i've found a front dana 44 out of a '79 cherokee for $75. i've been wanting to swap a 44 into my '76cj7 for a long time and since i just broke the R&P in my 30, now is as good a time as any. i've been searching all afternoon and i've found info close to what i'm looking for but not quite. i've also read john nutter's article here on 'wire so i don't need that link. does anyone know the width of the '79 cherokee axle wms to wms? i'm guessing from what i've read that the difference between the '78-'79 and '74-'77 d44's is in the outers. my assumption is the '78-'79 does not have flat top knuckles and is 6 lug bolt pattern. can anyone verify this? it really doesn't matter because i already have flat tops with high steer on my dana 30 that should work with the 44. it would just be nice if it does have flat tops so i could sell them.

i've read tons of info on the web about d44 swaps into cj's but now that i'm looking for info on a specific year cherokee axle, i can't seem to find it. thanks for any help.

Widths remained constant no matter what the knuckles or spindles were. Those two items are the only differences in the years you posted.

Now the thing to consider is this Cherokee it came from. Was it a Cherokee Chief? If so it's a wide trac axle and should be around 65.5" WMS to WMS. If not a Chief it's narrow track and around 62.5" WMS to WMS, which is the same as a Wagoneer 44.

Chiefs are easy to distinguish via their metal fender flares.

i have no idea whether it's a cherokee cheif or not. i doubt if the seller does either. i asked about width, he didn't know. i asked if it had flat top knuckles, he said " i don't think so". then he said it came out of a full time 4wd and i would need a part time kit(assumption-selectable hubs). i plan to use the outers from my d-30 anyway so the only thing that really matters is the width. and really, that doesn't matter anymore either. i was hoping for narrow trac but it seems plenty of rock crawlers are building widetrac fsj and full width truck axles for their jeeps. whatever it turns out to be, i'll just build a rear to match and go with it. which do you think is better for rocks? wide or narrow? or does it really even matter?