just curious and need some clarification,,,,
Are the 44s in the straight six Rubicons the same good old 44s or are the the cheapos????

I'm not so sure of the years but in a few years the pumpkin was aluminum! There seems to be a lot of failures in the 44's with the aluminum centers. I understand that mopar stopped that at some point and went back to the cast iron centers. So the advice you'd get here would be to stay away from the aluminum ones and the iron ones are good as gold.
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

It is my understanding that Grand Cherokee's were the only ones with aluminum pumpkin...

If you are talking about a rear Rubicon 44 axle, then yes it is a good axle and better then the aluminum center section ZJ D44a you were asking about in other posts. But depending on whether your talking about the TJ Rubicon 44 or talking about the JK Rubicon 44 the latter is a FAR superior axle than the Grand Cherokee D44's and even the TJ Rubicon 44. The TJ Rubicon 44 will be the same width as the Grand Cherokee if this is still the vehicle that you're swapping it into, you will just have to slightly adjust the upper control arm angles as they were different between the TJ and the ZJ. It has the same 8.5" ring gear, 30-spline shafts but is non-clip (ZJ D44a has c-clips), comes with disk brakes, and a factory locker. The rear JK Rubicon 44 is a different beast altogether, it won't bolt up to a ZJ as the coil buckets and control arms are way different in their positioning, it's also about 3-4 inches wider than it's predecessors. It's a superior rear axle as it has an 8.8" ring gear, 33-spline factory axles, rear locker and the pinion shaft is roughly 1.6" which is almost as big as a D60 pinion shaft. If you're talking about a front Rubicon D44 then I don't think they compare to the older versions especially if you're talking about the front TJ Rubicon 44...

Fred R.

I'm just trying to catch up on my Jeep Knowledge.
I'm done messing with my nieghbors Grand. She can get it rebuilt. I'm not gonna chance putting a salvage yard one in that hasn't been rebuilt and live with the wrath.
Another nieghbor has a 2003 4.0l Rubicon. He's not real mechanical , so I was curious if he should have a heads up on any shortcomming on his. He just put a whole aftermarket suspension and driveshaft in it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Depends on the suspension....

And, which version of the suspension...

The common complaint I hear is bushing wear.

There are reports of brake line problems (driver side front) with some suspensions. Seems the stock line position lends itself to tire rub and premature failure when larger tires are installed.

The suspension is integrall with the new skidplate .He had the whole suspention put on at 4 wheel warehouse in Frezno. Not sure of the brand yet...