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Seeking axle advice

V

vedian

New member
City
Spotsylvania
State
VA
I recently bought this 1981 CJ-8 at an auction. A previous owner changed all of the drivetrain. It has a 360 V8. I believe the entire drivetrain is from whatever that V8 came from but I don’t know for sure. Both front and rear axles have been changed. The front axle is 54” from backing plate to backing plate. The rear is 52” and the pumpkin is offset! The vibration is coming from the crazy stupid angle of the rear driveshaft. From the offset pumpkin to the trans is probably a 12’ difference left to right. So the rear driveshaft is a bit sideways. It’s crazy. Anyway, I removed the rear driveshaft, and put it in 4WD high and it drove fine. Well, kinda. It has no sway bar. That’s right, None. Zero. It sways like a boat. It’s a very nice looking parade vehicle at this point.


So here’s what I want to do and I’m hoping I can get some advice on how to get there.


Choice one - sell it as is.


Choice two - fix it so it’s road worthy. I know I need to replace the rear with a centered pumpkin so my driveshaft is straight.

I need to install sway bar in front. The challenge here is that with the current axle set up, the leaf spring mounts are outside of the frame! I’m not comfortable with that. So I’ll need to source front and rear axles. OR - can I have the front axel’s and housing shortened and move the spring mounts back to where they’re supposed to be?

I’m not afraid of any of it. Just trying to determine the shortest distance (time +$) between where I am, and where I wanna be. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the advice.
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Easiest way, IMO, is to get wide track front and rear with sway bar and hangers and get it back to '82 and up stock. Depends if you want serious off road or highway enjoyment with normal off road. Pick your gears.
 
Kim Dawson said:
Easiest way, IMO, is to get wide track front and rear with sway bar and hangers and get it back to '82 and up stock. Depends if you want serious off road or highway enjoyment with normal off road. Pick your gears.
Click to expand...
Definitely road w/a side of off-road.
 
My last CJ7 had 31" tires. It had no sway bars and it handles fine. It was basically stock with no lift but did not sway, no bad handling, wasn't scary. Yours is obviously far from stock.

Did you buy it sight unseen and didn't know it handled bad and had vibrations? Did the seller tell you this if this was the case? I personally couldn't sell a Jeep without disclosing those issues.
 
Your probably right that it all came from a single donor vehicle. My guess is a late 70's fullsize jeep based on the axles. Also looks like a Dana 20 transfer case, but hard to tell. Assuming a TH400 for a transmission. All of that plus a 360 would suggest one vehicle.

The front spring perches are about 4.5" wider than the CJ's, that is why your springs are outside of the frame. One of the reasons the 70's fullsize jeeps came with an offset rear was so the driveshaft could clear the fuel tank. As long as it doesn't exceed the u-joints specs for angularity, it's just fine. A CJ8's wheelbase is around 5 inches shorter than the donor Jeep so it is possible that it is binding. Measurements and photos of your rear driveshaft would help identify the problem.

I agree the cheapest/guaranteed resolution is going back to stock. The stock rear looks like it will bolt back it. The front is another story, but shouldn't be too difficult. However, I would spend some time to work with what you have. The donor Jeep would have had a swaybar, which would probably be an reasonable fit. Look for a swaybar from a 1974-1979 Cherokee.
 
1987-1991 Grand Wagoneer had centered rear axles and would be the same width with drums. 1991-1995 Isuzu Rodeo/Honda Passport had a rear Dana 44 too, that is around the same width, centered, and had disc brakes.
 
Those axles are a pretty solid upgrade from what CJ8s left the factory with. Those axles are stronger, wider than stock and have better brakes. They look like FSJ dana 44s front and rear. I would look for a centered rear 44 from a newer wagoneer if the offset is a problem. The welds on the outboarded front spring mounts look a bit suspect. That said, outboarding and shackle reversals have been done for years. You can get a new front bumper with the shackle mounts built in from several manufacturers. You can also narrow the front and rear. Personally I wouldn't but I like wide Jeeps.
 
On the swaybar to start: I'm guessing this is more poorly matched shocks at least as much, if not moreso, than any missing swaybar. Lots of us on here have run our lifted Scrambers without swaybars for years without "swaying like a boat" Yours isn't armored or caged, so it should be even more easy to get by without a swaybar (and even more than that because your springs are outboarded and have more leverage on the Jeep as a result). I wouldn't get into that yet...because of the rest of this.

On the axles: just hold up on that too. Going back to stock is NOT the cheapest option. Agreed that they look like FSJ axles, someone went with a matched set and that's why you have the offset rear. I have FSJ axles but went with a 78 front 44 and 81 rear HD AMC20 to get back to a centered axle. (there is no year FSJ with the correct front diff location and centered rear axle you can grab to swap, you have to go with mismatched years) What you have can be made to work and is a nice upgrade to have. Don't start switching things out.

I think you could call JE Reel Drivelines and explain that you have an offset rear axle and a CJ D300 tcase and have them walk you through the measurements needed to make you up a double double cardan rear driveshaft. Alternatively, you could go to a local driveshaft shop and let them take a look at it to do the same thing. I was just talking to someone at Trail Hero who did this same solution for the exact same reason, they were using an offset rear and got one of these made up to deal with the angles. If there's nothing functionally wrong with your axles/brakes, you're taking a step backward and any axles you get is going to cost you time and money well more than swapping out your yokes and rear driveshaft.

The non-centered pumpkin isn't ideal, but it can be used as-is IMO. A new driveshaft and a good set of shocks (Bilstein comes to mind for your stated use) with proper extended/compressed measurements to select the right ones) and you could be right as rain IMO.
 
Kim Dawson said:
Easiest way, IMO, is to get wide track front and rear with sway bar and hangers and get it back to '82 and up stock. Depends if you want serious off road or highway enjoyment with normal off road. Pick your gears.
Click to expand...
Disagree with this. Wider axles can benefit just as much on road, painting the setup he has as "serious off road" isn't accurate IMO.
 
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