97 TJ Axle and Gear???

[san0696]

Need some help/recommendations! Have a 97 TJ 4.0 5spd. with D30 front & D35 rear 3:07 gears. Already have 35" tires and 6" long arm kit on it. Want to upgrade rear axle housing & gears and need any advice. Been looking more at D44, but keep seeing stuff regarding 8.8. What is the 8.8 from? thanks

[jeeperak]

the 8.8 is a ford axle..mustange explorer....i wouldnt wast th ecash on the d35

[Stuka]

There is also a 28 spline and a 31 spline version of the axle.

[crawlin'YJ]

You're on 35's on that axle combo? If you wheel, kaboom! 8.8 seems to be the rage for smaller tires, usually up to 36/37 maybe, but a stout 35 spline D60 is easy to build in my opinion, and you'll never have to worry about it, even if you go bigger tires. FYI I've blown the spider gears on my old Dana35 when i was driving normally on the road back in the day, with only 32" tires :shaking:

As for the front, I get by with a ford d44 with alloys and ctm's, with a 4 cyl, 4:1 and 5.38 gears on 38's. Surprisingly, its taken a beating and held up except for a hub or two. And thats running black/red trails at harlan ky, crozet va, and rausch creek pa. It works fine, but for reliability and peace of mind, I plan on building a 60 front so I don't really have to worry when I switch to 39 red label crawlers instead of the 38 grooved sx's i have now.
:smokin:

[wiggamoe]

Get a d60. A D44 might be enough for now, but enough is never enough. 35s seem good now, but you will want something bigger 6 months down the road. Get a D60 so you can get bigger tires and a locker later.

[BCYJ]

8.8 is from a EXPLORER, all explorer 8.8's are 31 spline, no matter if its drum or disc, no matter what any other yahoo tells you, if in doubt pull the shafts and count the splines, theres 31.

ITS MUSTANG and RANGER 8.8's to avoid, they are narrower and come with 27 or 28 spline shafts.

8.8's from a F150 are to be avoided because they are full size width, if your going full size width, why not 60 it?

Is the search tool broken?

http://members.cox.net/rough-riders/tech_page/ford8.8/ford8_8.html

[jeeperak]

why is everyone here so hyped on the 60. i researched it and you can build a 9 bigger and badder than a 60 for cheeper, not to mention the ease of changing a 3rd member. not flaming just wondering

[san0696]

Are all the 8.8's set up for leaf springs only? We are doing a 97 TJ with coils. We Don't plan to go any bigger than our 35s, don't want the D60 size & weight for now. THANKS

[Stuka]

why is everyone here so hyped on the 60. i researched it and you can build a 9 bigger and badder than a 60 for cheeper, not to mention the ease of changing a 3rd member. not flaming just wondering

A rear D60 can be had for about 200 bucks, its a full floater, has a bigger ring and pinion, and has tons of gearing and lockers available for it. To build a 9" up to be as strong as a D60 is going to cost a hell of a lot more than buying a D60 and throwing in some gears and a locker. If you were looking at the TruHi9 page, dont believe everything they say, most of the things they point out have no bearing on the total strength of an axle. The 9" is a nice half ton axle, but its still a half ton axle.

[jeeperak]

i think the 9 has a thicker ring man, and the parts for a 60 are more pricey, i can build a bomb proof 9inch that uses some 70 apps and is bomb proof, i guess it depends on where you are located i cant find 60s at all and the 9 and 44 i got i had to hunt for. i think that is the page i got lots of info from. soooo well hell i just spent mad time trying to find 60s butgave up and went for the 9. now im at a loss on what to do..i dont plan on going bigger than 37s so maybe ill be good for a while

[Stuka]

If you cant find a D60, then go with what you got. You may never have any issues. It may be worth converting the 9" over to a full floater setup, really takes a lot of stress off the axle shafts and will make the axle last longer. Not sure what kind of rig you have, but if its a little jeep and not a full sized rig you probably wont have any issues. Well, unless you put in a high HP V8 and like to use lots of skinny pedal :)

Oh, and the 9" does have a thicker ring gear, but that doesnt really effect the over all strength of the axle. That page compares the R&P, but not the rest of the axle. A D70 for instance has 4" tubes, 1.5" 35 spline shafts, and is just beefy as hell. For them to say a 9" is superior is really misleading.

[truehi9]

We're only talking about gear strength and deflection on our website and everything stated is factual to the best of our knowledge.

We base the info stated on our website on 2 factors.

1. Calipers for measuring.

2. Results from the comp teams that had to Cryo their HP D60 ring and pinions so they could get through 2 events before changing gears since that is all the longer they would last before cracking/breaking gear teeth. We just disassembled one comp teams Hi-9s after 5 events with NON-cryoed gears for a ratio change and inspection and you could barely tell they had been run. No dual pattern on the gears. That particular rig had been in a situation that busted most of the parts around the Hi9 including tearing the suspension mounts off the rig and spitting a u-joint so far and hard it dented a fellow competitors tool box on the trailer.

We apologize if somehow the website was misread or misunderstood by anyone. :)

[ACHASE6002]

Go 8.8 If U Only Want 35's

[san0696]

We have decided to go 8.8 for sure now, we already bought new 35's and new wheels, so found out they will have same bolt pattern. Thanks!! After researching some more stuff on the net about the axle exchange, it don't sound bad at all. Thanks again for everyones input.