Upgrading original Dana 44 disc brakes on a TJ and Locker options

Aaron Paul

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
44
Location
PA
Picking up 2 TJ dana 44's tomorrow:) One is drum and the other is disc. They will need cleaned up. If you need one and are local to Northeast pa, let me know!

Is there an upgrade kit for the factory disc brakes? I will be stripping down and rebuilding. Figured if it was all going to be replaced, might as well look into options.

Searches all came up for drum to disc swaps....I am running a 5.3 with a 4160 @ 4.56 gears currently.

Mostly road with a few offroad trips per year. (Jeep Jamborees)

Locker options that won't kill driveability?

Thanks!!
 
Are they Rubicon Dana 44 axles, one for the front and one for the rear? Brake-wise, we need to know if you're talking about the front where brake upgrades can help braking, or the rear where brake upgrades don't help braking when the rear brakes are working as designed.
 
If they're two different rear axles I would simply rebuild the one with drums with new hardware, shoes and drums. 80% of the stopping power comes from the front anyway
 
Are they Rubicon Dana 44 axles, one for the front and one for the rear? Brake-wise, we need to know if you're talking about the front where brake upgrades can help braking, or the rear where brake upgrades don't help braking when the rear brakes are working as designed.
Jerry,

They are both rear axles. One with drums was out of a TJ and the other with disc was out of an LJ. I planned on rebuilding one and selling the other. I currently have a Dana 30/Dana 35 in my 98 SE. I can post some pictures tomorrow.
 
Drum setup lools to be less of a clean up chore. Disc setup is a few lbs heavier. Possible locker or LSD? What do you guys think? Stay with the drum?

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If the disk 44 has a locker then I would go that way. If they are both open diff then I would probably go with the drum 44 and sell the disk 44. Be able to get more $. And I don't think disks do much better job. Unless you're in a lot of water and mud.