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TJ Pre-Build Chit Chat

RockChucker

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
well, i'm not actually interested in GOAT's rear TJ 44. My uncle was possibly going to need it for his ZJ, but he ended up getting a set of 60's so, TJDukit, it is all yours man. I have seen the axle, and it is sweet. if i remember correctly, he has it set up to use stock hard ward, but also has a truss on it for a triangulated 4 link that you could upgrade to down the road.

about the 8.8, i have one in my TJ. it is a great axle for the money, but all said and done, in order to get one swapped into your Jeep, you'll be looking at as much if not more than Marcus' axle, and with the 44 you'll be nearly as strong in the ring gear and axles, but you won't have c-clips. if i were to do it again, i wouldn't get an 8.8. it creates issues that are fairly easily solved, but the strength over a 44 doesn't make it worth it. shoot, if you didn't want to spend as much money on a TJ 44, you can pick XJ ones up all the time for $200-300 that (someone correct me if i'm wrong) are the same strength and basically the same axle as a TJ 44. you would just have to set it up for the TJ.

also, after living with a detroit in the rear of my TJ, i would recommend an arb. they are a little more expensive, but, in the end, driveability is really nice. snowy and icy roads are a little squirrly. especially with my jeep being a standard transmission. good luck with the upgrades. really the best thing you can do is research, and then try somethings out. you can't build the perfect jeep the first time. i have been building my jeep since i was a junior in high school, and well, i was young and stupid, and should have had more patience and waited to do somethings differently. but in the end, it is still fun to go wheelin.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
sixstringsteve said:
I say just do it right the first time, whatever that means. I don't know if a super 35 is better than a dana 44 (I don't know a think about either axle), but do it right the first time.

I know a few samurai guys who've dumped thousands into their suzuki axles, and they keep breaking. If they'd just spent $250 and swapped to toyotas, they would have been fine, but they slowly upgraded their old stuff. like I said, I don't know what the "right" way to do it on a jeep is, but I'd start out with a solid foundation, then building on that.
Click to expand...

From most everything I've read, people that have a driving style similar to mine run 35's on the super 35 kits for years with no problems. The people that break stuff are the guys who like to throttle over stuff. I am very confident I'll never go over 35's with this rig if I ever even go above 33's.

I do want to do it right the first time for sure. Luckily I have 12 hours a day at work for the next few weeks to read as much as I can and get this figured out before I get home.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
rockchucker said:
well, i'm not actually interested in GOAT's rear TJ 44. My uncle was possibly going to need it for his ZJ, but he ended up getting a set of 60's so, TJDukit, it is all yours man. I have seen the axle, and it is sweet. if i remember correctly, he has it set up to use stock hard ward, but also has a truss on it for a triangulated 4 link that you could upgrade to down the road.

about the 8.8, i have one in my TJ. it is a great axle for the money, but all said and done, in order to get one swapped into your Jeep, you'll be looking at as much if not more than Marcus' axle, and with the 44 you'll be nearly as strong in the ring gear and axles, but you won't have c-clips. if i were to do it again, i wouldn't get an 8.8. it creates issues that are fairly easily solved, but the strength over a 44 doesn't make it worth it. shoot, if you didn't want to spend as much money on a TJ 44, you can pick XJ ones up all the time for $200-300 that (someone correct me if i'm wrong) are the same strength and basically the same axle as a TJ 44. you would just have to set it up for the TJ.

also, after living with a detroit in the rear of my TJ, i would recommend an arb. they are a little more expensive, but, in the end, driveability is really nice. snowy and icy roads are a little squirrly. especially with my jeep being a standard transmission. good luck with the upgrades. really the best thing you can do is research, and then try somethings out. you can't build the perfect jeep the first time. i have been building my jeep since i was a junior in high school, and well, i was young and stupid, and should have had more patience and waited to do somethings differently. but in the end, it is still fun to go wheelin.
Click to expand...

Agreed on not building the perfect jeep the first time. This is my second TJ. The last one I dumped a bunch of money into suspension, sliders and bumpers without any regard for the drivetrain. The AX-5 had to be rebuilt and I had to keep sending it back to get fixed. I actually never got to wheel it with all my upgrades because my wife had a kid and we needed to trade in for the truck. I wasn't happy about it then, but looking back on it I'm happy because now I've got the 4.0L and an automatic.

This time around I really do want to make sure I think about stuff more. I also know a lot more about wheeling and Jeeps than I did on the first round. Five years ago when I built that thing I didn't even know how to tell the difference between a D35 and a D44.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
If I can and if the price is right I'll go with a D44 over the super 35 upgrade. I would rather have the upgradability of the 44 over upgrading the 35 and having no where else to go with it.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
Well by the end of the month I will have a D44 swapped into the rear, bushwacker flat fenders, congo cage for the roof rack I still need to buy and the pro comp bumpers on.
 
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