The Wagoneer front axle should be a direct bolt in, or so I've heard. I plan on swapping a set of Dana 44 axles from an '86 Grand Wagoneer into my YJ ('81 and up are the ones with the driver's side differential)

 

The Wago axles would be the better choice. They are 63"s wide and are cheap and plentiful.
When you look for scout axles they know what they have and charge usually too much. Now
the rear M 20 out of the Wago would be more comparible to a D60 rather then a D44... You are
correct with all the stuff you have named.. Thicker tubes, one piece axles and just stronger over
all... They have gotten the bad name from the weak 2 piece CJ version. Go jeep and stay jeep.
Dustin

JeepChild

 

the knuckles on Scout have 0 degrees castor, the wag axles have like 4-6 degrees ( closer to the CJ stock castor)

so if you use Scouts youll need to cut and turn the knuckles...

Jeepchild your gona gets LOTS of flac comparing the AMC20 to a dana60, no comparison, the 60 is alot stronger ( its a floater!)

its 1980 and up Sycho15 not 81 and up.

the Grand Wag axles are about the right width, im not sure about 63 inches my 1980 Cherokee Widetrack arent even 63 inches backing plate to backing plate? maybe you measures some J truck axles Dustin?

J trucks and Widetrack axles are too wide, G wags can be made to work, but thy wont just bolt in, youll be moving spring perches and spring hangers more than likely

its pretty simple if you want a stronger axle, spend HOURS in a junkyard with a tape measure, own a welder, grinders, air tools, a good workbench, address everything safely

or pay the $1200 that the big companies want..

OzarkJeep
NW Arkansas, need a CJ rear seat

 

I just did a wagoneer front 44 into my cj. They are not a direct bolt in to a cj. The spring pads are too wide on the axle and they cannot be moved inward because the pumpin side one is cast into the pumpkin and it cannot be move inward or it would run directly through the center of the diff.

You have two options. The first and easier one is to cut down the long side to match the length of the short one. This will make it about 3/4 of an inch wider than cj wide track. The other one is to move the spring mounts on the frame outside of the frame rails. This is a more involved task. When I had someone do it for me it was about $185 to shorten the housing and another few dollars to shorten the long side axle shaft. In comparison, the same person charges about $700 to move the spring mounts. It is more involved and they need to be heavily braced in order to make it safe.

You will in both cases have to have a custom steering setup made in order to make it work correctly. If you dont shorten, you might be able to "get by" with the stock wag steering, but if you shorten you will need to get new tie rods and have the knuckle customized because the wag does not have the two hole knuckle like the cj.

If you dont need the full width, I would suggest shortening it to wide track size. When researching a front 44 swap, shortening a wagoneer axle was the best solution. good luck.

 

I'm in the middle of swapping 87 Grand Wagoneer axles into my YJ. After (I think) '86 the GW came with D44 instead of AMC20 rear axle.

At the time I got these, I had 2 sets of scout axles in the basement, but I went this way because: 1) GW front has stronger, 1/2 ton outers, scout has CJ type 2) GW has closer to correct castor 3) GW has internal hubs (after I put them in) 4) GW is an easier swap for the tie rod length drag link etc 5) GW has stronger tie rod 6) GW has tie rod on top of the knuckles already

The scout axles had some advantages: 1) scout rear axles are same size both sides in the rear - spares will fit either side. 2) scout has 5 X 5.5 wheel bolt pattern 3) Scout front spring perches were right width for YJ - basically bolt it in if you can live with 0 castor (this is after a quick measurement - could be I measured wrong, but if so they are REAL close).

I chose the GW axles for the above reasons. I had to cut ALL the rear brackets off (will make up new ones when putting them in), and will move the front perches 1/2 inch inboard each and make new shock mounts all 'round. Like I said, I'm in the middle of this, so I'm sure there's lots I'm leaving out. email me if you want me to keep you posted. BTW: This is all for a YJ.

Oh yeah - using a GW front and scout rear would be a good plan, except that GW axles are 6 bolt so they have different bolt patterns.

Chad
clloyd@tsi.bc.ca

 

Ihave a 79 cj with wag. front axle and scout rear and they are good combo. front 58.5 rear 58 in

BRADCO JEEPS