....OK, hear me out first.

I am regearing both of my axles. I am buying a rear D44 that has 4.88s in it and swapping that, and have already bought the gears for my front. I am still waiting on some parts and time to work on the front, so I won't be ready to install the gears in it for a few weeks.

Here is my question: If I pull the front driveshaft, is it alright to drive around with different gears in each axle? Obviously I won't be using 4 wheel drive, but I think that without the driveshaft connected it won't have any problems. Just double checking before I do the rear swap.

 

:You should be ok doing that since the front end will be just freewheeling. No different than when you are just in two wheel drive.

 

If you run a quick search, you will find several threads on the topic, including one regarding the more dubious practice of running temporarily with the front shaft in place with different gears.


The pinions will be spinning at different speeds, but with the front shaft removed there is no linkage between them, so the potential problem could be lubricant leakage if you do it for an extended period.

 

I posted earlier from my phone, and the mobile version of JKF doesn't have as good of a search function.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

Nothing will link if you do not pull the flange off the housing. Just pull the 4 bolts at the diff and the 8 bolts at the t-case. I ran with no front shaft for 2 weeks while i was looking for a used front shaft.