Ok so for my CRD project I was content to stick with my D30 front end.

Then I found this cheap on CL:



Its a JK HP D44 with 4.10s and E-Locker.

Now since this axle is pretty wide(ie i can't run lug adapters) I need to make a choice. Resell it for profit, or drill the hubs/rotors for 5x4.5.

Now I trust that a machine shop could drill both the unit hubs and the rotors for 5x4.5. But I have a drill press here and am willing to try new things.

Should I try to drill out the parts to 5x4.5 myself(with some practice first), or should I just pay a machine shop to drill them out?

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Send it to me and you won't have such a tough decision to make.

I would send it out for someone else to drill so they can eat it if it doesn't work out right.

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ThunderbirdJunkie would find a corresponding rearend and run JK Rubi take-off tires and wheels

I'll take it and send some one else my JK Next Gen D30.

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And ThunderbirdJunkie will take daspes' old front axle!

Okay, maybe I am thinking about this wrong, but wouldn't it make sense, since the front JK D44 is wider than the rear KJ Chrysler 8.25, to put 5-on-4.5 to 5-on-5.5 conversion spacers on the rear axle and run JK wheels and tires all around?

Or would the comparative weakness of the 8.25 compared to the "new" D44 make a build like that impractical?

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if that D44 will hold up to want you are wanting to do, I say go for it, but I do know that the new JK D44 axles are pretty weak.

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Compared to what? Certainly not the D30 that's in the MJ right now

I should have mentioned a little more on that.

I am not going to spend $1200+ for a JK rear, and then god knows how much more for JK tires and wheels.

Plus I have the 5x4.5 wheels that I want, and if I can't use them, then I wont use this axle. Keeping the wheels is more important to me than using this axle.



It would be a little bass ackwards to run a stronger axle in the front than in the rear, however I would not use the 8.25 I have here, I would get a ford explorer 8.8 rear with matching 4.10s and LSD. This is my ideal setup with LSD in the rear and selectable e-locker in the front.



The JK Dana 44 is a pretty good axle. It is high pinion, e-locker, 4.10s, cross-over steering, stronger C's than TJ 44, 32 spline outers, larger u-joints, and a better unit hub. Basically nothing is shared with the TJ D44.

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This is how you tell the gearing from the stamped numbers on the ring:


Oh ya, bring the sexy, E-locker!


So the shock mount, trackbar, and damper all mount different.



Compared to he D30 mounts:


So the spring bucket is also too wide on the JK D44. So between all these things being different and the spring perch needing to be moved anyways I figure I will just cut off the JK stuff and toss it, then cutoff the D30 stuff and weld it on at the correct width. Problem solved.

Same hub size, but different lugs, why the hell would they do that?

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Knowledgeable - But Caustic