CJ Scout D44 axle swap

[rick]

It's been a long time coming, but this thing is finally starting to look like a Jeep again instead of a pile of parts on the garage floor. I installed the Poison Spyder Customs full width axle kit last weekend, and finally got everything mounted and cinched down yesterday. The 4.5" RE springs are waaay taller than my worn out Superlift 4" springs. The CJ looks like a prerunner at the moment with the new springs on the front and the old ones on the rear...

The pinion angle is set at about 11 degrees, which I had done to point it at the tcase in anticipation adding a CV joint to the shaft, but Tom Woods talked me out of that very expensive modification and into one of their high angle offset ujoints. We'll see how that works out. So far I think it's great considering it's $60 instead of ~$250...

I finally got the knuckles/outers installed and got the Jeep on four wheels instead of two+jackstands last night. Then I realized that my Currie tie rod is not quite long enough for the wider stance of the Scout axle (duh!). It also is very close to the diff cover (like touching at the lock) and is a royal PITA to get on the bottom side of the knuckle between the springs (required a big prybar). D'oh. So I guess it's time for a high steer setup as well.

Look for a write up after TDS.

[Kman]

Hope to see some pic's of this swap.I saved a set of Dana 44's out of a '73 Scout.Seems like the Scout tie rod had a curve in it that went around the differential.

[rick]

Yup, it does. The problem I have right now is the Scout tie rod ends are 9/16" studs and the Jeep knuckle is tapered for 1/2" studs. The Scout tie rod is coarse thread while all the rod ends I have laying around are fine thread like the Jeep stuff. I need to either go to the junkyard or the auto parts store and start opening rod end boxes...

[Kman]

Why did you change from the Scout knuckles to the Jeep knuckles?

[Kman]

O.K.I did a little research and figured out that you did this as it results in a better turning radius.This might work out well also if the Scout axle is drum brakes and the Jeep parts are disc.
Did you reweld the ends to change the camber?I see some articles on this saying this is necessary and others leaving them at the Scouts 0 degree camber.

[rick]

Yup. The Scout knuckles have arms about 8" long, so everything is out of whack unless you get a huge pitman arm to go with them. Not only that, the Scout discs are a huge PITA to work on in my opinion. You have to pull the whole mess apart right down to the spindle bolts to get the calipers off there. Or at least I did because I couldn't get the disc to separate from the hub. I needed to take it all apart anyway, but I can see how the design would be very difficult to service on the trail.

I made my own tie rod and drag link from 1" x 3/16" wall DOM and L & R 11/16"-18 taps. The taps were way expensive, so I wouldn't recommend doing it this way unless you're planning on keeping the 1" DOM setup. I'll probably have this set for sale once I swap some flat top knuckles in. This incidentally is the same thread as stock TJ and CJ stuff, so I can now make 1" tubes for these also. Lucky me. Threading the DOM kinda sucks, but it's not impossible. The hardest part was getting the tap started straight.

The knuckles were already turned when I got the axle. It has 6 degrees caster with 10 degrees pinion angle. I'll have some pics and what not up after TDS.

[Kman]

Rick how is this progressing?I was thinking you might be able to come up with some interesting tie rod stuff by checking out the stuff for stockcars.There are numerous fittings available through circle track vendors.

[rick]

I've decided to flip the draglink to the top of the arm, but leave the tie rod down under. I'll post pics when I get this done.