Trail_Krawler & Trail_Willys

Trevlaw said:
But is it the ultimate Dana 44 from the JK era, or the newer ultimate Dana 44 Advantek for the JK's?

Just curious since there looks to be a big difference in the casting for the center. When I picked up my JL 44 rear I was surprised by how thin the casting was in some places on the bottom. I looked for a while trying to find a place selling just a Dana 44 Advantek center section, but never found one. If it's possible to get just an Advantek center and have it be a beefier casting that would be Sweet
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Ahh I didnt know there were two generations of the UD44. I’ll have to do some digging and follow up with you.

I’m sure Spicer sells just centers, one of their dealers could tell you.

I know they sell their UD60 with just tubes pressed and it’s marketed as a cut to length axle housing.
 
Fouledplugs said:
Ahh I didnt know there were two generations of the UD44. I’ll have to do some digging and follow up with you.

I’m sure Spicer sells just centers, one of their dealers could tell you.

I know they sell their UD60 with just tubes pressed and it’s marketed as a cut to length axle housing.
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Yeah, finding a dealer to talk to was going to be the next thing I tried, but I found a great deal on a factory rear locally. If the ultimate version has a different casting though I may go with that. You'd think they'd have a part number for just a center somewhere in a catalog, never found one though...
 
Trevlaw said:
Yeah, finding a dealer to talk to was going to be the next thing I tried, but I found a great deal on a factory rear locally. If the ultimate version has a different casting though I may go with that. You'd think they'd have a part number for just a center somewhere in a catalog, never found one though...
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A quick search and I was able to find the factory JK 44 front center section.

https://www.danaaftermarket.com/spi...4&cat2=693&cp=0&catalog=PIMS_NA&partType=PART
I’m not sure they sell the centers for the UD44. Prob isnt a lot of folks asking for it.
But it def has a p/n, whether we could find that is another story.

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From all of the fab work to the rear corner wheel well cut, I am really enjoying this build. Everything is exceptionally clean and so well thought out. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it come together!
 
Kyle_Craig said:
From all of the fab work to the rear corner wheel well cut, I am really enjoying this build. Everything is exceptionally clean and so well thought out. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it come together!
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Thanks I'm having fun and I'm in no rush. I used cardboard aided drafting and scraped the design a few times until I settled on this
 
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I am so enjoying this build. Read it from the beginning.
Wish I could fab & weld even a bit as good. If were trying to do what you're doing with the frams...

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Thanks! It's a 2020 JLUR in Hella Yella. 3.6, auto, fully loaded.
Metalcloak overline flip step
17" KMC Dirty Harry wheels with custom color-matched painted "barrels"
37" Pats
Metalcloak control arms with Rockjock 4" springs. Because chaos.
Fox 2.0 IFP shocks
Bestop Sunrider

She spec'd everything out, I built it. It's even got the license plate "Minnion"
It drives amazing.
 
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I used the holiday and the weather to get some work done on Punk'nStein. Since the factory cargo area cross-member had been removed, I need to replace it with something. I'm using 0.25 wall 2" DOM tube. So I drilled a hole through the frame where it intersects the shock towers on each side, ran the tube across and welded it from both sides.

There is a small space between the gas tank and tub that the new cross member fits in nicely. But of course the weld is in the way, so instead of risking the pilot bit walking off and putting the hole on the wrong spot, I drilled a 2" hole through some scrap, welded that scrap to the frame to act as a guide. I love roto broach bits. The big ones work just as good as the little ones.

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The fit of the tube is so tight I had to hammer it through, then I welded the outside

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And the inside...

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I've seen this trick used many times by OEM and It's probably over kill, but I know this cross member isn't going to fail. I'll add some gussets to regain shearing resistance, but that's probably overkill too.

My new cross member

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Fun side project... It turns out that my old 12" fox 2.0 remote reservoir shocks have nearly (1/2" longer) the same collapsed dimensions as the JL 11" fox IFP shocks. Since I spent a considerable amount of time tuning those shocks, I'm happy to be able to reuse them. I had to get a little creative with spacers, but nothing crazy. A quick test drive, on and off road, confirm the tune is very good for the JL too. Added bonus, since there is no IFP in the smoothies, I gain an inch of down travel.
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