Jeep 4.0 in 69 Barracuda

txstang84 said

I think there are a couple threads in the drivetrain section about using Dana 44s out of Jeeps in A bodies...funny part is, many people in the Jeep world buy Ford 8.8s to retrofit the 44s...there's another thread about that and the swap is becoming a little more commonplace from what I can tell.

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Yeah, I got a 8.8 with 3.73 gears and limited slip with drum brakes in my 92 wrangler. Cut the old leaf spring purches off, and weld on the new ones. Done.Only real difference is the 5/8 of an inch narrower on each side as compared to a factory rear axle. And since I ran the drum setup, the ebrake worked out correctly with out having to rig it.

As I understand it, the main reason for going to the 8.8 was that Jeep had very few rigs with D44s other than the Full Size stuff. And with Width Restrictions in Washington becoming more common place, seeing Wranglers with full width axles is getting to be rare more than normal. So its easier and cheaper (IMO) to just up grade to a 8.8 (which has the same bolt pattern (5x4.5) and similar gear options rather than try an locate a properly sized D44 or pay to shorten a full size D44.

Again, this is more just my observation and opinion.