Differences between Dana 44 drum brake and disc brake axle shafts

Stinkbug

Stinkbug

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I was poking around on Revolution Gear website looking at Dana 44 axles shafts. They make a distinction between shafts for a Dana 44 with drum vs disc brakes. They do not elaborate on the differences.

Anyone care to educate me on the differences?
 
Stinkbug said:
I was poking around on Revolution Gear website looking at Dana 44 axles. They make a distinction between shafts for a Dana 44 with drum vs disc brakes. They do not elaborate on the differences.

Anyone care to educate me on the differences?
Click to expand...

The shafts themselves are identical, but when they come loaded with bearings and seals, there's a retainer plate thats included. That plate is flat for drums, and has a collar for discs, to allow for the different thickness of the backing plates on the axle.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
The shafts themselves are identical, but when they come loaded with bearings and seals, there's a retainer plate thats included. That plate is flat for drums, and has a collar for discs, to allow for the different thickness of the backing plates on the axle.
Click to expand...

Yep the bearing retainer is different between the two.
 
Blackjack said:
Yep the bearing retainer is different between the two.
Click to expand...
For drum brakes...
Axle retainer bracket.jpg

For disk brakes...

Axle retainer Disk Brake.jpg
 
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The purpose of the collar is to position the seal. Since the brake backing plate is thicker for discs, the collar has to reach in to touch the seal and keep it in place. So if you use the drum plates in a disc axle, or you put the disc plates in with the collar the wrong way, you'll have a horrendous axle seal leak. If you put the disc plates in the correct orientation but on a drum axle, the collar will hit the seal before the plate bottoms and I suspect either the plate will deform or the seal will crush.
 
Figured I’d respond to this thread instead of making thread.. I am trying to install rev axle discovery on my jeep tj Dana 44.. I cannot get the backing plate to fit on.. anyone ran into this? It sits at the edge of the four studs but won’t go in so I can put the nut on. Any help is greatly appreciated
 
trevino33 said:
Figured I’d respond to this thread instead of making thread.. I am trying to install rev axle discovery on my jeep tj Dana 44.. I cannot get the backing plate to fit on.. anyone ran into this? It sits at the edge of the four studs but won’t go in so I can put the nut on. Any help is greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

Your jeep has drums or disc? Your axles have which retainer plate?

It’s kind of awkward to get the shafts installed even when parts are correct. You have to do some poking around to get the plate on at least 2 studs, get the nuts on and then spin the axle around to work on the other side. I usually use the socket to push the plate further onto the studs, and then pull the socket back out to put the nut in it.
 
machoheadgames said:
Your jeep has drums or disc? Your axles have which retainer plate?

It’s kind of awkward to get the shafts installed even when parts are correct. You have to do some poking around to get the plate on at least 2 studs, get the nuts on and then spin the axle around to work on the other side. I usually use the socket to push the plate further onto the studs, and then pull the socket back out to put the nut in it.
Click to expand...

I’ve got drums and flat backing plate. Been at it for an hour and it just won’t go on. Not sure if I did something wrong even though there weren’t many steps to mess up lol

image.jpg
 
Have you tried both sides? One is a little bit longer than the other...possible you're putting the long shaft into the short side. If the other side goes in all the way, switch them and try it again.
 
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