Keep it or bin it?

[Ohsoladedah]

I picked up a freebie Dana 44 housing which I was hoping to use as a project build.

The factory JKU diesel here is Australia comes with 3.21 gearing which is terrible on 33” tyres. It occasionally tows and the clutch struggles with the lazy gearing.

I never get into high range off-road due to the gearing. It’s just too much on the drivetrain and engine when tackling a breakaway in sand or trying to move across any obstacle.

I was hoping to use this housing to build up a nice 4.11 ratio, perhaps with an e-locker while I’m at it. That way, when I’m ready, all I have to do is swap the fully assembled housings and the Jeep stays on the road for the most part. It’s a daily driver so minimising the down-time is essential.

To the point, when I pulled down the freebie and gave it a clean out. I found a bit of damage next to the carrier bearing. It looks as though a shim pack might have spun in the housing and gouged it out slightly. Shame.

Question is, can I just shim it out, achieve the required pre-load with additional shims and save the diff? Or am I better off binning this one and working on my existing D44.

I get it…. It’s always best to work on a pristine foundation but I don’t want to spend huge dollars on this project if I’m going to a CRD60 in the future. As is, I’m hoping to spend big $$$ on an upgraded D44 for the front early next year.

thanks heaps.

 

[Snboarder113]

I don’t see how a shim could’ve done that. The correct answer is to have it repaired and machined. But it doesn’t look to have really damaged the case, and the damage to the bearing cap while not ideal doesn’t look to have taken too much structure away. I would say it’s usable as long as the bearing race still fits snug without spinning. That said, you already own a better shape one and as far as downtime - gears are still just a weekend project I would just do that and not have to mess around swapping entire axles.

 

[WJCO]

Is that the ring gear side? I wonder if a ring bolt came lose and spun around in there? I would reuse that case myself. Look really closely for any hairline cracks in the housing there though.

 

[Ohsoladedah]

Yep. Ring gear side. Certainly could have been.