Front Dana 44

I have a good lead on a front HP D44 out of a bronco and really like the option of going up to 5.38 gears. I hava HP D30 now with swampers 34's and have never broke anything.
What are the challenges with the ford HP dana 44 in a 88 xj.
I think I will have to buy new rims, obviously bracket and spring bucket work but what else? I have otk steering now will I have to re-work that? can I weld to the Dana 44 or is it all cast? It seems like this would be a popular option any input?


I swapped in a 9" a few years ago and have been running wheel adapters to keep the same wheel bolt pattern but with the disconnect hubs that doesn't seem like an option in the front, I my pick up this matching set and sell the 9" I have spooled with 4.56's.

If it's a 78-79 bronco, it'll have the cast wedges. Bascially instead of having a solid section of tube from the diff to the inner C, it has a short section of tube pressed into a cast peice of tube with cast in wedges. I've seen an XJ with a stock-ish 4 link design perched precariously on top of that, but it wasn't pretty. If you want to run it you're best off fabbing brackets to run a stock design ford radius arm. Problem it's got very little flex by design.

If it's a 77 or earlier BRONCO (NOT F150), it's narrower, also has small u-joints and low pinion (so I assume that's not what your talking about)

Good link for info
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Dana44.htm

If you want to run 1/2 ton Ford HP, get a 76-77 F150 front. I'm running a '77 if you want details I can give you exact part numbers.

SC Rednek said:

If you want to run 1/2 ton Ford HP, get a 76-77 F150 front. I'm running a '77 if you want details I can give you exact part numbers.

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why?

the 78-79 f250 hp44 is considered the 'best'... thicker tubes, bigger brakes, and easy to cut off leaf perches.

Yes, but he's talking about 1/2 ton, not an F250. He would have to run adapters from 5 on 5.5, out to 8 lug on the back. 3/4 ton axles are a couple inches wider too.

SC Rednek said:

Problem it's got very little flex by design.

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I just extended the ford radius arms and built some coil buckets over the arms. It works great so far. It def. binds more than say a three link, but when you put weight on it it has no problems with flex.

XJLI said:

why?

the 78-79 f250 hp44 is considered the 'best'... thicker tubes, bigger brakes, and easy to cut off leaf perches.

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But you have to be careful how much cast leaf perch you take off on the drivers side. Colin broke his in half right there because When it was narrowed, the amount of support on that side becomes very small.

1/2" wall tubes on the F250 D44s, which is the same as my '77 F150 tubes.

SC Rednek said:

Yes, but he's talking about 1/2 ton, not an F250. He would have to run adapters from 5 on 5.5, out to 8 lug on the back. 3/4 ton axles are a couple inches wider too.

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Ya, but you could also just replace the knuckles out, and have the 250 center section. You wouldn't have the brakes, but you would have the 5x5.5

Then all you gained for the work was going from 2 3/4"x1/2" tubes to 3"x1/2" tubes, with the cast perch still in the way, and about 2" wider so still would want to run spacers on his rear ford 9". Plus you have the cost of using half of two axles, not just one complete axle.

As far as the brakes, I did a cheap weld on disk brake conversion on my 9", with the 1/2 ton front brakes and slightly smaller calipers in the rear, I can lock up all four wheels on pavement, I don't know why you'd need more brakes than that, our XJ's aren't 10,000 lbs.

To me it sounds like the OP is wanting to do this with only a moderate amount of modification and cost, using X1994J's method is probably the best for him, he has a good lead on a bronco 1/2 ton front, already has the rear axle to match.

BTW you can run up to 5" of backspacing on your wheels with a f150 d44, helps to keep it a little narrower i that's what you're wanting. Mine's only 78" wide to the widest part of the tires. And the OP's question about OTK steering, the knuckles on the d44 are wider set than the d30, I used ballistic fabs high-misalignment steering kit. The smallest you can drill the holes in the knuckles to are 3/4", so don't buy a 5/8" bolt kit.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

pataterchip said:

Thanks for all the input but that all seems like it could get ugly real quick & I don't wanna half ass this, I'm gonna start a new thread on the high 9 for the front seems like that would be a really cool project that would yield huge rewards.

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You think a simple 44 swap could get ugly real quick but you want to take on building a high 9??

XJLI said:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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X2!

pataterchip said:

Thanks for all the input but that all seems like it could get ugly real quick & I don't wanna half ass this, I'm gonna start a new thread on the high 9 for the front seems like that would be a really cool project that would yield huge rewards.

