D44 options

I would be careful about sticking an old Detroit in the M170 D44. The older Detroits are not dampened like the new "soft locker" and have a lot of backlash in them and combined with the 5.38 ratio of the M170 rearend, it's going to be hell to drive on the street especially around town. I installed an older Detroit in my friend's 83 J10 truck with 4.10 gears and the only thing keeping him from pulling it out was the fact that it had killer traction off road.

 

There is some good info going on in here, thanks for the replies! I am pretty familiar with Detroit Lockers as a good friend of mine has been the sales rep for them. They are all SoftLockers now, except for the C-clip applications. I have run both in my TJ, and the one in my current D60 is smoother and quieter than the detroit I had in the old axle, which was a D35 (c-clip) with a super 35 kit. But the old one I didn't feel was overly harsh, then again that was in a TJ not a 2A Jeep with an 81" wb. It looks like we are going to get the Detroit for the D44 and hope it has 19 spline shafts. if it doesn't then it will be time to look for some used ones.

What better way to tackle a project then to dive into it w/o thinking


BTW I was reading the newest copy of JP mag and didn't know I was talking with so many celebrities, congrats on a lot of you guys making the mag!