Newbee Axle Swap Questions

Excuse the newbee questions but I promise I spend a lot of time learning with the search button on these forums too and I still need some advise. I am lookin to find some axles to upgrade my 66 cj5 and found a 75 cj5 for sale locally with a d44 rear, d30 front, front and rear lockers, two lever transfer case which does 2 low and 2 high, a woody driveshaft,and geared to 4.10 I believe... but his d44 rear is set in the middle and mine is offset to the passenger. So my question is if I buy it, if I can swap setups? I thought about buying just a dana 30 front end but then would have to re-gear so I figure finding a donor might be easier. So can I switch these setups or do I have to stay offset to the passenger side on the rear? Any help would be great! His also has power steering, but drums all around. thanks!

 

We probably can give you better ideas if you can tell us what your plans are for your jeep. What size tires, how much lift, what motor.. etc

I don't think its worth swapping that 75 cj5 drive train in your 66 cj5. All you are really upgrading is the d30 axle and possibly better gears, depending on what you have now.

 

The offest t-case to centered diff won't work in a '5. I think some have tried it in a '6, but I don't recall the outcome...maybe they will speak up.

Now, you could sawp the axles,t-case, trans and motor...but then you have more hurdles to clear (like the length of the motor/trans/t-case, etc.). Not worth it in my opinion.

Why not keep the ECJ5 as-is and build-up the '75? You can't have too many Jeeps.

 

You can swap just the transfercase and the axles to your 66 cj5. The dana 44 in the 75 is a flanged 1 Piece axle which is the best stock axle overall. The 4.10 gears in the axles are probably 4.27 as 4.10's were not offered from the factory. The problem here is that due to the higher gear ratio in the transfercase your not really gaining anything as far as ratios go. The dana 18 has a 2.46 low range and the dana 20 has 2.05 or 2.08 I think. You will also need to swap a gear in the dana 20 to work with the transmission you have. The dana 30 is a good upgrade but if it were me I would get the dana 30 put disk brakes on it and then do a Saginaw steering conversion, to me that makes the most sense as far as upgrades. The 2 piece dana 44 you have is quite capable so long as you aren't gonna put 35" tires on your jeep.

 

Sorry it's got the 225 V6 and I am waiting to install my 3" lift and will have 33x10.50 15's for rubber. I'm trying to get the package I want for the cheapest way possible... good of road rock crawling use but still driveable on the road.

 

thank you