Bad Day For My Dana 44

So, took the Jeep for a drive today. After bringing it home last month and crawling under and through it, I've been taking it on short little drives around the neighborhood to get a feel for how it drives and to try and identify any problems that might need to be addressed. Well, while on the way back home today, it started making noises while coasting. First just mild gear noises, but pretty soon it sounded like I was torturing a wounded yeti every time I let up on the throttle. Limping it home the last couple of miles as gingerly as possible, I finally made it back to the driveway where it gave a final "clunk". Looking underneath, the first obvious thing that stood out was that my rear driveline wasn't attached to the rear axle anymore. Cursing slightly, I crawled under and noticed that it wasn't a U-joint that failed, but the pinion nut itself had come loose and fallen off (seriously?). So other than the fact that this caused the pinion seal to come apart, I noticed an awful lot of play in the pinion shaft itself which definitely wasn't good.

Bowing to the inevitable, I pulled the differential over off and had my suspicions confirmed. Loosing that nut caused the pinion gear to eat itself. Unfortunately I don't have the tools needed to rebuild this properly, so looks like it'll get towed to a shop.


The question is, do I pay to have it rebuilt/replaced, or do I just go hunting for an entire new rear axle to throw under it?

 

It can be saved, replacing will depend availability. Ron

 

you being in california
I suspect you could find another axle to drop in

 

I've got a D44 open case..................if you decide to repair it yourself . Tools are a very good thing to invest in & often are fairly inexpensive.

A lot of info & knowledge on this subject ,here ......... Plus, besides saving a ton of money , You'll have a lot of fun & experience if you do it yourself.

 

If you really cringe at someone else working on it, I’d hunt CL and marketplace first for a cheap drop-in replacement axle. Even if the ratios don’t match, just throw it in until you get the time/money/tools to fix yours. (If you go that route, and the ratios indeed don’t match, pull your front driveshaft so it doesn’t accidentally get put in 4wd.)

 

Centered differential, 30 spline, 3.73? I'm guessing any axle from 72 through 75 will bolt in but Tim would be the authority on this.

 

Do you know what the axle is from? I see '57 M38a-1 which should have a 2-piece D44 w/ 5.38 gears, but then I see D30 up front, so all bets are off.
-Donny

 

Looks like a Trac Loc..centered flanged 44 would be my guess.

 

I believe they pulled both axles out of a mid 70s CJ5 since they have the 11 inch drums on them. So I’m guessing they’re 3.73s, but I didn’t see any markings or count the teeth, so not 100% sure.

 

My wife actually cringed when I told her what happened today, but I actually enjoy the chance to get my hands into a differential, since I don’t have a lot of experience there. I’m very interested in learning more about them, but I’m just leery about screwing something up like not setting the pinion depth correctly and grenading another rear end...

 

If you take your time and go by the book, they aren't hard to do right. A pair of setup bearings really helps things go faster.

 

X2 on the setup bearings. In a few hundred miles I'll know if I did mine right. Next time I regear I'll buy the pinion depth tool to cut down on all the guesswork.

 

I have a d-44 19 spline that has been torn down, cleaned, and ready to be built. What d44 do you have?

 

Please turn your case 90 degrees & post another Pic. We are all just guessing without more........
Oh Yeah.....IMHO, one can't " screw things up " any more than having a pinion nut unscrew itself ! That's just a fluke or somethin' missed by the PO. What are the TSM torque specs on those ? ......~ 200 Ft #'s , I believe .

 

Might call Holbrooks Speciality in Gladstone Or. They replaced/ rebuilt both the 44 and 27 limited slip units on my cj5. In the 1990's they kept complete differentials on the self. do not if they still do that. They have helped me with parts.

 

If it's a centered diff and a Dana 18 transfer case.......that huge angle on the rear driveshaft created by this combination always scared me. I don't know if it would lead to this type of destruction or not though.

 

That's the most unheard of thing I've ever heard of!

 

Yep. Definitely a major screw-up by who ever put that together. It will take some effort to get all of the metal out of the pinion oil return if the housing is still good. That failure could have messed up the pinion bearing seats/bores.