Crazy D44 Idea?

[nagal]

I swear I was not on drugs when this idea hit me

I have the Rubicon D44 front in my TJ, which among other things is low pinion. I am thinking (if its possible) to turn it into a high pinion. I know this is a ton of work but I do have a lot of money invested into it.

Here is what I can think of that would need to be done:

1. Cut off all the mounts ( control arms, spring buckets, shockes, trackbar you name it)
2. Flip the axle over so it is now a passenger side drop
3. Swap out the ring and pinion for a reverse rotation set
4. Determine how the carrier should set inside the housing (not sure on this but looking at any HP setup should clear that up)
5. Cut off and remount the inner C's (or just replace them?) so they are at the correct caster and camber
6. fab up and weld on all new mounts.

Here is how the idea came to me. I am planning on swapping in a D300 tc, so instead of spending $500 to flip it, take the money and invest it into make the D44 a HP.


Fire away, I have my flame resistant suit on today

[igofshn]

Your kidding, right!!!

[nagal]

No I am not kidding.

[blkTJ]

FWIW, the engine and drivetrain are slightly offset to the passenger side to facilitate the driver side drop of the transfer case.

[nagal]

FWIW, the engine and drivetrain are slightly offset to the passenger side to facilitate the driver side drop of the transfer case.

Cool, did not know that. Learn something new everyday That would be a big problem.

[goodtimes]

Sell the axle. Take the $$$ to the junk yard and buy a HP d44, cut it down, put the TJ length shafts in it. Weld on new link captures. Take the rest of the $$$ and put it in a envelope addressed to me.

[nagal]

Okay, let turn this into a learning exercise.

1) Money is not an issue
2) No one is really going to do this (well at least not me)

[NAILER341]

bad idea...
just get a junk yard 44, and make it fit.

[D4x4Fish]

Buy a high pinion 44 out of a ford f250. (Recycler.com has one $350) drive side drop. cut off ends fit your ends to length (not sure if your axles will fit)

why stay with a 44 when you can get a ford9 high pinion. stronger axles and larger ring gear.

[nagal]

why stay with a 44 when you can get a ford9 high pinion. stronger axles and larger ring gear.

If/when I get a new front axle probably would do a hp ford 9. Was just wondering what it would take to make a LP into a HP. With the engine and drive line offset, my crazy idea just would not work.

[Elusive]

have you seen my hp 44 in the front of my TJ?
I cut the tubes off of a HP 44 at the housing, bored the tubes to TJ tube size, pressed in the TJ tubes with the brackets and all on them, beefed up the tubes a bit, chromo axles, CTM's and 5 on 5.5 kit.
been working great.

[nagal]

no I haven't see yours but that conversion sounds like a winner! Got any pics of it?

How did your remove the TJ tubes and re-attached them without losing any length?

[Elusive]

I actually cut the housing apartand just took the tubes out, but I had to cut the tubes down a bit because the d-44 housing is a few inches wider than the d-30.
I shaved it down a bit as long as it was out too...




the real secret (and it IS a secret) is welding the upper control arm mount to the cast diff housing. It's actually right where the ARB line needs to be, so thats why my line goes thropugh the cover.
Everyone says it's not possible to reliably weld to the cast.. But I welded the cast upper mount from a differnt axle to the cast housing with knickle rod after I heated the whole thing red hot. You also have to keep the housing hot and let it cool very slowly so you don't get stress points. it took me hours to weld the mount on.

[Comrade Andy]

I saw an all-pro rock buggy with flipped axles (they did it because of the rear VW engine) I think it was in 4-wheel and Offroad mag or something. But anyway they flipped 2 9"ers to do the job, and apparently it worked fine except the oil gallerys insideth housing had to be modified to take account of the diff being upside down. In a 44 the oil galerys are harder to mod (not eing a 3rd member design) and you'd run into oiling problems as anything much more than crawling speeds! Just a thought, Andy :beer:

[Elusive]

you guys are missing the real killer for the deal...
it's not oiling issues, the wheels will turn backwards if you flip a diff over.. the gears arent reverse ROTATION.. they are reverse CUT.. they still spin the same way.