Krash80
02-21-2005, 05:38 PM
I did this last summer and planned on doing a whole writeup on my axle swap once everything was done, but since my ZJ has been on jackstands for over a year cause i'm too lazy to work on it anymore and all 3 of the heaters in my shop are broken, i figured i'd post this now for the helluvit.
I started w/ a cab & chassis (C&C) 14b that i pulled from under a 1973 chevy dually towtruck. The stock measurement from the axle center to the bottom of the diff was 7.25". What i did was shave off around 2" from the bottom of the diff and welded in a 5/8" thick steel plate for a new bottom, and notched it a tad in the middle (as opposed to shaving the ring gear) and the new axle center to bottom of diff measurement is 5.625", or roughly 1/4" more than a stock D44. So i now have a 1 ton rearend with almost the same ground clearance as a stock D44.
here's the axle up on the mill being chopped :
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/14bonmill.jpg
Here's a few pics to give you an idea how much i shaved off:
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved1.jpg
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved2.jpg
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved3.jpg
and here's what it looks like after i welded in the 5/8" plate (sorry for the bad pic...it was taken with my cell phone):
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/plated1.jpg
I was thinking of shaving the ring gear w/ a grinder setup on the lathe, but it seemed like more work than it was worth and i wasn't too excited about getting grinding dust all over the ways.
And to answer some questions before they're asked...
-I welded in the plate with a high-nickel-content rod on an AC stick welder...both preheating and post-heating the entire housing with an O/A torch.
-The diff was actually shaved farther than the point where the ring gear would start to hit, so the plate is notched out in the middle to keep the ring gear from hitting. It's actually notched out further on the back of the plate (as viewed from the back of the diff like in the picture) than it is as it gets to the front of the diff, because the plate is not perfectly square with the axle housing. I did the shaving of the diff with the pinion angle on the jeep in mind, and shaved it accordingly...so that with the axle sitting under the jeep and the pinion set correctly, the bottom of the diff is almost perfectly flat.
I'll post more pics of the finished product when i finish this heep of crap and get it the hell out of my shop.
-Ron-
I started w/ a cab & chassis (C&C) 14b that i pulled from under a 1973 chevy dually towtruck. The stock measurement from the axle center to the bottom of the diff was 7.25". What i did was shave off around 2" from the bottom of the diff and welded in a 5/8" thick steel plate for a new bottom, and notched it a tad in the middle (as opposed to shaving the ring gear) and the new axle center to bottom of diff measurement is 5.625", or roughly 1/4" more than a stock D44. So i now have a 1 ton rearend with almost the same ground clearance as a stock D44.
here's the axle up on the mill being chopped :
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/14bonmill.jpg
Here's a few pics to give you an idea how much i shaved off:
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved1.jpg
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved2.jpg
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/shaved3.jpg
and here's what it looks like after i welded in the 5/8" plate (sorry for the bad pic...it was taken with my cell phone):
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/tech/shaved14bolt/plated1.jpg
I was thinking of shaving the ring gear w/ a grinder setup on the lathe, but it seemed like more work than it was worth and i wasn't too excited about getting grinding dust all over the ways.
And to answer some questions before they're asked...
-I welded in the plate with a high-nickel-content rod on an AC stick welder...both preheating and post-heating the entire housing with an O/A torch.
-The diff was actually shaved farther than the point where the ring gear would start to hit, so the plate is notched out in the middle to keep the ring gear from hitting. It's actually notched out further on the back of the plate (as viewed from the back of the diff like in the picture) than it is as it gets to the front of the diff, because the plate is not perfectly square with the axle housing. I did the shaving of the diff with the pinion angle on the jeep in mind, and shaved it accordingly...so that with the axle sitting under the jeep and the pinion set correctly, the bottom of the diff is almost perfectly flat.
I'll post more pics of the finished product when i finish this heep of crap and get it the hell out of my shop.
-Ron-