3rd member swap

[ClarkGriswald]

Ok so I got a couple extra dana 44's with 3.54 gears in em. Couldnt I just switch out the whole 3rd members from them into my 44's on my GW and have the lower gearing without worrying about setting up the gears (backlash, pinion spacing ect)?

Im assuming that the spline count is the same on everthing in there as far as the axles pluggin into the diff, the axles are from a 79 WT chero.

Does anyone know if there are alignment pins there or anything to index the position or do they just bolt to the axle housing and thats that?

Reason I thought of doin this is cause a friend of mine just bought a brand new one and stuck it in his rear axle and its good as new now

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88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229--Soon to be replaced by an NP208 that currently inhabits my kitchen.

"I came, I saw, I typed some stuff!"

[scotty]

a third member refers to a completely removable center section,like the toyota or ford 9 inch. once the gears have been properly set up on this kind of axle,you can swap it in and out as many time as you want and it will still be properly set up,since the pinion,carrier,and everything just pops right out with the center section.you dont need to touch anything that affects the gear set up.

on the 44,you must remove the carrier and ring gear,remove the pinion nut and yoke,and remove the pinion. on a dana 44 the pinion depth is set with spacers under the bearig race,and the preload is set with shims under the pinion. what gears do you have now? seems theyd have to be really high to be worth the hassle of swapping up to only a 3.54. to get the front out,you need to pull the rotor,hub,spindle,everything just to get the axles out and be able to get the carrier out. a fair amount of work,but it does give you a good excuse to check all bearings,repack or replace,and replace all seals. the rear is not so tough,diff cover,remove wheel,drum,4 bolts,slide axle out.

i personally would do it.but mine is not a daily driver,and i never really expect anythig i do to it to be permanent-theres always a better axle,gear,or carrier to upgrade to http://www.ifsja.org/ubb/smile.gif so i would swap them and if they dont howl or make noise,theyre prolly fine.

you could prolly just swap the pinion,using the shims that came with the gears youll be using,and not touch the races or altering depth.and you could swap the carrier and races,making to keep them and their shims in the same locatins. if you do it this way,you may want to check the tooth contact with some kind of marking compound for peace of mind.

it may be better to knock out all the races,and use the ones from the donor axle,since the bearing and race wear together,and sometimes a seemingly smooth race can destroy a new or different bearing after a period of time.you can then transfer any depth shims to the new housing as well.assuming the housings are not bent or otherwise drastically different,the diff is set up as it was in the old housing and should hopefully be ok. again,you may want to check tooth contact for peace of mind.

i accidentlly mixed my preload shims all up for my front axle,and ended up having to wing it.just added,subtracted different shims until it "felt right" to a friend who knows alittle better than me what it should feel like.i havent had any problem with it yet,but the front isnt engaged on the road at all. you have a much larger margin for error in the front,since you dont use it as often,and have the option of lockouts to keep it from spinning/wearing when not in use. technically,you are supposed to measure the turning torque with an expensive inch pouind torque wrench,and add or subtract shims as neccessary,but if you use the sims with the gears they came with,id just torque the pinion nut and hope for the best.spin it by hand and make sure it isnt real hard to turn,or real easy,and makes no "crunching" noises.

anyway,hope this helps.ive doneit personally,and have known alot of people whove jsut swapped stuff in a similar manner or worse,and they havent had any immediate trouble.i guess it really depends on how permanent its supposed to be. if you intend to have it another 15 years,and dont want to mess with it again,it may be worth $$ to have someone who knows how do it. if you may want other gears,bigger axles,ir lockers sometime in the future,youve prolly not got much to lose. youll still have your stock gears as spares,just make sure you store em in a manner that you can reinstall them exactly as they were before removal.

good luck...

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scott
85 grand wagoneer
258 with motorcraft 2bbl/904/twin stick dana 300/dana 44/welded amc 20
38x15.5 gumbo mudders
snorkel/dual batteries/onboard air/"custom" convertable
3 inch body lift/mostly stock suspension/"modified" fender openings
custom front/rear bumpers and brushgaurd

T18/dana-spicer 18 with drum E brake and PTO swap very soon
searching for offset QT rear and PTO winch

[This message has been edited by scotty (edited November 20, 2000).]

[ClarkGriswald]

I have the stock 2.72 gears in my Gw.. when I eventually do a 4 inch susp lift, and put 33's on it then I would want to put in those 3.54's

------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229--Soon to be replaced by an NP208 that currently inhabits my kitchen.

"I came, I saw, I typed some stuff!"

[scotty]

yeah,i dont blame ya-2.73 is about as high as you can get!



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scott
85 grand wagoneer
258 with motorcraft 2bbl/904/twin stick dana 300/dana 44/welded amc 20
38x15.5 gumbo mudders
snorkel/dual batteries/onboard air/"custom" convertable
3 inch body lift/mostly stock suspension/"modified" fender openings
custom front/rear bumpers and brushgaurd

T18/dana-spicer 18 with drum E brake and PTO swap very soon
searching for offset QT rear and PTO winch

[bignblue]

Won't you have speedo issues if you do that? Will you have to change the speedo gear out, or does it matter what the "final drive" ratio at the rear end is?

[ClarkGriswald]

yeah it will change the operation of the speedo.. i think theres a way to regear it but you can also use the gear ratio calculators on sites such as 4lo.com to figure it out

I think crysler was trying to make it into a car..
------------------
88 Grand Wagoneer
D44's front\rear
Warn 20990 Lockouts
AMC 360
TF 727
NP 229--Soon to be replaced by an NP208 that currently inhabits my kitchen.

"I came, I saw, I typed some stuff!"

[This message has been edited by ClarkGriswald (edited November 21, 2000).]