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If it's cast wedges, more than a few have run them successfully. old_man is running that setup and is very pleased with it. I almost bought a set of axles but was too slow. Swapping in an HP44 is far from half-assing it. It'll be exponentially cheaper than a Hi9...

I have run a full width 1978 with modified Ford radius arms for years. I have wristed the passenger side radius arm, but really have never needed it. I am running 10" shocks IIRC and it will limit the shocks both ways. With the wrist undone, it could easily flex 18".

I hear a lot of people badmouth the radius arm setup, but never anyone who has actually wheeled one. FarmerMat did one about 15 years ago and that is where I got the idea.

I did all the build and fab myself. I have a total of around $1100 in it and that includes axle, gears, locker, rotors, spare set of stock axles, RE SuperJoints, rims and spacers for the rear to match the front width.

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.
I was just thinking that even a low 9 with dana 30 knuckles wouldn't be that hard to build and I would have a lot more gear choices every D44 I've seen stops at 5.38. which for 34's would be fine but I have been on 34's for a couple years now with the same setup so I wanna get to 36's or 37's. so I want low gears i only drive it to to trails and most of the time I just tow it behind MH so this will not be a DD. I just cant see how off setting a 9" and welding D30 knuckles would be that hard. I am the fabrication manager for a large machine shop (150 guys plus) so I have a lot of fab and machine tooling at my disposal just very little axle work know how. Currently I have a rusty's 6.5" long arm with 1.75" coil spacers and OTK steering on 34's.
Ya I looking into the high 9 3'rds and that’s money so what about a low 9 and 37's what could go wrong there? Just trying to figure the best I can get for around $1500 and all my spare time for two weeks.

X1994J do you have any pic's of your current D44 setup?

If it would quit snowing I would have them up on the site but it seems everytime I try to take them, mother nature turns into a .......

Maybe you can explain it cuz i can't wrap my head around this... is the stock ford setup just one arm on both sides or is a Y link like my rusty's kit? I'm sorry if thats a dumb question but i really don't know.
The D44 i'm considering is out of a 78 Bronco.

There is one arm on each side. The arm is mounted on each side using a poly C bushing. You can buy bushings with different built in angles for setting the caster.

The Ford setup uses a big bolt on the end of the radius arm where it mounts to the frame. On the end of the bolt are a pair of large washers and neoprene bushing and held on with a big nut. While some people save a few bucks and keep the same frame end, I cut off the bolt, welded a short section of tubing and put in a 1"-14tpi insert. I took a Large RE SuperJoint and welded a 1"-14tpi grade 8 bolt to it. That allows me to adjust where the axle sits in relation to the frame. It is simple, cheap, and bulletproof.

Wristing the radius arm is in general not well understood. Just as in a long arm setup with two short arms from the lower arms to the upper control arm mounts, when you flex the whole assembly has to twist. To solve this most hardcore folks will drop the short arm on the passenger side. This allows the passenger side arm to rotate, allowing the whole axle to have great flex.

Wristing the passenger side arm on the Ford setup is pretty simple and cheap. If you wrist one, make sure you put limit straps because it will flex to the limit of the shocks.

Here is my current setup, the bucket mounts are also tied into the knuckles, this was during the build.


Ford arms cut...


Cut a slit in the pipe and slide it over...


Weld it up..


bolted up...

Theres a TJ at one of the local shops here running a set up alot like Old Man's I havent seen it in action but every body says it works very well.

pataterchip said:

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.
I was just thinking that even a low 9 with dana 30 knuckles wouldn't be that hard to build and I would have a lot more gear choices every D44 I've seen stops at 5.38. which for 34's would be fine but I have been on 34's for a couple years now with the same setup so I wanna get to 36's or 37's. so I want low gears i only drive it to to trails and most of the time I just tow it behind MH so this will not be a DD. I just cant see how off setting a 9" and welding D30 knuckles would be that hard. I am the fabrication manager for a large machine shop (150 guys plus) so I have a lot of fab and machine tooling at my disposal just very little axle work know how. Currently I have a rusty's 6.5" long arm with 1.75" coil spacers and OTK steering on 34's.
Ya I looking into the high 9 3'rds and that’s money so what about a low 9 and 37's what could go wrong there? Just trying to figure the best I can get for around $1500 and all my spare time for two weeks.

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a low pinion 9 with 30 outers is tarded'

lowest pinion ever
weakest outers ever

high pinion 609 or nothin