I have a 98 TJ with the basic package. I am sure it has the D35 in the front but not sure about the back. What is it that I should upgrade to in the front and rear? I have heard the Dana 44 goes in the front, but is that a rear axle? I have heard also someone say that a D44 up front and a D60 in the rear and you can go through anything. With the right lockers of course! can someone tell me what is the right way to do it?
wow, where to start. Jeep axle basics, I guess. Jeep TJs came with the D30, not D35 in front. I've never heard of a D35 front - not to say it doesn't exist, but I've never heard of it. D44's come in both front and rear varieties. D60's also come in both front and rear varieties. What are you going to do with the jeep? If you're building a dedicated, heavy duty rock crawler, then look into D60's For a medium duty, mostly full time offroader, a D60 in back with a D44 in front would work pretty well. For a anything else (except on-road only) consider keeping the D30 in front with a D44 in the back. If you're never going to offroad it, save the money and keep what's in there. As far as lockers go, you need to decide what type - selectable where you control whether it's locked or not, or limited slip (automatic) where they just lock when one wheel stats slipping. There's no right answer, a lot depends on personal preference. You should look for a local jeep club to join, lots of resources there and Jeep people are happy to help. You have a lot of research to do, a lot of decisions to make, and you'll need a lot of money.
that depends on how much money you have, how often you plan on offroading, and how big you plan on going. 1) if you never plan on going offroad then leave it as it is, you can probably run any size tire (not taking into consideration gear ratios). 2) if you plan on doing light offroading from time to time, keep your D30/35, it can handle up to 33 tires. 3) if you plan on doing moderate offraoding and getting tires bigger than 33, upgrade to D44. 4) if you plan on going over 35 tires, go with a D60. i run the stock D30/35 with 32 tires, but i have done some modifications that make them more durable. first of all, with 32 tires, i shouldn't be exceeding the D30/35's limits, but i also installed full-floaters, ARB lockers, 4.56 gears, and chromoly axles. also, look into Ford 8 and 9 inch axles. the cool thing about these axle assemblies is that they come with an axel housing and 3rd member, which allows you to access the internals a lot easier, and makes modifying them a lot less complicated. also, look into getting high-pinion axles. they are relatively stronger and allow more driveshaft clearance (the pumpkin height may be the same), this will also allow you to reduce the driveshaft angles on tall builds.
