Dana 44 axle swap question

I'm in the process of putting an 06 in my 97. It'll bolt right up. I believe the only things that would need attention are the E-brake cables and the brake lines, assuming you're going from drum to disk. You may also need a shorter drive shaft. Apparently some don't, but mine is about 2 inches too long. Not sure why some need a shorter one and some don't though

2003-2006 is the years they made the Rubicon, so you may be looking at Rubicon axles there.

I put a '05 non-Rubicon 44 disc brake rear in my 99 replacing a drum brake 35, everything went in easy except I just had to get e-brake cables from a disc brake TJ.

I have heard rumors that the driveshaft for the 35 will be a little long for a 44 but isn't an issue if lifted. So may consider that in your plan if you don't have a lift yet.

freedom_in_4low said:

I have heard rumors that the driveshaft for the 35 will be a little long for a 44 but isn't an issue if lifted. So may consider that in your plan if you don't have a lift yet.

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That was the case with my TJ with about a 3" suspension lift at the time I replaced the Dana 35 with a used Dana 44 I found. My driveshaft bolted right up and wasn't too long

Jerry Bransford said:

That was the case with my TJ with about a 3" suspension lift at the time I replaced the Dana 35 with a used Dana 44 I found. My driveshaft bolted right up and wasn't too long

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that was my experience as well with ~2.5" lift. I've never done it with stock ride height so I just have that rumor to go off of.

Jerry Bransford said:

That was the case with my TJ with about a 3" suspension lift at the time I replaced the Dana 35 with a used Dana 44 I found. My driveshaft bolted right up and wasn't too long

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Hmm... I have a 4" Currie lift and both my front and rear DS are too long. I'm going to need roughly a 15" long one for the rear

Ante_Up said:

Hmm... I have a 4" Currie lift and both my front and rear DS are too long.

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Many think that, if you're talking about the factory shafts, until they remember the driveshaft length is compressible at its slip-joint/splines. The front driveshaft shouldn't be an issue at all since its long length means that length changes little with height. The old right-triangle math... C doesn't increase in direct proportion to A. And the longer B is, the less C is affected by A.

I used the factory front driveshaft for >20 years until last year when I finally replaced it with one from Tom Wood. I had suspension heights up to 5.5" and the factory front DS was always near the center of its slip joint and was never in danger of being too short (or too long), even when my TJ was completely flexed out while on rock crawling trails. The rear driveshaft is a completely different story due to B being so short but....

Jerry Bransford said:

Many think that, if you're talking about the factory shafts, until they remember the driveshaft length is compressible at its slip-joint/splines. The front driveshaft shouldn't be an issue at all since its long length means that length changes little with height. The old right-triangle math... C doesn't increase in direct proportion to A. And the longer B is, the less C is affected by A.

I used the factory front driveshaft for >20 years until last year when I finally replaced it with one from Tom Wood. I had suspension heights up to 5.5" and the factory front DS was always near the center of its slip joint and was never in danger of being too short (or too long), even when my TJ was completely flexed out while on rock crawling trails. The rear driveshaft is a completely different story due to B being so short but....

View attachment 193263

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Well I'm not sure then... From the CV flange on the rear of TC to the yoke is 15 1/2", my DS is around 17" fully compressed. My front measures 37" from yoke to yoke, my DS is around 40" compressed.

I had issues with the rear driveshaft being to long with the Dana 44 swap. That was with a cheap 2 inch lift that had probably sagged down to 1.5 so your mileage may vary.