for me the 8.8 falls into the same range as " i can only afford Skyjacker".....then don't bother,
next if your hell bent on a TJ Dana 44 Daveys was sittin on 2 TJ Rubi front housings dirt cheap, they just need a little bracket repair.
prob cost ya 2500 to furnish it all up with new parts.
now if was was to even mess with Jeep Dana 44's again it'd be the JK Rubi axles, those have some upgrades to the RnP and inner bearings. but their short comings are the same as the older units.
and the cost required to correct them and the reason u'd even need to, comes down to wheel size.
tire size is whats dictating the limits of any Jeep axle, and the general consensus seems to be a 35" limit on any TJ or JK axle.
now the super 35 is proven to work, i don't think anyone is leadin you wrong.
the 44 is a semi upgrade giving you a few better parts but the same limitations. it's a step up the ladder, but not enough to move the limit scale.
so the line is drawn and it stands at 35". and what you spend to stay there is up to you.
this is coming from a guy that's 3500$ deep into axles that didn't cross that line...............in blaines world that makes me "1 of the F's" that statement alone made me open my eyes, to most of the mistakes i've made, and stung a bit as well, cause i know i fell short or surpassed a couple lines i should have followed during this mostly self inflicted ( just cause i wanted to) project.