, or Suburban 4x4). It also allows the use of any Dana 44 internal parts like our Yukon Gear 5.89 ring-and-pinion and Detroit Locker from Eaton. Perhaps the best part is that this axle matches the 6-on-5 1/2 lug pattern and width of our rear Honda Dana 44 axle. Here's how you put it in yourTJ.

The first order of business is to find a donor truck to pull this axle from. Our local junkyard had our axle buried underneath a rusty '80 Wagoneer. We had the wrecking yard pull the axle out on a frosty December day (it was 5 degrees F), and the Jeep was literally frozen to the ground. If the Jeep you pull your axle out of was like ours and had been retired for a while, be prepared to rebuild the hubs, replace ball joints, tie rods, brakes, U-joints, and so on. Basically, any wearable parts will need servicing or replacement.	When we got our axle home, we started tearing it apart. We had to use some choice methods to remove the old selectable locking hubs because the retaining screws were stripped. The brake backing plates were very rusty, too, and the dust shields crumbled in our hands as we removed them.	Like our Honda rear axle ("Junkyard-Built, Part I," Apr. '07), we ground off the shock mounts and the passenger-side leaf-spring pad. We then took the cleaned-up, stripped-down Waggy Dana 44 to a local ring-and-pinion specialist to have our Randy's Ring & Pinion Yukon 5.89 gears and install kit bolted to an Eaton Detroit Locker and slapped into the housing.
Once we got the axle back with the new gears installed, we started mounting our Dynatrac TJ brackets to the housing. We first set the Dana 44 on jackstands near our Jeep with the Dana 30 still installed. Using an angle finder, we set the caster on the Dana 44 equal to the Dana 30, then we located the center of both axles and measured for placement of the brackets. Take it slow, and measure angle and placement several times before tack welding the brackets in place.	OK, so now the No Lift TJ actually is lifted about 1/4-inch in the front. In order to clear the portion of the differential housing where the tube is pressed in, we had to weld these plates onto the Dynatrac coil perches.	Waggy Dana 44s have a cast-in spring perch on the driver side that occupies space where the lower control arm will be on the TJ's four-link front suspension. We machined a corner of this perch with our reciprocating saw and then cleaned it up with our 4 1/2-inch angle grinder.