The original stub shafts that came with my Wagoneer front Dana44 have two grooves machined on the splined area of the shaft. I picked up some spare stubs at the wrecking yard but they have only one groove machined on the splined area. I don't know if the Dana 44 that I got the spare stubs from had locking hubs because all that stuff was gone. Does anybody know if I need to have the two grooves (snap-ring grooves I assume) in the stub to be able to use locking hubs?

I wish I had a digital camera to show better what I'm trying to describe.



thanks,

AFAIK the inner groove is used for the solid lock plates
Also I think factory spicer hubs used this groove
The outer is lined up for the Warn hubs
Some Chevy trucks had the two groove stubs too.
Ford stubs have only the inner groove (and they are shorter overall than the Waggs..)

Ya I'm running a waggy 44 with ford outers and ford stub shafts. I dont' even use a snap ring on the stub axle. I thought that was kinda wierd but apparently late 70's Fords never did. By the way the ford stubs are shorter then the waggies which are the same as chevys I think.Later:smokin:

CRO, I have Warn hubs. So it sounds like I'm OK to use the stubs that have only one groove?

So can you use just about any 44 stub shaft in another 44 regardless if its ford chevy dodge jeep?

Nope the Fords are shorter. You can use them just can't use the snap ring. Just ask any EB guy the did the chevy disc brake swap.

So are the chevy/waggy/dodge the same stub shaft?

for the most part,the waggy d44 uses the same stub as a chevy d44,or 10 bolt,cept for the snap ring grroves. as was mentioned,the drive flange and spicer lockout use the inner groove. i had a set of stubs,whose origin im not 100% sure of that only had the outer groove. i made a small spacer to go between the snap ring on the outer groove,and the gear on my spicer lockout. never had any trouble with it. now im running a wide track waggy axle,and warn lockouts. dont remeber if the stubs im currently using hae both grooves or not.

you can "interchage" any stub that uses the same u joint. wether it will work with the hub/spindle/etc. is a different story. as was mentioned,ford stubs are shorter,so to swap the ford stub you also gotta run the ford spindle,hub,etc.

ive noticed lotsa cj guys will swap on ford hubs,etc. so they can retain the 5 on 5.5 wheel bolt pattern.

i dont know much bout dodge. ive seen a few that have had funky,sealed bearing hubs,like an xj :eek: so that particular one will definately NOT interchange

My waggy 44 has two grooves as well. If I remember correctly, I use only the outter one for the Warn hubs.

Thank you for the help guys.

:emb:

I just switched from a Toy front to a 44 and I was putting the Warn hubs on last night and in the instrucions it even states that it's not important to run the c-clip. It even mentioned that Fords don't use them. I didn't bother. I'd heard of others not using them either and coming from a Toy it sounds wrong but apparently it's not.

Although use of the snap ring isn't needed for the power to transfer, it is needed to keep water out of the back of the spindle. If the axle stub isn't held tight to the back of the stub, water can get in. I also use a Waggy outer with 6 on 5.5 pieces and when I installed lockout hubs, the inner groove was covered by the lockout, but the outer groove wasn't tight. I made a small spacer to tighten things up like saprobe did. Jeff

Originally posted by Jeff 92xj WI
Although use of the snap ring isn't needed for the power to transfer, it is needed to keep water out of the back of the spindle. If the axle stub isn't held tight to the back of the stub, water can get in.

Jeff


Why was Ford able to not use a C-clip then?

I just noticed that on my stub-shafts, the single groove stub-shaft has the groove set in a little bit more than the outer groove on the double groove stub-shaft. Probably dosen't make sense. Anyway, I don't know why there would be so many small variations on such a simple part.