Re: JPOR: CJ D30 hubs onto XJ D30?

["Paul W." <a4xnut@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm working on just such a conversion right now, Scott - for similar reasons. 
I thought it was going to be pretty easy, but I ran into a couple of slight
snags, so it's still not done.  Once it IS done, look for an article on
Jeepwire!  You can be sure I'll let the list know when the article is there -
unless John beats me to it.  :)

In a nutshell though, you need to cut off your XJ knuckle yokes and weld on
yokes from a full-floating D30 because the knuckle designs are completely
different on the semi-floating axles (basically, any fresh Jeep design from the
XJ-on).  I used a Scout D30 because that's what I had and it's axle tube OD was
exactly the same as the XJ.  I'm guessing the CJ D30 yokes are the same, but I
haven't measured them to be sure.  Once you have the FF D30 yokes on your
housing, you can run any FF D30 or D44 knuckle-out that you desire.  Since I
also swapped in a Scout D44 rear (that's one #1 reason I decided to do this), I
chose to go with something that has a 5x5.5" pattern, but if you choose a 86-up
SJ Wagoneer D44 or a 80-86 SJ Wagoneer AMC 20, you could run SJ or GM hardware
for the 6x5.5 pattern.  One of the snags is the inner axles will have to be
shorter than stock and due to the OEM axles necking down behind the spline, you
can't narrow them (a Scout D30 short side will work for the XJ's short side -
if you want 260 series U-joints, but I don't know what you can do for the long
side).  And if you run a disconnect housing (like I did) there's also the issue
of the axle seal way out on the outboard side of the tube and it's very large 1
9/16" seal diameter.  I'm working with Warn as I type this to see about a pair
of custom shafts... with 297 joints, of course.  (They'll basically be
shortened YJ 297 conversion shafts.)  The other snag is you will also have to
revamp your steering linkage because the OEM stuff will be too long.  More
details will be in the article.

Unless you have access to cheap or free parts for this swap and discounted/free
labor for the knuckle yoke R&R like I did, the RE bracket kit and a D44 could
be a cheaper way to go... unfortunately.

Paul


Scott Rozman <sfrozman@facstaff.wisc.edu> wrote:
> I've had the idea of trying to convert to a more heavy duty rear axle than
> the D35 for my XJ and a lot of the potential good swaps would have a 5 on 5.5
> bolt pattern.  One solution to that would be to run the rather costly Warn
> conversion on my D30 with the 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern. I just thought of the
> other potential.... What about some parts from a CJ D30? Would there be a way
> to easily use the locking hubs and whatever other parts necessary from a CJ
> on an XJ D30 to give me the benefit of locking hubs and the 5 on 5.5 bolt
> pattern? There seem to be lots of CJs that have moved up to bigger axles, so
> I am guessing that there must be CJ parts lying around in garages. I know
> there is the option to build an axle for the front too, but with the coil
> sprung front end on the XJ, the bracketry seems to get more complicated
> and/or expensive to set up.
> 
> thanks for any thoughts,
> Scott


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