Swapping a scout dana 44 in my cj

Ok, my buddy just gave me the front Dana 44 out of his 1973 Scout. The 44 has the drum brakes. I would be putting it into my 70 CJ. I also have a Dana 30 sitting in the garage, (need to change gears). I believe that the disc set up on my 27 would transfer over to the 30. I don't know about the 44.
Question 1: Is this a good swap? (44) Same lug pattern and same gearing. (also has locker)
2: How easy is it to convert to disc brakes? Can I use the same stuff I used to convert my 27?
Thanks, Rob

 

Its doable, not sure about the dana 30 disk swap onto the scout 44. You do realize that the scout axle will need the knuckles rotated as there is zero caster on these axles. The springs will need out boarded on the frame and this axle is about 5"-6" wider than your rear 44. Unles your gonna swap the rear also its gonna look really funny with that much wider front track over the rear, especially with the outboarded springs.

 

My impression is that Wagoneer 44s are easier and better for this application. The Scout axle is a good width, but it has a lot of issues, as Mike pointed out. Check old posts - axle swaps have been covered a lot in older posts.

Google is your friend: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&..._gc.r_pw.&fp=74e371c96a48f4b&biw=1311&bih=973

 

My understanding is that the scout 44 swap is much more difficult than the dana 30. I did the dana 30 swap and it has worked very well for many years. If I ever break an axle shaft I will upgrade to the alloy high strength shafts.

 

Thanks Guys! I think I'll stay with the 30. I guess free is not always good.

 

There are some good parts there though. The locking hubs (if equipped) are the same as the Jeep 30 and the drum brake spindles should be the 6 mounting bolt variety but with Jeep disc brake spindle dimensions (stronger than Jeep drum brake spindles). The outer axles work great if you choose to upgrade the inner axles to the larger 290x/760x Dana 44 joints as they are dimensionally the same as Jeep 30 outer axles except for the u-joint size and where the inner spindle seal rides (the one pressed into the back of the spindle, this is iirc).

 

There's a couple of thing to considerm i've been doing research for my future swap a lot.

First of all knukkle of a dana 30 can be use on a scout dana 44 using the dana 44 outer shaft because they got the same spline count (27).

Second: You can narrow a scout dana 44 to meet the rear 44 of you're cj. What you need is to shortered the long side tube to meet the cj lenght and you put a bronco (71-77) inner long shaft as replacement. Doing that and using cj dana 30 knukkle you can keep you're original direction rod.

Third, you will need to change the angle of the knukkle angle to get 5-7 degree.

Finally you will need to change ratio on the scout dana 44 because they came must of all with 3.07.

The big thing about swapping a dana 44 you got the same component for the front and the rear.
There is a lot more pieces and locking possibilities for a dana 44 than a dana 30.