Axle build/replacement. Need help.

Hey all. Ya'll have been such great "advisers" thus far, figured I'd take it a step further. Everyone seems to be telling me to keep original stuff in it so I guess I will for now. Ya'll have also said drive it till something breaks, then work on it and I just can't live with that! Here's the deal. I have 2 axles (front and rear) from my 64 CJ5 from years back. The ones in my 58 seem to work fine but I just don't know how or if they've been cared for. So... I thought I'd rebuild the spares to pristine and solid condition and install em when done (in the meantime I can drive it). Then installing them shouldn't disable my rig for longer than a weekend. I'll be running 33s so I want low gears (5.38s maybe), true selectable lockers and disc brakes! I've seen enough here to know this can all be done but my question is, what ARE my axles? Both sets are stock issue so wouldn't they be the same models? If not, what model are the 58s and 64s?

 

Off set dana 44 in rear for both, 19 spline axles. Dana 27 for front for 64 I think, your 58 has a 25 up front probably not sure when the switch over was. They both have 10 spline axles and are interchanable. look at the axle from the front should have a 27A or such in top right of diff. there is a good chance the axles already have 5:38's scrape the crud off and check for a tag or pop the cover and count the teeth on your ring & pinon.
Sounds like a good plan. Do a search here, lots of info on disc conversion, you'll want to switch to a dual resivor master cylinder as well probably.

 

Hey Windyhill, thanks for that. Listen, as I said this Jeep is new to me and unfortunately, due to the nature of the purchase, I did not have the ability to research or inspect this Jeep fully. I'm sure a broke several "cardinal rules" of buying a 4x4. Fortunately though, and its a big FORTUNATELY, upon further inspection in my garage (and knowing what to look for thanks to ya'll in here), I noticed the drums on the axles under the Jeep (not the ones I was gonna rebuild) looked large. My tape says they're 11 inchers! From my review here, although these are still not discs, they are a step up from the smaller drums and because of the time involved in doing the disc conversion, I think I'll keep 'em for a while. That being said, what do you think about this decision?

 

Did you take the drum off? You need to measure the inside diameter to determine that they are 11" drums. From the outside, they should measure something more than 11" depending on where you measure.

If you have the 11" drums, then you may as well keep them. They are very good in terms of stopping when dry, but they are more maintenance than disks and aren't self-wiping. If you have 9" or 10" brakes, converting your existing axle to disks is a good low-buck upgrade, but IMO you're not making the best use of your time and resources upgrading a D27 to disks if you can afford something better. You may as well buy a D30 (open knuckles) and use that. Many of the D30s came from the factory with disk brakes, and the rest have 11" drums. This is especially true if you are planning to sink a lot of money into regearing.

JMO - Don't bother to rebuild a front D27 or a 2-piece (nut on the end of the axle) D44 if you can afford to upgrade. Instead, buy a narrow-track D30 and flanged offset D44 rear, and put LSDs/lockers and the gear ratio of your choice into those.

I would not suggest this, except that you seem willing and able to put a few thousand dollars into this Jeep, and upgrading to the axles I mentioned would be a big improvement. Plus, these will bolt up to your existing springs without major downtime. Sounds like this is the approach you want.

Do you have the factory steering?

The most popular major upgrades for these Jeeps are 1) more engine, 2) better brakes, and 3) better manual or power steering.

 

Another point - you say it looks original.

I'd suggest you look for the serial number on the frame and compare that to your title. There's info in a sticky post at the top of this forum about SNs.