Rear Dana 44 upgrade/locker question

I have a '50 3a with a Dana 44 rear axle.  With the blessing of my wife, I am planning on upgrading it to full float using Herm's kit.  (The Jeep will be flat towed quite a bit.)  Herm's kit converts the carrier to a 30 spline.  Once that is done, will any 30 spline Dana 44 locker work?  I would love to put an Eaton E locker in it.  The Jeep will be driven by my wife on the road, so I would like to have a selectable locker.  Any input is appreciated.  Thank you.  

Thank you for the response. I don't what to do any work on the axle until I know exactly what I am doing and have all the parts. I do not want to tear into it twice. 

Fair point. However, I am a hack mechanic so everything takes me 4 times as long everyone else. That is the adventure, figuring up something completely foreign to me. 

If you do not have the experience of setting up gears you might be ahead of the game to find a local shop that specializes in it to do that part of the job. I took rear end class 3 times in my Auto tech college major back in the early 80's and I still had a local shop do the assembly on my rear gears. getting it close is just not the same as getting the preload, contact pattern and such perfect. My cost here was $250

   You can Do This ! _ _ _ make Set-up bearings with your old ones. :)


   Pinion depth is critical, and with set-up bearings it is a breeze really.

   I have always set up my own differential builds.
Like grandpa mentioned, I take my time and do lots of research ahead of the re-assembly. It really is a piece-of-cake, once you do it 4-times on your first set-up. I have never used a Dial-indicator for lash, because you can "feel" .004 clearance with your fingers.
   If your mesh pattern is good, then your Lash can vary, and doesn't need to be exact. Look how crude this unit is.
   Setting up is much easier if you take your carrier and pinion shaft to the local machine shop and ask the fella to pull the bearings with his bearing separator, and then to put them on the Rod-hone and hone the cone out to slide easily onto your carrier and pinion.
   Presto, you have now at your disposal, a pair of Set-up Bearings to determine your shim-pack thickness. Your pre-load when installing the carrier into the housing should be Snug.
   
   Bearings are tough, and they can take a lot of punishment.

   Very important is to take note of the numbers on the end of the Pinion shaft on the gear-end. Those numbers tell you correct pinion-depth and how to add or subtract shims to set pinion depth without a proper-depth-gauge.
Pay attention to the shims that came out with the bearing race on the gear end of the pinion. And again, make a set-up bearing to slide onto the pinion gear end to make the job easy.

   I have successfully set-up all sorts of rear-ends up to and including Dana 70's which are just bigger and bulkier than the Dana 44.
You can Too.
   
   Recruit a buddy for confidence ( the wife ) hahahaha   _ _ I do. :)

   Chiltons motor manuals have a real good explanation of how to determine the shim thickness with the markings on the pinion and all of this.
    I learned using the chiltons, and have the wife check your Math !

   This really is a job you should tackle just for the Gratification and familiarization of the process. It is all on the internet somewhere.

   Checking the Wear-Pattern is like finding TDC on an engine. Shim both ways and pick the pattern which is the median of the wear-patterns and again pinion depth comes into play here also.
   I'd bet there is probably a good Link here on the forum to a good Tutorial for this, or Herm my have one on his page.

   Good god I have flat-towed my CJ-7 over to the Rubicon trail many years, and always wind-up getting myself into a bind, and wind-up having to either un-hook or skid the front tires while attempting to back-up out of a dead-end street. All fun stuff yes, and have Fun with your Floater :)

GrandpasOld50 wrote: Thank you for the information, Greaser.  It helps a lot.   I have one more question.  I was just reading a build on the Pirate 4x4 website that Herm's website linked to.  The builder was planning on converting his 44 to full float and then changed his mind because a friend told him there are always problems with the axles after they have been converted (like leaking seals and broken axle tubes).  Has anyone experienced similar problems?  I really want to do this, but not if it will cause more problems down the road.   Thank you all for the responses and advise.

Rick, thank you for the response.  I am glad to hear a success story.  It gives me more confidence to forge ahead.  

Fltfndr wrote: Rick, Do you have the number of the outer axle seals that you used with the Herms floaters on your 44? Fltfndr