The HPD44 is for the front, not the rear. Do I still want to stay away from it then?
The rear I was thinking HP D60 or 9" - looks like the only 9 woudl be the hi9 if I did the 9"....
What about a HPD60 for the rear? Honestly, if I'm going to be spending ~$3,000 for a HI9 ($2,000 for a Detroit 3rd and call it another $1,000 for the housing, axles, disc brakes, etc) rear, I might as well do a RJ60 in the rear for $3,500 (with 12" Wilwood brakes w/e brake).... Thoughts?
If I did the HI9, what is the max reccomended tire size? I didn't see anything on their site. Currie says 35's on a rear HP9, 37's if it's a front (I just know because I do sell their stuff, not because I was looking into it for my rig). The RJ60 is 44", if I remember right....
The HP is sweet in a front app as it's then running on the strong side of the gears. (unless you're in reverse) That's one of the reasons why the F*rd HP60 is so sought after (esp. the '77-79 units as they almost bolt-in to a YJ). It's not like I've seen a bunch of Dodge and Chev 60s with fragged ring/pinion gears, though.
I built my rear 14 bolt for about $400. I've got just about 1/2" less clearance than a D44 (after a couple of hours grinding the lip off the bottom and 'smoothing' various transition points). I measured the difference between my XJ 44 rear with MT/Rs and my 14 bolt with 315 BFG AT's. It's a "wimpy" 30 spline rear axle, but at 1.5" shaft thickness, I'll be semi-surprised to break it. If I do, it's not like a spare shaft will be hard to find. I think it's 67" WMS-WMS. With my H1 wheels and 12.50 tires, I'm at 75" sidewall/sidewall. I had to redo the perches anyway, so I just rotated the pinion up a little and it seems like it will stay of the rocks OK. My driveshafts are kind of my weak link, so I'll need to get some spares.
I'm running a stock Chev front 60. They're 69.5" WMS/WMS. I'm 77" sidewall/sidewall with the 38 x 12.50 swamps. I can get stock axle shafts reasonably easy (rather than a cut down version) if they do break and I'm fairly narrow. The H1 wheel is kind of extreme in the offset. I think they're 7" or something? Frankly, they're kind of a pain to build around and then you get to find a 16.5" tire (you're kinda "stuck" with SXs, which isn't such a bad thing, but your choices are limited). Get a common 5.5" offset and be 80" sidewall/sidewall. What are you now? The beauty of the 8 lug, is they're all the same (F*rd, Dodge, GM) until the super smart F*rd enginerds decided to move to 8 on 170mm. I think they could have run with 8 on 165 mm and still been interchangeable (they get the ID 10 T award for that from my perspective).
If you're just sticking with 35" tires, why not stay with what you have? You've got a pretty significant investment in your alloy shafts and what not. If I were in your shoes, I'd just enjoy what I have (a fairly streetable TJ) and know it's limits. Personally, I don't think you're 'upgrading' much from the Rubicon front 44, to the HP 44. True, you do get a little better ball joint, probably a stronger axle tube and you get the high pinion thing. For what it will cost you to put in there and what you're getting out of it, it's tough to build a business case for it.
.......then you need to figure out the rear axle.
The built RJ60 sounds good if you're set on the HPD44 and if you count your labor as any kind of cost. That'll come set up to bolt-in to the TJ, right?
