5.38 gears 33 inch tires in my 1968.

Hey guys, I was smart enough to snap off both bleeder screws on my d44 in my cj5. As an option I found a d25 and d44 out of a 1960 cj with new brakes. Would the gearing of 5.38 be doable with my dauntless and 3 speed in my cj5 running 33inch tires? Or, should I try and find another axle, or try and find someone with a puller and just do the 11 inch upgrade on the rear I already have. The guy wants $400 for both axles.

What say you all? BTW I have the 11inchers on my front already and plan on a swing pedal upgrade once I get the rear brakes sorted out.

 

4.88's would be a better choice and the only way I would run 5.38's is with an overdrive. It will be a very good trail rig with the 5.38's. What were the stock gears? I think the standard was 3.73's with optional 4.88's.

 

I run 5.38's and 33's. I love it on the trail, but i'm only comfortable doing 55mph-ish for long periods of time since that's about 3000rpm I don't hold rpms higher than that for long periods.

 

Sorry, this would be an around town rig. The Id tag on the axle now says 3.73 gearing. I plan on an overdrive in the further and look for a max speed of 60 on the freeway. Right now about 50 is all I need eout of this rig. Trying for a cost effective way to run these bigger tires with out braking anything.

 

I guess I would feel pulling the hubs and replacing the wheel cylinders would still be easier than swaping axles especially if you have 11" backing plates/drums to install. Your existing axle should be 19 spline and you would be downgrading to a 10 spline version with the proposed swap. The 19 spline version is definately stronger.

 

1960 vintage implies 19 involute splines.
All Jeeps with D44 use 19 involute spline from late 1956 through late 1969.

 

1960 vintage implies 19 involute splines.
All Jeeps with D44 use 19 involute spline from late 1956 through late 1969.
D44 from late 1956 to early 1963 are some of the best since they all had 5.38 final drive.

 

I didn't even think of the spline issue, thanks for reminding me. I guess I'd be better off with a once piece axle and 11inch upgrade. Anyone have a puller I could borrow? Or maybe if your local somewhere in Washington able to give me a hand once I get the parts together?

 

You can swap side gears and axles and keep the 19 spline setup. That's a pretty easy swap.

 

The thrust block needs replaced as well as the od of it is different from 10 spline and 19 spline. Btdt.
I run 33" tires and 5:38-1 diff gears and a Buick V-6. Sucks on the hiway but works great off road. With an overdrive it would be tolerable up to about 60 or so mph.


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Question - if you only snapped off two bleeder screws, why not just replace those two wheel cylinders instead of both axles? Am I missing something?

 

actually it's not that bad. when i first got my jeep and wheeled it all the time i could have it in 4 low and put in reverse and walk up a pretty steep hill without giving it hardly any skinny pedal. my friends called it the john deere. now the rocks was a totally different monster and wish it was a little slower but was manageable. i run 33" tires and stock steering with a VERY stiff clutch pedal so by the end of the day i had popeye arms and left leg. also it was a 3 speed t-14.

 

I think the PO sees this as an opportunity to change his axle gearing from 3.73 to 5.38, for better trail performance.

My first reaction would to be fix what you've got. I'd keep the 3.73s and instead think about a T-18 swap. $400 private party seems expensive to me for a 25 or 27 and tapered 44... these are cigar butts to anyone except for repair or restoration. The 3.73 gears are stronger than the 5.38s, due to the larger pinion size. And finding a 3.73 Dana 30 front will be fairly easy, should you want to upgrade. The 5.38s are good for the F134 - but the F134 is either short on power or all wrung out with a higher or lower ratio, resp. 5.38s are very deep and not suitable for sustained travel much above boulevard speed, IMO. Good for a trail rig though.

If it's a flanged rear or a PowerLock that might make a difference... but $400 will give you a good start on a T-18 swap. Find a Jeep T-18 from a J-truck or Wagoneer, and buy the $200 short shaft kit from Parts Mike... that should be close to $400, and you'd have the big pieces.

 

Like Rondog says, I think you can get the wheel cylinders off without pulling the hubs.

Don

 

I would buy the hub puller and fix what you have. You will need it again sooner or later even if you chose the 5.38 axles. OTC 7394 Hub Puller $113.26 at Amazon, extra legs $48.36 each. You can have a 5 leg puller for $210 and pull the hubs anytime you please. There are other brands, this is just the first one that came up. Some rental places have them if you don't want to buy.

 

Re: snapped off bleeders. In a pinch you can loosen the brake tubing nut at the cylinder and bleed from there. Not totally kosher, won't flush the top of the cylinder, but can get you by for a while.

 

I have a 70 V6, T14, Warn OD, Dana18 wide bore (early dana20 case), 4.88s with 33s.
I think off road is too fast. OK on bad roads, but obstacles are toooooo fast.
You should verify what you have, because 4.88 will not fit on the 3.73 carrier. (best I know 3.37 and lower -- 3.92 and higher are the carrier ranges)

Also, a lot of people here have the skills, motivation and tools for fabrication. A transmission swap is a doable thing for them.
I did a bunch of work researching the SM420 and SM465 4 speed conversion and decided I was not up to the task. Figured $1500 when all said and done.
The changes for a V6 are bell housing, bearing cap, trans to xfer adapter (includes rebuild of trans), cross member and drive shafts.

I chose to go with different transfer case gears. Jack O'Brien Rock Eater 3.6:1 upgrade. For the wide bore dana 18 case (also dana 20 cases with D18 gears) it is a very simple rebuild of the transfer case. Cosmetic grinding for clearance is the only issue. Cost is $2200 total with over drive gear upgrade.
It was a lot of money, but met my skill set.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. This will be a mild trail rig/weekender, run on mostly light mud, snow and sandy areas around here. The reasoniI was asking about this swap was the listing said NEW brakes were on the axles, come to find out they are old and rusty 9inchers, lame.

In the future im looking to add a t18 into my rig for the low 1st gear. I'd also like an overdrive and to upgrade the axles to keep up a little better with the 33s, those are as big as I'm ever going to go.

I dont plan to run anything other than 11inch drums on this rig and already have them on my front axle. Basically I need a shopping list because when it comes to gearing I'm in the dark. Also I'd like a real parking brake, no matter how I adjust the drum on the back of the tcase in never holds.

So lets say I'm keeping my dauntless v6 but the rest is optional, trans, tcase, and axles. All of these will turn my 33inch tires. I'm going to collect all the parts before I do any work because it seems if I change one thing the rest need to be worked on.

Is there such a thing as a bolt in d44 one piece axle pass side drop for my 68? I've read the d44 from a 71 is a bolt in but don't know fofor sure. Also, my neighbor has a 68 with a pass drop tcase andand a centered rear d44, it seems to run OK, would that be an option? New drive line and centered pumpkin, or would that explode into a million pieces?

Thanks for reading my uninformed ramblings BTW.