'72 j2000 differential

[che]

a friend of mine would like to have disc brakes on his jeep. does he need to switch out the whole differential?
or can he get a conversion kit? his jeep is a '72 j2000
all original he is not sure what differential is on on it.
he thinks its a Dana but not sure wich one does anybody know???
thanks
che

[Panther]

Front or rear (or both)?

If the rear is a 5 lug dana 60 I came up with a fairly inexpensive disc "kit". It's basically comprised of front brakes from a J20. http://www.panther4x4.com/Dana60-2/DiscBrakes.html

For the front, I'm not really sure but it might be easiest to swap an open knuckle axle from 74-79 J truck or WT cherokee.

[Josh D]

The front axle is a closed knuckle Dana 44. There is a disc break conversion using Chevy and Jeep parts http://www.mudguppy.com/commando/disc.html
I also hear there is a 4X4 shop in Cali (Foothill 4X4 I think) that sells a kit. All D25, D27, and D44 closed knuckles use the same parts, so the conversion should work on a J2000. As for master cylinder, I'm not sure. Maybe removing the residual pressure valve in the stock master cylinder would work.

[Josh D]

Never mind that link. I just opened it for the first time in a while and noticed its for an open knuckle axle. There is, however, a disc conversion for closed knuckle using Chevy calipers and brackets and CJ rotors, I just can't think of the years for the parts off the top of my head....I'll have to get back to you.

[J4GRAND]

Try this site. It is a write up for Dana 27 axles but will work on the 44s as the outer knuckles are the same.

Disk Brake Swap for Closed Knuckle Axles (http://www.earlycj5.com/Tech/diskSwap/index.html)

[Josh D]

Thanks, Patrick. Saved me the trouble of trying to find it!