What Year Waggies Rule?

[daddywinz]

i have my choice of virtually any year waggy for a chassis/drivetrain donor to go under my 72 commando.

so, i have no idea what the pros/cons of the different years are.

i'll be stickin' a mopar v8 into it eventually, so the 360 doesn't need to be the best emmissions/powered year or anything.

i will probably pull the rear end for an isuzu rodeo disc braked d44, which is centered and around 57" wide.

1) WHAT YEARS HAD THE 58"?? WIDE AXLES?

2) ARE THE 58"?? WIDE AXLES ALL OFFSET CENTERS?

3) DOES THE OFFSET CENTER MEAN A CENTERED D44 WON'T WORK?

4) ANY BETTER T-CASES IN DIFFERENT YEARS?

5) OH, CRAP...MODERN ONES ARE FULL-TIME 4X4 AREN'T THEY? is that so bad? that might work better since my wife'll be drivin' it.

6) ANY LATE MODELS (UP TO 89)HAVE OVERDRIVE TRANNIES AND NARROW AXLES?

i know it's a lot. thanks for your help. kevin

[carnuck]

Narrow tracks are 58". (all 4 drs are narrow track and some 2 drs as well) Widetracks are wider and only 2dr (pickups are wide as well)
360 wasn't the only motor available. You'd like a 401 if you scored one. '80 and newer have a Mopar auto with AMC Bell (easier to swap a Mopar trans in. I have a '76 J10 with AMC 727 and Dodge NP208D)