"Right up my alley you're saying then - no special tools, common sense, brute force and ignorance! No idea on the spline count. Does the ARB present anything else being needed Pete?"
Right up mine, too...
No, the ARB essentially replaces the spider gears much like any locker does. The axles will still slide into the main part of the carrier without doing anything to the ARB. Like I said, if you don't have to deal with the (if any) C clip, then everything can be done by the removal of the the brake assembly,disc or drum, the bolts on the back side of the axle, and just giving the axles a tug to get it out of the axle housing. If you keep thinking 'simple is better' and look before you start unbolting stuff, you will be surprised at just how little you actually have to unbolt to remove the axle.
If you have rear discs, you will need to remove the calipers. Drums, just remove the wheel and the brake line and pull the whole axle out, drum and all.
If the axle is broken back in the housing (rare, but it happens. The breaks are usually toward the outer ends), you will have to remove the carrier or cover to get to the other end. The only thing to watch for is trying to support the axle when you replace it in the housing so that you don't damage the inner seal, a job a little harder than it sounds as the farther you push the axle in, the more the end wants to drop and the harder it is to keep it from angling down. Luckily the inner seals are pretty stout to begin with..
Here are a couple of links on the axle replacement. You can see why I asked about the spline count...there are so many companies making after market axles for the 44 and so many different 44 axles out there.
http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/axle/superior02/
http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/te...ade/index.html
http://mightymo.org/Proj_D41-2Replacement.html
http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/d44/d44-1.htm
I like this last one the best:
http://www.jeepbrokers.com/jeep_proj..._axle_swap.htm
You should, if you are lucky, be able to ignore all the gear/carrier information in these articles and simply deal with the axle replacement. Part of that depends on what axle you ended up with to swap in as sometimes the bearing and rings are already on and sometimes you have to install them. Needless to say, if they are already in place, it is much simpler. Try to find out all the specifics that you can befor ehand so that you don't get too many surprises....