Dana 44 Axle Shaft Conversion.

Will dana 44 1 piece axle shafts fit into a housing that had 2 piece shafts? I have a complete rear differential with 2 piece shafts and a complete 1 piece shaft differential housing. The spring perches have been cut and moved on the 1 piece housing. So I thought the easy way is to swap all of the parts. Will this work?

 

You're better off to weld on new spring mounts. Much easier in the long run.

The two piece axle has a smaller tube diameter and the one piece axle shaft is larger than the two piece. Basically, the one piece axle shaft is too large to fit in a two piece housing.

 

It's never easy. Thanks for the info.

 

Is this for a Jeepster or a Commando?

 

It says both on the hood. I'm building a 71 chassis to go under a 67 body. The 2 piece axle comes up as a 67-69. The one piece axle shows 69-71.

 

Just checking that it's not a CJ. The M20 Corprate axle from a '76 or newer CJ-5 or CJ-7 (except Quadratrac versions) is said to be a bolt-in to the Jeepster/Commando. If the pad location were the major issue, that would be one way to get working axles.

 

I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

The hole pattern on the bearing pocket flange surface changed half way through 1970. Your 67 housing has 6 equal spaced holes and the 71 housing has an odd spacing on the top two holes. They don't match. This means that the bearing retainer plate behind the wheel flange on a one piece housing will not match the two piece 1967 housing. I don't believe that the length of the axles match either. I'm not sure if there are any other differences. There was a thread on another forum where someone mentioned ordering one piece axles for a two piece housing. The real fix is to just move the purches on the housing in my opinion. I pulled a rear Ford Dana 44 housing from a junkyard to put in a 1952 Willys pickup. Take your time cutting the perches off and grind smooth. Bolt in the housing with the pinion approximately 3-4 degrees low and weld up the new perches.

 

I am leaning towards relocating the spring pads. We have a 50s Ford truck with a Dana 44 in the shop and did a spring under conversion to lower it.
I was surprised to see a 44. I didn't know Ford used them.

 

I'm not familiar with the 50's vintage but in the 70s they were called the heavy duty option on the rear end. I would take a ford 9 in over the dana 44 in my f100. Just not in my jeep.

 

Sorry to revive this old thread, but not being versed on Jeepsters/Commandos, are the '67s up through '71 running a Dana 18 with front/rear right side drop like on a CJ of the same vintage? I know in '72 on CJ's with the AMC 20 rear end, they went to the Dana 20 transfer case with a rear center drop. That's why the later AMC 20 rear ends won't swap to the earlier CJ's. Just wondering about the '67/'71 Jeepsters/Commandos what they run for a transfer case.

 

This is false. The AMC Model 20 wasn't used in CJs until 1976. 72-75 used a flanged Dana 44 with a centered pumpkin.

 

Crap...

I'm going to look at a '67 on Wednesday and it's a Dauntless with a 3-speed, probably a T-90. I was hoping to up the axle ratio with a setup off a '71 CJ-5 chassis I have that's right-side drop front/rear with 4.27 gears. The Saturn O/D was going to be on my list of must haves, but not with the D-20 transfer case.

I asked this in another thread, but what ratio axles came stock or optional in the '67 Jeepster? My '71 rear axle has the one year only one-piece rear axles too...

Thanks, Dan

 

Thanks for the correction. At least I had the center drop correct. I thought I read that the AMC 20 was what they jumped to in '72, but thanks again for the correction.

 

Thanks James!

The CJ chassis I have and the CJ-5 I have, both have the 4.27 ratio axles assemblies. My CJ-5 has the F-134 motor, but the '71 chassis, no clue what was in it from the factory.

I know the CJ-5 I have is the T-90 with the non-synchro 1st gear. Does the T-14 have all three gears synchronized?

I really appreciate the information given here, thanks! Dan

 

Didn't mean to hijack this thread as I've done, sorry.

 

There was also a 3.31 ratio on Jeepsters, in both the D30/D44 rear axles.