The issue with the Scout 44's is that along with 0* caster they set the pinion angle at 90*. They got away with 0* caster because of a number of very well engineered components that work together. This includes a very long pitman arm, large steering wheel, power steering box ratio, caster, camber, toe-in, drivetrain placement, and overall vehicle height. When a Scout 44 is taken out of it's original vehicle and placed in another, the well-engineered system is disabled resulting in all kinds of undesireable affects. That is unless you know how to offset them.
What all this means is that a Scout 44 has to be modified to work like other common 44's by cutting and rotating the inner knuckles to attain 6*-8* of caster. At the same time that the knuckles are being rotated, the pinion angle must be determined. Running a standard u-joint or constant velocity (CV) joint at the transfer case determines the angle of the pinion. The anticipated height of the vehicle is also a MAJOR factor. Don't do this step without considering both of these. If you plan to run a standard u-joint, the pinion angle must be set at the same angle (or within 1*) as the transfer case yoke. If you plan to run a CV, the pinion angle is set so it is right in line with the driveline. This is a very important difference that must be fully understood to set it up correctly. If you ignore this step, your driveline will vibrate and ruin the entire project experience. But you won't know it until you get it back on the road and have everything back together. Very costly mistake. ---- This is where almost everybody gets into trouble. And this comes back to what you were saying about lifting the vehicle or leaving it stock height. What happens is people put the springs on top of the axles to attain a 5"+/- lift and they find that the driveline no longer bolts up to the Scout 44. So, they tip the axle forward to raise the pinion. Now everything bolts together and you're done right? Weld those perches and you're good to go. NOOO!!! Big mistake. What has just happened is now you have just created Negative Caster, which is far worse than 0*. So when you get in to drive your recently lifted and very cool ride, your ear to ear grin quickly turns to a disturbed frown as your knuckles turn white with a death grip on the steering wheel because you can't keep it on the road. And if you took your wife along for the first drive, you will hear something like "Turn this thing around and take me home! I will never ride in this thing again!" or "You're crazy!" :lol: :lol: Then you go in the garage, grab a beer and bawl your eyes out because you realize that you just cost yourself about $1000 because you didn't do something right. And worse than that, you don't even know what you did wrong. And so it goes... I can't even tell you how many phone calls I have received over the past 25 years where guys are freaking out and trying to figure a way out of this impossible predicament.
DON'T DO IT!! :cheers:
Now, if you don't lift the vehicle, you can get away with using a Scout 44 axle without cutting the knuckles. You can even rotate it back a few degrees and still bolt the driveline up successfully depending on how long your front driveline is.
This is why the Wagoneer Dana 44's are better. They come from the factory with the correct amount of caster and the pinion angle is set to an acceptable angle for either a standard u-joint at the t-case or a CV if the vehicle isn't lifted. Most Wagoneers came with CV's on the front driveline.
Again, I hope this helps some. Sorry it's a bit long-winded to explain. I tried to keep it as short as possible. Some of you already know this stuff, so it's old hat. This is to help those who are headed for that sad sad day.