Rear diff.

[Kday129]

Hello everyone. I am a new member as i am taking care of my girlfriend's 97 wrangler tj. Last night her rear diff went out. Grinding sound then pop. Now pops evertime the driveshaft rotates. From another post i gathered that it can only be a dana 40 with 373. As far as i can tell everything is stock /original. However after having it towed home i havent looked to confirm.
So my question is...
She will eventually want to make it into a toy as we are able to peice it together bit by bit. While i swap the rear diff can i go ahead and do an upgrade now without doing the front at the same time, if so what is a good route to go, or should i just go with an inexpensive oem replacement and do them both at one time when i can.

Ps i am a really good you tube part swapper but thats about it.

 

[Duck Doctor]

Rear is either a Dana 44 or Dana 35. Easy to determine which axle based on the different differential covers.

What axle do you plan to install in the rear?

 

[Kday129]

I am not sure which axle yet. I had hoped to have more research time and then this happened. I am open to suggestions. We are a little limited by funds

 

[Duck Doctor]

What modifications do you plan to make to the rig that would require a different rear axle? Dana 44 can support 35" tires and a Dana 35 with Super 35 kit will also support 35" tires

 

[Kday129]

We will go with 35s. Replacing axles because i feel like while i am already there and they are almost 30years old might as well.

 

[KennethS]

they are almost 30years old might as well.

The rest of the Jeep is that old, too.

 

[Duck Doctor]

If you have limited funds then I'd forget the idea of 35" tires. Figure $10,000 minimum to setup the rig for that tire size if you plan to wheel terrain that requires 35" tires.

 

[bbaldwin237]

If you want to deal with setting up used gears, I just pulled a 3.73 LSD carrier from my 44 and have it listed for sale here. I think it would probably fit in a flat rate box but not certain.

I'm honestly not sure if you could just swap her gears (assuming they're not wrecked) into my carrier without have to go through a full gear set up.

 

[Rickyd]

Hello everyone. I am a new member as i am taking care of my girlfriend's 97 wrangler tj. Last night her rear diff went out. Grinding sound then pop. Now pops evertime the driveshaft rotates. From another post i gathered that it can only be a dana 40 with 373. As far as i can tell everything is stock /original. However after having it towed home i havent looked to confirm.
So my question is...
She will eventually want to make it into a toy as we are able to peice it together bit by bit. While i swap the rear diff can i go ahead and do an upgrade now without doing the front at the same time, if so what is a good route to go, or should i just go with an inexpensive oem replacement and do them both at one time when i can.

Ps i am a really good you tube part swapper but thats about it.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...d-what-the-difference-is-with-each-axle.9060/

you want the differential ratios to be the same front and rear. Don't bother "upgrading" unless you can do both to match larger tires