I am looking to score some axles from junkyard for my Jeep. Anybody have a recommendation as to what kind of vehicles are the best for no brainer swap. I have a 78 CJ 7. Passanger side front diff. I have a 30 and a 20 now with crappy gears (2.73) Anyway any info would be great.
Thanks

Ok.. well.. first, there is no such thing as a NO BRAINER swap. The easiest swap would be front and rear D44's from a Grand Wagoneer. This would net you a lot of strength, and give you decent axles.. Of course, then you have to find a Grand wagoneer thats older to get a D44 with a pass. side drop, and if it is older, it will more than likely have a model 20 HD rear. So.. if you wanted front and rear 44's you would have to find the front from an older waggy, pardon me, I don't know what years, and the rear from a newer waggy. now, if I had a CJ, with the diff on the passenger side, Id check the for sale board here on a regular basis and get a 60/14 bolt set. They are all over the place here, and are bullet proof.
Scott :grinpimp:<><

Thanks, I will see what I can Find. Do I need to worry about width if I get the axles from the Waggy? I was reading somewhere that they make a wide 44 and a narrow 44, how do I know which I have?
Sorry for being so uninformed

Use the search. It works well and there is a ton of info here.

Just some advice from a fellow newbie.:flipoff2:

you want 73-79 waggy or j-truck d44 65.5 wide track 59.2 narrow track

t also seemed like the ones I looked at with automatics,The rearend was way off set and the only one I looked at with a 4 speed T-18 had the differential more towards the center.also it makes a difference if it has 2 inches fender flares or 4 inches on the cherokees.The 4 in. being a wide track and 2 in.being a narrow track cherokee. If you are going to have them narrowed the long side on the front and rear are the only ones you have to mess with as long as its not one of them that is way offset

From reading several posts, here's what I can give you:

Grand Waggy D44s are pretty nice for swap material and as the previous post stated, the late 70s had pass side drop(don't get closed knuckle-earlier 70s, pre 73 I think)

For the rear here are some options:
Early Bronco 9": big and beefy but has a low pinion to bang on rocks. My buddy has this axle and it's tough. Look for the big bearing version('73-77'?) and get 35 spline axles. 60" track width.

Rear D44 out of Grand waggy: not sure about the 70s but in the 80s I think they started in 84 with the rear D44. moderate strength rear axle for up to 37" tires, low horsepower, light rigs.

OR Keep your rear D20. D20s are underrated. check randysringandpinion.com tech section on this. swapping to a 1-piece HD axleshafts setup will help dramatically. big pinion and ring for strength. only available up to 4.88 gears but if you don't run over 37" tires this should be fine.

Front:
70s grand waggy D44: I was thinking 60.5" track width but depends on who's measuring. 6-bolt wheel pattern so if you get a 9" or keep your D20, get Ford D44 knuckles/brakes to make it 5 bolt pattern.

Scout II front D44: popular swap for CJs w/ pass side diff. Can't remember if it's 58" or 60" width but there are several writeups on this.

Like previous post(s) said. do a search. search on pirate and through google and other search engines. You'll find a shitload of writeups on axle swaps.

if you go dual dana 60s or d60/14bolt you can't go wrong. It's a great thing having a 1ton drivetrain.

if you have less than a 300HP motor and want to keep your rig light, go with d44s. scout d44s are the right width and an easy swap (be aware of the location of the front diff.)

If you go fullsize axles, you'll have to widen the stance on the front leaf spring mounts on the frame. otherwise you'll have to get the axles cut($$$).

The only thing keeping me from having a complete 1ton drivetrain is my 1310 front driveshaft. i have 1350cv rear and dual ford d60s with full disc brake. I've beat the living piss out them and only thing i've broke is an ancient 1310 yoke on the rear d60 before the 1410 yoke i slapped in there.

Regardless of what you get. rebuild the axles completely. I've gone through more bearings than I'd like to admit all because the mating surface on the spindles in the front axle are scored allowing water to enter no matter how much grease I jam in there.

If you go the fullsize axle route, get rims with the appropriate backspacing and it'll look close to stock. A dually axle is good to look for because they have a shorter stance (only in the rear). they're not too hard to find.

i've seen/drivin/helped build jeeps will a great variety of axles. but the best combo i think is 1ton dual d60s (or a 14bolt) and I'm more than satisfied with them in my jeep.

nothing better than being able to smoke 38.5s on a jeep and not worrying =]

Yeah, after posting the options, I forgot to mention the full width 1 ton approach. The 1 ton axles really do make it less worrisome on the trail. Also, if you plan on going with a tall lift(6+") and/or big tires(> 35s) full width will offer a little more stability. I've got about 10" lift, 35s, about 63" spaced wheels with 4" backspacing and it feels pretty top heavy.