swapping gears from one axle to another questions?

[la77]

for the gear heads here is the situation. I have 4.10 gears d44 (lunchbox locker) and 9" (detroit) and 35" tires. buddy with jeep has a bronco d44 with same setup but 4.88 gears and same in rear with detroit. swapping to d60 front and rear. will let me swap whatever I want with his stuff before he get's rid of it and I want lower gears for 36 tsl sx tires in the near future. he doesn't have alot of miles on his setup. can I take the setup out of his d44 gears, carrier, shims and replace in my housing and the tolerances be the same? would just swap the whole shebang but he has leafs up front so he cut off the C's. I'm a cheap SOB and don't want to have to pay for another gear setup and don't have the tools or patients to do it myself except the way i described above ( take everything out and place in mine exactly like it came out of his , the shims and all) not sure if there is a big difference between axle housing one to another or if stock bronco d44 toerances are excatly the same or not. thanks guys. whish the front was as easy as the back.

 

[SaddleUp]

Your going to need to setup the gears again if you swap them. A large part of the reason for differences in shims is due to the differences in the housings which is greater than the differences in carrier tolerances.

 

[jabranovich]

gears

Saddleup is right,I build rears for a living and almost every housing is machined a little different,you could take a chance on throwing another gear in your 44 front,but if both sets are swapped and not set up right,you could ruin two rears.

 

[BroncoWyatt]

So, you only set up rears? He is asking about a font diff.%)
And no, you can't just swap from one housing to another. You are going to have so either spend money to buy the tools, or pay someone to do it for you.

 

[SaddleUp]

He's saying you could take a chance on swapping just the gears onto the carrier that is already there which would decrease the difference somewhat since the D44 carrier can be removed and reinstalled without changing the current setup which isn't possible with the 9" rearend. I personally would never take this kind of chance though even with the Dana 44 since it can be a costly deal if the gears bust and then destroy the housing. (Which is always a possibility when gears come apart)

 

[Steve]

Here's what I'd do: The setup should be pretty close from axle to axle, so I'd install them in the new axle using the same shims. Then check the backlash and run a pattern. Of both of those are good, go for it. If either isn't, you're into full gear setup mode, which will probably mean changing both carrier shims and pinion shims.

 

[jabranovich]

Gears

I think I was misunderstood,Number one it's obvious the 9" rear is just a swap,The 44 front was,if you bought or aquired set of gears to put in your own rear and take a chance on setting them up yourself,although you stated you don't have the time or tools,the worst thing that could happen being it's a front,not used everyday on the street,is it could whine a little,and you might get lucky,my point was they need set up correctly by some one that knows what they are doing, and if you just swap both sets without doing it right you may end up with two scewed up rears.....Just wanted to clear that up.

 

[brian72]

for the gear heads here is the situation. I have 4.10 gears d44 (lunchbox locker) and 9" (detroit) and 35" tires. buddy with jeep has a bronco d44 with same setup but 4.88 gears and same in rear with detroit. swapping to d60 front and rear. will let me swap whatever I want with his stuff before he get's rid of it

let me know if you get the 4.88 and would like to pass on the 4.10's...I will help take them off your hands.

 

[la77]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to swap with him. I have the "nascar" detroit locker I think, anyway it ratchets really loud. he has a soft locker in his so I'm going to just swap third members for the rear both of us have 31 spline. for the fronts I will swap everything into mine as it came out of his d44 and then take the whole axle to somebody I know and trust to be fair, have him check it if not right then have him set it up. my buddy has to have his axles back because it is part of the deal on his new axles he is getting, cash and trade his old ones. doesn't matter what ratio is in them when he trades them. I usually don't get lucky and find deals like this.