d44 rear, to rebuild or replace?

Have me commando in the shop, they think the rear has issues. They are thinking it's the side gear(s). Maybe a missing tooth. This was after a test drive by two different people at the shop (good shop they know my jeep inside and out, not out to screw me).
They haven't pulled the diff cover off yet but will tomorrow and have a look.

I have a tight wallet at the moment, so trying to figure if I'm better rebuilding it or trying to find another rear for cheap?

I don't know much about rear ends (other than when I had the one in my dodge ram rebuild it cost me $1200).

Tough job? Need to pull everything apart or able to do it with minimal dis-assembly?

Good source for gears, a.k.a low price.

What are good donor jeeps for a D44 (I have a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee I'm selling for parts that has a d44) , commandos are not too common here in Mass. I have a stock '73, but forget the ratio.


Thanks

 

The Grand Cherokee used an alluminum 44, not a good swap for anything really.

 

Called the local specialty shop. Gave me some options.

A spider gear kit for the 30 spline D44 is Part # 706027x runs about $97
Said it wasn't all that hard to do (in some cases not all the easy either).

The shop the jeep is at will open the diff, check the gears and metallic content of the fluid.
Was told that if it's not too bad I can just replace the gears. If the oil is very metallic then I should do a full rebuild (metal in the oil and thus everything else)

One the idea of the Grand Cherokee I was wondering about maybe just swapping carriers. Provided they are the same ratio.

Again don't know the differences between a '73 d44 and a '97 d44, other than Just Enos's comment about not much worth taking from the '97

 

Hey now, I drive a 97 Grand Cherokee Of course, it has a Dana 35.

If its just the spider gears, thats an easy fix, hope that's all it is.

 

Gears don't swap carriers either. Really that is an oddball axle that fits only itself IIRC.

 

What ratios do you have?

You can put used gears in, but you will have to set up the pinion depth, pre-load, and whatever they call the side-to-side alignment of the case. Read the manual and decide if you are up to the task.

You can use used gears. Try posting on the NEOW forums to see if sombody has a donor axle for you. http://forum.neow.net/ They could also direct you to someone in the area that could set up the axle for you, if you did not want to do it yourself.