Discussion of built driveline

[The Dark Side of Will]

Absolutely... it will be heavily gusseted. This is only an intermediate step.

[DaemonForce]

I have to be honest, I've been following this thread for a very LONG time now trying to follow the warnings about what all I can expect to encounter with the 4.7L swap but wtf is going on with that bracket? I have never seen this on a Cherokee, Commanche, Wrangler, Wagoneer or anything. It's just a weird support bracket that hangs off the Eagle's Dana 30. Does this make the Eagle 258 or Dana 30 unique just because of this support bracket? Is there an effortless way to work around this? I'm going to do some dry fitting in the morning and I hope I don't have this issue since my 4.0L block is an early model from an 89 Cherokee but I get the feeling this is going to be a big deal anyway.

[Mernsy]

The mounting boss on the 4.2 block, where the bracket bolts on, should also be on your 4.o block. You may have to drill and tap the hole, though, in order to bolt the bracket on.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I have to be honest, I've been following this thread for a very LONG time now trying to follow the warnings about what all I can expect to encounter with the 4.7L swap but wtf is going on with that bracket? I have never seen this on a Cherokee, Commanche, Wrangler, Wagoneer or anything. It's just a weird support bracket that hangs off the Eagle's Dana 30. Does this make the Eagle 258 or Dana 30 unique just because of this support bracket? Is there an effortless way to work around this? I'm going to do some dry fitting in the morning and I hope I don't have this issue since my 4.0L block is an early model from an 89 Cherokee but I get the feeling this is going to be a big deal anyway.

The Eagles use Dana 30 IFS, which bolts to the engine block via brackets.
Other Jeeps use solid front axles, which do not bolt to the engine block. That's why you don't see the same brackets on a Jeep.
There are ribs on the 4.0 block that prevent the Eagle bracket from bolting up. The mounting holes are there, and were tapped in my block. Many people grind the ribs down. I chose not to.
I modified the Eagle bracket to clear the ribs.
I found that the Jeep exhaust manifold put the pipe in a place such that it would interfere with the bracket.
Faced with the option of modifying the manifold AND making a custom exhaust pipe OR making the bracket from scratch that would clear the unmodified Jeep exhaust manifold and pipe, I chose to build the bracket from scratch.

[BenM]

I have to be honest, I've been following this thread for a very LONG time now trying to follow the warnings about what all I can expect to encounter with the 4.7L swap but wtf is going on with that bracket? I have never seen this on a Cherokee, Commanche, Wrangler, Wagoneer or anything. It's just a weird support bracket that hangs off the Eagle's Dana 30. Does this make the Eagle 258 or Dana 30 unique just because of this support bracket? Is there an effortless way to work around this? I'm going to do some dry fitting in the morning and I hope I don't have this issue since my 4.0L block is an early model from an 89 Cherokee but I get the feeling this is going to be a big deal anyway.

AMC was very clever. While they couldn't do the completely isolated front suspension like they did in the Pacer, hanging the front differential from the engine instead of the unibody reduces noise and vibration. It also means that the front drive shaft doesn't move up and down so clearances could be tight even as the engine flexes on its mounts. I'm surprised they didn't continue to use the isocalmp pads on the Eagle rear springs.

[carnuck]

I'm GLAD they didn't use that rubbish design! Once they get a year or so old in rusty areas, they start twisting and break loose from the leaf springs. Even worse offroad.

[DaemonForce]

Interesting question. Does a Dana 44 IFS exist on ordinary junkyard Jeeps and if so, will it bolt up to an Eagle that is equipped with the 4.0L block?

[eaglefreek]

Interesting question. Does a Dana 44 IFS exist on ordinary junkyard Jeeps and if so, will it bolt up to an Eagle that is equipped with the 4.0L block?

As far as I know, there is no such thing as a Jeep front IFS Dana44 or any IFS Dana 44 besides the Ford TTB. GM used a 7.25 front IFS on Syclones and Typhoons with lots of horsepower and the internal dimensions are almost exactly the same as the Dana 30. I would keep the Dana and spend money on stronger custom half shafts.

[DaemonForce]

Yeah after looking over my options I'm starting to think the best course of action is to rebuild my spare Dana 30, keep the 2.73 gearing for now, stuff a locker in it and then bolt it up. All the experimental stuff will have to wait until I get this thing running again.

[carnuck]

The only Jeep IFS D44 I know of is ancient. '65 pickups and Wagoneers. It was too fussy so they dropped it.

[DaemonForce]

The only Jeep IFS D44 I know of is ancient. '65 pickups and Wagoneers. It was too fussy so they dropped it.

Aha! So it DID exist at one point! Huzzah! (*･ω･)ﾉ

At the very least it MIGHT become an option granted I ever see an old Wagoneer in my life time. I mean, of course I will, there are a few in town but none in the picking yards anymore. I'm starting to think I should visit South Portland for the first time in years but I'm not sure a full tank of gas is worth the trouble to check out ONE vehicle that has probably been all vultured apart by now.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Some C4 Corvettes and all(?) Dodge Vipers use a D44 center set up for IRS. That unit may be adaptable to the front of an Eagle.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Old Jaguars used a D44 variation, and bolted it to their rear suspension cage via 4 bolts into a flat pad on the top of the differential housing.
It would be relatively straight forward to make mounting brackets to bolt to that pad and thus hand a Jaguar diff from the side of a 4.0 (or 4.7)

Photos:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390861240794
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151258008342
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191196351985

I'm not sure if the Jaguar housings can accept standard D44 gears or any aftermarket components like lockers.

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_independent_rear_suspension

[The Dark Side of Will]

The initial iteration of the bracket had the gussets welded on... but then got LOST (ie, accidentally thrown out by the cleaning lady  :-x  :-o )

So I had to build a new one. It's basically done except for blast/paint, but it will get a little more gusseting on the forward side.



So now that that's in it's final stages, I'm starting to build a Bill of Materials for overhauling the diff.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Yeah after looking over my options I'm starting to think the best course of action is to rebuild my spare Dana 30, keep the 2.73 gearing for now, stuff a locker in it and then bolt it up. All the experimental stuff will have to wait until I get this thing running again.

Try www.car-parts.com and look for a 3.06 from a 258 Eagle with towing package... I understand not everyone wants 3.54's, especially if they're keeping automatics, but 2.73 is a pretty wimpy gear--just not as wimpy as 2.35!