Here’s what I had to buy, including sales tax and/or shipping charges:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Tires | $716.74 |
| Five 33x9.50 BFG MT's from Sam's Club, including all the extras | $716.74 |
| Drivetrain | $552.58 |
| Currie slip-yoke eliminator kit | $520.28 |
| Currie refund for NP231 output shaft core, minus shipping | - $242.70 |
| Extended CV-joint rear driveshaft from Tom Wood's Custom Driveshafts | $275.00 |
| U-bolt conversion kit for D35 pinion yoke from Tom Wood's Custom Driveshafts | $0.00 |
| Brakes | ~$164.22 |
| Stainless steel Earl's brake line parts from Sack's Hardware | $143.35 |
| Rear axle brake line T connector and two inverted-flare-to-AN-4 converters from Speedway Motors | $18.18 |
| Two 3/8"x24 thread flare nuts from CarQuest | $1.25 |
| Two 3/8" banjo fitting washers, each about 2mm thick, from Lincoln Clutch and Brake | $1.44 |
| Suspension | $400.61 |
| Four Rancho RS9000 shocks from 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers | $218.08 |
| 4" Drop pitman arm from Rubicon Express | $63.28 |
| Deposit on two broken pitman arm pullers from Parts America | $15.89 |
| Track bar relocation bracket from Rubicon Express | $22.12 |
| Correct-size mounting bolt & nut for track bar bracket from Ace Hardware | $0.62 |
| Four spring perches, plus cut & weld for front perches, from In-Line Suspension | $51.80 |
| Four 7-5/8" U-bolts for Dana 35 from In-Line Suspension | $20.18 |
| Axle vent tube extensions from Ace Hardware | $8.64 |
| Total | ~$1834.15 |
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Hi, I’ve just recently perchest a 1989 wrangler yj and I want to do a SOA swap. The biggest question is what axles should I go with? I plan on running 35″ tires so I want a set of axles that are tough and will hold up, I’ve been searching around on different forums and get all kind of different answers. I was think a Dana 44 front axle and a Dana 60 rear but what kind should I look for???
The best axles depend not only on your tire size, but also on your engine, your transmission/t-case gear reduction, and your intended use.
A big block V8 or diesel engine with crawler gears that does extreme rock crawling will tear a Dana 44 to pieces. A 2.5L with the stock trans/t-case that stays on the street can probably live with the factory D30/35.
If you’re somewhere in between, then a D44/60 combo would certainly be strong enough. With a stock engine and mild to moderate off-roading, you’d probably be fine with a D44 or Ford 8.8″ axle in the rear, too. Lots of people run 35’s on the stock Rubicon D44’s in newer Wranglers.
If you’re swapping both axles, then the bolt pattern isn’t critical, as long as the front & rear match. Sourcing both axles from the same vehicle will help the widths match, too.
You can read about some sources for front & rear Dana 44’s in this Jedi.com article:
https://www.jedi.com/yj-d44-axle-swap/
A Dana 60 rear is going to be tough to find without getting a whole lot wider than your YJ. I think your best bet there is probably to find a pair from an older F-250. If you want to stick with a stock-ish width, then you’ll have to either narrow a junk yard axle or buy a custom-made axle–neither of which are cheap.
Oh, and congrats: yours is the first non-spam comment to be made on Jedi.com’s newly redesigned (and still in progress) web site.