gnarly_mike

So y'all might've seen my other post about blowing out my gears. Well long story short I got a buddy at a Ford dealer that had a rubicon come in for repairs, the front axle has a bent c. Pretty sure just driver side. Tube appears to be fine.

Got the axle for free and it just needs shafts and everything outside of the c's.

Couple of questions.

1.) I can just swap my unit bearings/brakes/knuckles from my d30 right? Or do I need new unit bearings that are rubicon specific?

2.) How can I verify what exactly is bent and what isn't? There is a blue paint line made by a tech (no longer with the dealership) that indicates a bent c I assume. I think everything else is fine.

3.) What exactly do I need to rig up the factory E-locker besides a switch? I will be rehearing it to match my 14 bolt I'm swapping in the rear until I can get a real front axle built for the jeep. It's my DD so I need it driving asap.


Thanks for the help.

karls10jk

Pull the gears and shafts out of yours and put it back on the road until you can get the d44 checked.

To check it you'll need an alignment bar straight through the housing to see where it's not how it should be.

Yes, you can move your unit bearings and brakes over. They use the same spline count inside the unit bearing.

The locker is nothing more than 12v and you'll want an indicator light to ensure it doesn't get accidentally engaged on the road.

gnarly_mike

It ain't going back on the road lol. The rear ring and pinion are sheared and 2 of the 4 spider gears are literally gone. I've got a 14 bolt I need to put together have everything except the locker and wheels and DS. Got it stripped down ready to shave and weld up brackets and reassemble. New bearings seals shims gears brakes whole 9 yards.

The front I was just going to use a stock axle or rebuild mine until I can get a nice sturdy front end built. I will just cut the c's off the d44 and MIG some new ones in and out some 4.88 gears in it to match the 14b rear end and drive it that way til I get a front end done.

I just need to know what to do with the d44 front end until then. I'll spend about the same on it as I would rebuilding my stock d30.

jtphoto JK

Unless the D44 took a major hit that C is not bent it will be the tube bent right at the C weld. Take measurements of the C before you go through all that work.
I have yet to see a bent C or proof of on a JKD30 or D44 except in a major accident. All have been a bent tube.

jadmt

lots of D44's come from the factory out of spec with camber as high as .09 so maybe that is why the tech thought it was bent. If you are going to have to try and cut the tube and get it welded back properly might be better just finding a dirt cheap d30 to swap in and run in 2wd until you have your bad boys built and ready to go.

gnarly_mike

I *think* the tube is straight and I put a straight edge up to it where I could and it appears to be straight. The guy who diagnosed it as having a bent c doesn't work at the Ford dealership anymore or I could find out exactly what he thought.

I'm not gonna take the thing to a dealer or something to have it checked, so what is the best way to go about it? What's this alignment bar that's being talked about? Just a regular straight bar? The gears and locker are still in the housing and I don't want to have to take them out just to check the housing if I don't have to

gnarly_mike

This is the only pic of it that I took so far, probably can't tell anything from it. The tech marked a blue line on the drivers side c that I assume is an indication of the problem area he found or thinks he found. They kept the knuckles and unit bearings and brakes and shafts and all that good stuff and changed them over to the new housing the insurance paid for.

jtphoto JK

As I suspected. Even in this photo you can see the tube is bent right at the C weld. Compare both Cs they look identical...

gnarly_mike

As I suspected. Even in this photo you can see the tube is bent right at the C weld. Compare both Cs they look identical...[/QUOTE]

I think you might be seeing things as a result of a crappy iPhone picture taken on the fly, because looking at the housing in person you can see no such bend. The tube has no obvious bend whatsoever. I checked it as best I could and it seems straight. I put straightedge up to it and found a piece of scrap tube stock I was able to shove inside til I hit the side of the guts in the pumpkin. Also shoved straightedge inside tube around the whole circle to see if it sat flat inside. If it is indeed bent, it's definitely not so much that it can be seen with the naked eye, without some way of measuring/checking. The picture does look funny and I thought that after looking at it. I wasn't really centered when I took pic and wasn't trying to take a shot to indicate symmetry or lack thereof. The thing looks straight in person is all I can say. I definitely need a legitimate way of measuring it to be sure, because despite the photo, it is absolutely not noticeable by looking at it.

gnarly_mike

I do agree the c is most likely not bent. It would take massive force to bend it and much less to bend the tube. If the c was bent, chances are the tube would be majorly bent as well, which it's not majorly bent, if even bent at all. It's impossible to see when I analyze it in person. This is why I need to legitimately check it. That's what I'm trying to find out how to do