Is my rear differential stock?

mudhog55

mudhog55

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2022
Messages
52
Location
south Texas
stock differential? 2003 sport. I bought his jeep about a year ago and doing maintenance on it. I replace all of the front brakes, calipers, rotors etc. already.
Doing the rear now and mainly find out why the parking (emerg) brake barely holds even though the cable is pulled tight, it holds some rolling backwards but nothing rolling forward.
It has disc brakes in the back with drum type emerg. brakes. Is this a stock set up. When I searched for pads all I see is drum brake pads for 2003 TJ. I'm going to replace the emrg brake shoes but not sure what part number it is. I know it has some upgrades but not sure if the rear axle assemble was changed or modified except for 456 gears.
 
Probably stock but we can't confirm that without pictures. That said, stock discs were a thing on 03-06 TJs. I believe they came on all the D44s and D35s continued to receive drums. The parking brake on discs is a drum style inside the hat of the rotor.

If it doesn't work well then you need to do the adjustment procedure. It should be able to hold strong on a steep hill with just a few clicks of the handle if it's working right.

Edit: 03-06 D44s could be optioned with discs but some had drums. Rubis and LJs all had discs, Sports and Saharas (short wheel base) had them as an option.
 
Last edited:
I pulled the rotor off on one side and the inside (emerg) shoes are pretty thin so I was going to replace them and the disc brake pads all together. I'm guessing my rear axle could be stock then with the 44 and disk brakes. When I read up on it a couple of responses on another forum was only rubicon or saharas had disc brakes in the back with drum type emerg brakes inside (the hat).
 
mudhog55 said:
I pulled the rotor off on one side and the inside (emerg) shoes are pretty thin so I was going to replace them and the disc brake pads all together. I'm guessing my rear axle could be stock then with the 44 and disk brakes. When I read up on it a couple of responses on another forum was only rubicon or saharas had disc brakes in the back with drum type emerg brakes inside (the hat).
Click to expand...

I don’t think it’s rubicon and Saharas only, I think it’s 2003+ Dana 44 only.
 
Just look up my vin number using sight that Bobohunter posted. It listed my jeep came with Rear M35/194mm w/ 3.07 gear. So previous owner must of switched out to the 44. Now to try to figure out what part numbers I need to replace the pads and shoes. I wonder if the shoes have a part number stamped on them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheBoogieman and Bobohunter1776
mudhog55 said:
Just look up my vin number using sight that Bobohunter posted. It listed my jeep came with Rear M35/194mm w/ 3.07 gear. So previous owner must of switched out to the 44. Now to try to figure out what part numbers I need to replace the pads and shoes. I wonder if the shoes have a part number stamped on them.
Click to expand...

Post up pictures of what you have. Very likely a stock bolt-in Dana 44 and you can just buy the disc brake parking brake components to repair your parking brake shoes back to stock (still drum in hat).

If you have a stock Dana 44 swapped in, then you should just be able to buy the stock replacement parts for an 03-06 disc setup and swap them right in.
 
Just FYI, Rubicon rear axles were the only rear axles to get disc brakes from the factory, regardless of year.
 
Jamison C said:
Just FYI, Rubicon rear axles were the only rear axles to get disc brakes from the factory, regardless of year.
Click to expand...

All Unlimited/LJs did as well, regardless of Rubicon or not. Of course, they were all Dana 44. I am personally not aware of any 03-06 Dana 44 with drums.

Contrary, I am not aware of any disc brake D35s either.
 
Bobohunter1776 said:
I haven't been able to find any clear answers about which models do. Rubicons for sure did but that's all I've found.
Click to expand...

I updated my post.

I have found plenty of non-Rubicon TJs (Sports and Saharas - 03-06 only) with the Dana 44 that all had discs. I have not found a single one that had drums. I keep stressing 03-06 only because those are the only years that ever had any disc regardless of trim or axle. All 97-02 were drum no matter what.

I'm almost certain that 03-06 are drum if Dana 35, disc if Dana 44. In the LJ where they only received Dana 44, I know for a fact those were all disc.

Pretty sure the OP's PO swapped in an 03-06 Dana 44 and he gained factory discs out of it.
 
machoheadgames said:
I updated my post.

I have found plenty of non-Rubicon TJs (Sports and Saharas - 03-06 only) with the Dana 44 that all had discs. I have not found a single one that had drums. I keep stressing 03-06 only because those are the only years that ever had any disc regardless of trim or axle.
Click to expand...
Found a few 44s on ebay that claim to be 03-06 and have drums.

Screenshot_20230227_145336_Chrome.jpg


Screenshot_20230227_145353_Chrome.jpg
 
Bobohunter1776 said:
Found a few 44s on ebay that claim to be 03-06 and have drums.

View attachment 403556

View attachment 403557
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I'm looking in the parts manual and they do show both style of axle shaft retainers for Dana 44 axle shafts as well (5010811AA and 5083678AA). Definitely not saying the Dana 44 couldn't have drums in 03-06, just that I had never ever seen them on the forums or on Jeeps for sale.

I've found tons of Sports/Saharas from 03-06 that all had discs. I wonder if those had discs, then which unlucky ones got drums? I'll be doing more searching and see if I can find any 03-06 jeeps for sale with drum 44s.
 
Welp I take back what I said. Must have been extremely lucky that I had NEVER seen an 03-06 Dana 44 with drums. Vin searched some Sports on Autotrader and the first 6 were an even mix of disc and drum.

Still, the comment that ONLY Rubicons have discs is incorrect, and my comment was also incorrect. Regardless, the dude very likely got a Dana 44 from 03-06 that was either optioned with the discs on a Sport/Sahara, or came from a Rubi or LJ which automatically had discs. But we'll never know without pics.
 
@mudhog55 did you adjust the emergency brakes with the star wheel on each brake, or with the cable? You need to loosen the cable, and then adjust the star wheels, just like on regular drum brakes, until there is just a little drag. Then pull the e-brake handle up to notch 5 and adjust the cable to snug.

Those rear e-brake pads are thin when new, so compare yours to what you can find at a parts store. Yours may not be bad. They're really intended for parking, or for slow speed wheeling, so they don't have thick pads like regular drum brakes.
 
Top Bottom
Back