Axle Question

About done collecting parts to start a new build. CJ5. It will be mostly stock. I need your opinion on axles....

CJ5, 304 t150, D20
Plan on 33's and slight lift.
Mostly used on road, little off road. But will be some off road.

Stock axles out of a 76 cj5, narrow track
3.56 gears, open, 4 drum.

Option axles for $375 (out of a later CJ widetrack)
4.11 gears, open, front disc, rear drum, needs a set of hubs on the fronts.

both axles will need a fairly complete refurb but the gears are good. Will get all new bearings and seals, new brakes and such. Might swap in a rear locker. Might not. Might get rear one piece axles. Might not. If I an find a deal, Ill do something. Then again, I might not.

I'd really like to have the widetrack, the 4.11 gears since I"m going up to 33's and the front discs.
I can't think of a better option than to start with the newer axles.

Can any of you think of anything I might do differently?

 

Your early axles are 51" in the front , the narrow front is 53" and the wide track is 56"..............the 4:11's are great if you don't mind the extra width of the tires sticking out. Some of the later wide tracks are also on a 31" spring spacing vs the earlier 28" spacing......

 

The rear spring perches need to be moved in for either set. The wide track really sticks out there. If you ever plan on driving in the rain, they will throw up a nice rooster tail. Hard to pass up 4.10s though.

 

Hey guys, I would agree and go with the wide track axles, you would have to move the perches on the rear axle inward a bit but no worries there. The front will just bolt in as both axles have the perches spaced at 27.5" apart. I put 86 axles under my 74 (Dana 30 front and 44 rear). I have since changed the front to a 44 out of a cherokee chief which I cut down and shortened to match the rear. In all honesty the widetrack axles will not stick out that far at all. The widetrack 44 out of the 86 that is in the rear of mine also has a 2" spacers on each side to give me some more stability and half the tire is outside the body line. Remember also that I am running 15" wide super swampers with 2" spacers. If you are running a narrower tire without the spacers you would be lucky to have a couple inches hang out. Worth it in my opinion. If you would like, let me know and I can take a pic or two for you to have a look at.

 

Thanks guys. The jeep is a 76 CJ so the frame matches, our should match, the perches. Stock on stock.

I really like the combination but I thought I was missing something. I know there is a lot of folks that think the D30 is nothing but a boat anchor and the AMC 20 is worse than that. Personally I think they can both be good axles as long as they are not abused and taken care of. Doubt they would last in my CJ6 past the driveway but in the 5, they should be fine.

I'm picking them up tomorrow.

 

The wide track axles use a front hub that uses 5 bolts for the locking hubs unlike the older axles which use 6 bolts for the locking hubs. If you need to buy locking hubs anyways you may want to consider changing the wheel hubs to the earlier 6 bolt version.

 

Wagoneer axles are only 2" wider WMS-WMS. You'd get a disk brake 44 front and a Corporate or 44 rear 1980-on. The Wagoneer Corporate 20 has one-piece shafts and thicker tubes... considered on par with the D44. Just FYI.

On second thought, he '80-on axles are driver's drop, so that won't work for you unless you use a different transfer case. The '74-79 front 44 would work though. All are 6 lug.

 

Yes all are 6 lug and with a few parts form a Ford, can be converted back to 5x5.5. I just did this to my front axle. Very easy to do. Let me know if you want more info if you are thinking this route. I would be glad to help.

 

i second what tim said, waggy axle alo have internal lock, way less prone to failure as the external does.

Also you will have all the big brake stuff from the waggy, so you will see a major difference even if you try the widetrack one.

If you want to keep the small bolt patern just buy hub and disk from a 1985 ford f150 with 4 wheel drive, its bolt on. For the rear a scout xle is a good canditate too.

 

OK, so I got the axles. I pulled the cover off and found a very nice set of gears. Only issue is they are 3.54 gears. The good issue is I only paid $60 for them so I'm not out too much. And I do have a set of disc brake ends. They are in rough shape but they are salvageable.

The rear...well it is an M20 with a stripped spline on an axle. So it is basically parts. Or an anchor.

The search continues. Next time I'll verify the ratio.