Anyone swap in 44s from cherokee?

I am thinking of swapping in a front and rear 44 out of a late 70s cherokee into a 73 cj5. As it sits now I have a 44 in the rear but narrow trac. I want a wider stance and I looked at wide trac axles but a 44 wide trac is harder to come by. I can get both front and back for half of what I have seen rear 44s out of the 86cjs.
Anyways the problem is the rear has a offset rear. I have a dana 20 t-case and also a dana18 somewhere. So I can swap all the dana 18 stuff over to the 20 case and then it will be offset t-case as well as haveing a lower output. I would need to get another locker and gears for a 44 as I can swap over the locker and gears from the rear I have now.
Also I would have to outboard springs no big deal.
So has anyone done this? Or is it not worth it?
Also there is a possability as to add a overdrive with the set up!

 

Not all the Cherokee's had an offset rear 44, I have one out back that has a centered pumpkin, I believe it came off an '86, and a front off of an earlier one (passenger side drop), think it was a 76 or 74. They are not as wide as say, full size Chevy axles, but about the same as YJ axles. Don't remember the width, something like 58"-59" from wms to wms.

 

The old cherokees had closer to waggy width axles, the XJ is more like a TJ. I know a guy who used Cherokee Chief axles and they worked fairly well but IIRC he had to outboard his springs.

 

A little more detail - before the XJ took the Cherokee name, there were two styles of full-size Cherokee. Initially (74 or 75) the Cherokee had the same track widths as the Wagoneer, except it had 2 doors. In 1976, Jeep introduced the wide track (WT) Cherokee, with fender flares and (ehem) a wider track. Thus you have two track widths: narrow track (NT) like the Wagoneer, and WT. Compare the two side-by-side and the difference is obvious. The front axle of a WT Cherokee is the same as a J-10 pickup, though the J-10 has a wider rear axle.

The NT has track widths (not WMS to WMS) of 59.4"/57.8" front/rear. The WTs are 65.4"/62.3". The NT is most appropriate for a CJ-sized vehicle IMO, considering the CJ WT is about 56" and the XJ/YJ is about 60".

 

Oh, and the Cherokees and Wagoneers from these years with a Quadratrac transfer case had an offset rear axle. The axle paired with the D20 was also offset, but only by an inch or two.

Note that Wagoneer and Cherokee axles typically had 3.07 or 3.54 axles, though 4.10s were available, typically with manual transmissions and 6-cylinders.

 

opps, I'm sorry, the rear axle I have is out of a Grand Waggy, not a Cherokee.

 

The "Grand" Wagoneer didn't start till sometime in the 80s, after Jeep took the "Wagoneer" name for some pimped-out XJs. A Grand Wagoneer will have driver's side drop, and most have a M20 rear, not a D44. The last years (late 86 to 92, Chryco) went back to D44, still DSD.