Our rear axle was pirated from an unlikely source. The victim of our scavenging: an Isuzu Rodeo or Honda Passport. Many of these Japanese SUVs have been driving down the highway with good ol' American Dana 44 iron between the rear wheels since the early 1990s. These Dana 44s are an almost perfect swap for the rear of any TJ, YJ, XJ, ZJ, WJ, or even a KJ. At 60 3/4 inches wide, this axle is almost the same width as a TJ (61 1/2 inches, wheel-mounting surface to wheel-mounting surface). They are commonly found with Trac-Lok limited slips and either 4.30 or 4.56 gears. Other pluses are disc brakes complete with mini-drum parking brakes and larger-diameter axletubes (2 3/4 inches as opposed to 2 1/2 inches for TJ Dana 30s, 35s, 44s, including the Rubicon's Dana 44s). The only real fly in the soup is that this Dana 44 comes from the yard with a 6-on-5 1/2 lug pattern, same as late model FSJs, Toyotas, Nissans, Mitsuwhatever, and other Isuzu/Hondas. There are several ways to get around this problem. You could have the shafts re-drilled for 5-on-5 1/2 pattern and match your Jeep's front lug pattern with adapters or a hub conversion. Or you could do what we did and also swap the front axle for another junkyard piece with the same 6-on-5 1/2 pattern-a swap that we'll show you in the next issue.