G'day, just joined as building a project involving marrying a Willys Pickup with a Diesel JK. I am buying a rolled JK Diesel and using all the drivetrain and suspension etc in my 1960 Willys pickup.
The problem I face is the the JK axle at 65.9" WMS to WMS ( 61.9" track plus 2" wheel offset each side ) makes it too wide for the front axle but right for the rear using the stock offset wheels. The Willys has a 6.5" narrower front axle than rear and dont want the front axle causing the wheels to sit out that far.
So now for the question: Can I use say a TJ/XJ/ZJ front D30 to get the 60" width they have but use the JK's D30 centre, hubs, knuckles and brakes? I dont how how much changed in the front D30 of the JK compared to the TJ etc as all the info I can find out there is comparing it to the D44 differences. I am trying to use as much as possible from the donor JK as possible and the Willys will be a parts runner etc and not be used in hard offroad conditions. Have another Jeep for that.
So is there anything I can use between the two front ends as want to keep the same bolt pattern and JK brakes without having custom parts built that are wear items?

 

I believe the JK uses a 32 spline axel as compared to the 30 spline of previous model. The 30 on the JK is also much beefier.

You might want to see if there are crossover axles you could buy and maybe pay to have the front end narrowed.

Another possiblity is to have steel wheels offset to bring the tire centers in as if it were a narrower axel. You probably would have to have 17" wheels to do that. Do a mock up first, don't take my word on this part of it.

 

Thanks for the reply. Keep reading about the D44 being beefier as well as the D35 but had not seen anything on the D30.
The problem off using more Backsppacing is that the stockers already have 6.25" so much more and the wheel centers will be sicking out further than the rims!