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I can attest to that. No e-brake on my Sammi. Gears didn't hold it, lost compression, and rolled down the hill, running into another Sammi in the club. I had no damage (1/8" steel rear bumper vs Suzuki sheet metal), and he had a bent fender!

Good news. I have tracked down both left and right parking brake levers. I'm going to set-up the parking brake with a universal parking brake cable kit. Basically will convert my Nissan to a American type u-shape cable set-up.

What about getting on Mastercar and getting some 2.5 OD with 1.875 ID tube to just fill up that hole?

Or what is the OD of the bushings? 1.5"?

Mcmaster-Carr has some options with 2.5 to 1.5 ID, gonna cost about $60 though. Would that be any cheaper to do that and have your welder buddy do it?

Just realized, if thats the size you need. I have a buddy with a bunch of that left over from his link material, hes selling it on pirate now for $20 a foot.

Black92s- I'll look into what you posted.

The problem is welding the inside of the frame. With the exhaust and tranny in the way there's no easy way to get a good weld with the stick.

We discussed going with a larger tube and bushings. Still there's a welding issue.

Thanks for the info, Monday I'll take some pics to give an idea of what needs to be done.

How good is your welder? I know there is some tight places up in there, but I cant see how a MIG gun can fit where a stick will not.

yea, i think you have the welding thing ass backwards. you mean a stick electrode will get into places a mig gun won't.

I'll have a different guy look at the truck this week.

Excellent work so far, I am just starting to look for Wagoneer axles over here in the UK.

It took me a month to figure out what on earth a `waggy` axle was!

ps, can anyone confirm the rear D44 waggy axle (approx 86-90) is a 30 spline unit ? There is a Detroit locker for sale over here at a decent price, but I wouldn`t want to buy it before I know the axle matches.

Top work fella.

pps, 13/2/2004 The Detroit locker over here is the `True-Trac` LSD front unit, the seller had the wrong description on E-blag. DOH

not gonna find a rear d44 in those years more than likely.around the states the wagoneer is gonna have the amc20 in the back.

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Originally posted by Spolar:
not gonna find a rear d44 in those years more than likely.around the states the wagoneer is gonna have the amc20 in the back.

Incorrect. In '86 or '87 they switched to a D44 rear axle with a centered diff. All modern D44s have the 30 spline shafts, so yes, that locker should work.

Look for a 10 bolt diff cover to confirm a D44.

stand corrected

updated parts list on page 2. I've over the 3K mark now. Yesterday I brushed on some flat black pain rustoleum on the axles, leaf springs and front leaf spring hanger. I still have to paint my rock sliders. Those are going to be simi-gloss black to match the arb bumper.

Picked up the leaf springs to day. Here's the pics.



Here's a pic of the rough stuff dana 44 swap kit.

AWESOME DAY. We got the front axle hung. The front end is sitting on it's own right now. My tires and wheels do bolt up the the dana 44!?! Talk about a surprise, I did not think my wheels would fit over the d44 hub. The dana 44 u-bolt plates I ordered from foothill off road did not fit the dana 44 u-bolt kits they sell. However ruff stuff u-bolt plates do fit the one wide d44 u-bolt. Wish I would have know this or I would have just ordered 4 spring plates from ruff stuff. The axle shock tabs I ordered from ballistic fabrication don't right right. They will have to be modified(grind to fit).

Removed the rear axle and leaf springs. Got hung up on the new leaf springs. The new leaf springs came with bushing but not inserts. The bushings were also the wrong size for the shackles. Drilled out the bashings, happen to have a bushing insert laying around.

We took rough measurements of where the spring perches should go. It looks like the S10's frame is about ~1.5" narrower than my Nissan frame. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and do a single test fit. See if the axle will work as-is.

Parts on order.
1” high steer arm spacer from www.partsmike.com. They have the best price. I hope partsmike ships fast.
Shackle's from ruffstuff. I haven't ordered these yet. I need to measure my current leaf spring shackles.

I'm totally excited to see the front axle underneath the truck.

Can you bend the u-bolts a little to make them work?

What did you end up doing about the shackle hole?

Foothill offroad u-bolt plates will not work with the one wide front Dana 44 u-bolt. Foot hill just cuts the hold in their plates to work with a rear d44. I'm using 5/8 u-bolts, there's no way I'm bending those thing inward.

However ruff stuff specialties drills their plate out wide enough you for placement on the front or rear axle of a dana 44.

We just swapped the u-bolt plates around. I'm going to use foothill plate out back with ruff stuff u-bolt.

What surprised me was foot hill off road sells front dana 44 u-bolt's I expect their spring plates to also fit a front dana 44.

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What did you end up doing about the shackle hole?

This will be the last issue I'll address. I'm going to complete both axle swaps then trailer her to a shop where we can fix the shackle issue.

Next weekend I'm going to install the rear axle take measurements for brake line and drive shafts.