Goin' Com-man-do: new axles (kinda) v1.4 3-28-12

Scout II axles. I guess the scout rusted off the top of them. R.I.P. to a great four wheel drive.

Dana 44s 30 spline w lock out hubs. 58" wide which will take care of
the tires hitting the springs near full lock.
58"-53"=5" / 2 = 2.5" wider each side than the jeeps stock narrow axles.
I'm sure there won't be ANY other problems putting these on. Riiiight.

Lighter than full size ford dana 44 for sure...

What a difference 5" makes..

The cover came off and some light gray "ooze" came out with some very clear water.

I guess the axle was left upside down so the vent sucked up water.

Got the passenger side hub pulled- The bearing grease was brand new- bright red.

There was also 50' of fishing line wrapped around the inner axleshaft along with

several pounds of dirt. Brand new brake pads too.

Also got the drivers side pulled- new grease there too. I guess it was being rebuilt then abandoned.

The white lines are center to center of the jeep springs, the yellow are the original scout pads.

The scout has a pad cast into the bottom of differential,

The new differential pad is centered over the right inner axle u bolt. this needs to be ground off the top

and positioned to match the other new pad, OR move the jeeps springs out a bit.

good link to whats happening:

http://www.jeeptech.com/convaxle/ihscout/d44f.html

Orange box =stock scout gearing, Red box =stock jeep gearing, Green box= now in the black @ 2766
w 4.56 gears in 3rd. Overdrive rpms should be @2000.
With the new sized tires the new gearing should be close to the stock 3.73 & stock tires thus, easy highway cruising w an overdrive and better wheeling with the dana 300.

{Scout 2s had a v8, 3 speed auto, 3.55 gears, and dana 20 w 2:1 low range and did just fine. although 10 mpg uphill, downhill, or towing, or being towed}

It came with a scout power steering box but I don't know the condition of that either.
They're post '74 due to disk brakes and rear drums.

I need to tear into them completely, they're pretty ugly right now. The parking brake cable was cut, so the
jeeps will have to be transplanted onto it. I may see if the jeep brakes fit on the rear.
I don't know the rear drum size, but they seem smaller than the jeeps 11" drums but they look a little wider.

$update$: acquired new rotors and got them pressed on the hub for $52 per side,
ball joints- chinese $15 ea or moog for $47 ea,
calipers $19 ea reman., precision u joints $14 ea,
axle pads$13 w shipping, and going to rotate knuckles on axle 6*- time and labor.

Finished with the outers of the axle finally.

New rule #1- unless I'm out in the boonies and desperate, ball joints will be done at an auto shop.

I will gladly take all components to them, a stack of cash, and smile when they hand me

the bill just so I do not have to do this again.

I rented a ball joint press from the parts store. Guess what- they don't fit 4wd axles!!

(not the top one at least) I guess they're made for teeny tiny car parts only.

I had to cut down a old driveshaft tube to make a tube tall enough to fit over the top joint and "coerce" it into

position, and had to make a spacer to push the bottom one all the way through.

"Super strength" Precision (MOOG) swivel joints installed FINALLY
These are not greaseable because the cross is solid. I replaced
the vaseline that was in the joints with some better grease prior to installation.
BTW: Take in the old u joint to the parts store so they can't sell you the
wrong part...twice..

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I started chopping on the scout axles finally- after megarun, I realized how extremely narrow (and tippy) the jeep was.
When new, the scout was 3300 lbs, I guess they used 1 3/4" wide springs, but more of them to distribute the weight.
The commando was 2800 lbs and only uses 3 rear leaf springs in the pack, although wider.