I know nothing about Jeep rear axles, but I wonder if a Dana 44 rear axle from a CJ, SJ, or XJ could easily be put in place of a 7-1/4 or 8-1/4 in an A-body or an '80s D-series pickup truck, respectively. Anyone on here familiar with the Jeeps?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I've seen the Dana 44 option mentioned a couple of times, but haven't heard of anything coming of it.

I'm curious too, as A body 8 3/4" axles are getting really hard (and expensive) to find and I really want to install an Eaton/Detroit Truetrac so I can have piece of mind that I won't grenade my differential when I dump the clutch.

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

My son has a Jeep Cherokee (it ate my finger).....it has an 8.25..

They have decent brakes , are leaf spring and often come with Moparish steel rims. They are 5 on 4.5. They are about 3"too wide. Lots of guys swap 8.8 explorer axles into cherokees......

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

our dodges had the Dana 44 rear ends. From what I've seen on import che4rokees LTD (the ones with V8) the differential matches our cars spring perch configuration and such. Jeeps with 4L engines had a different differentials.

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

I had the same thoughts of either an XJ (Cherokee) rear, especially if I could find a Dana 44 or an 87-90 Dakota for my volare before I found the F body 8-1/4 and acquired all new guts for it including the Trak lok Suregrip unit. When I was turning wrenches for a living I remember taking measurements off a few customers' Jeeps that came thru my bay so that I had them when going junking; I don't know if I kept those papers or not, have to look thru my old tool chest. The Jeep guys all swear off the Dana 30s/35s and the latese 4WD mag I got had a "top 10 rearends to avoid" article and surprisingly the 8-1/4 was like the 2nd one listed.

I've heard the same thing before, but it occurs to me that their needs are different from ours. If you're building a rock crawler, listen to them.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

Ididnt say that I BELIEVED everything that I read in that article, just sharing info that I've come across. As I said, I DO already have an 8-1/4 that I have all new (standard-stock, nothing at all exotic) parts for, that I fully intend on using in my project car. If I blow it up, which I doubt with my intended usage, I will consider other options.