This one is easy, if ya know the answer, ya know the answer.

I am going tomorrow to grab a set of 5.38's out of a short nosed CJ I bought and burned within two hours. The gears are to go into a waggy 44.

When I look up part #s for the carriers I see that a different part # is listed for the early carriers. ( This does not include side gears for I already know that the two piece axle will be 10 or 19 spline).

My question is this: Will the carrier still work. I am going to run a lunch box for now since I will go to a 60 as soon as one makes itself avilable so the side gears are not an issue unless a 30 sp side will not fit in the case, at which time I will need to go grab a different carrier.

I know carrier that will fit in a waggy 44 (and probably any other since the only description is "D44 carrier") and take 5.38s is Spicer 706025X.

Not sure if that helps you though...

The stock carrier in the two piece rearend with the 5.38's is a low series carrier.

How early is the carrier? Some of the 'early' carriers took different carrier bearings, the difference being the I.D. of the bearing-- thus the internal part of the carrier was a little bit smaller for the coarse spline shafts. I'm not sure if the 30 spliners will fit. You can e-mail parts mike for an absolute answer.

Or you can put the two side by side for an even more "absolute" answer.

The older 19 spline Dana 44 carrier appears to use the same carrier bearings, however, the 19 spline side gears have a smaller OD index into the carrier, so the 30-spline side gears will NOT, I repeat, will NOT fit in a 19-spline carrier.

So, if you're a cheap bastard like 78CJ and want to use free used gears out of old junk 19 spline Dana 44's, you'll have to find yourself a generous friend with a pile of free used low-series 30 spline Dana 44 carriers to make it work.