Another front D44 swap

Just updating on my Waggy Dana 44 front swap progress.

From the day one...


My attempts to shave some junk off the bottom lip...

After...


All old brackets removed...


Coil mounts...


3.5" Pipe


Mounts welded...


Primer...


UCA mount welded directly to the cast... :shocked:


Roughly 90% done...


Cheers!

Very nice, I like the brackets.

This couldn't have come at a better time! I'm seriously considering doing the same swap, and had a few questions before I began. How did you weld the UCA bracket to the housing? I've heard of guys having to "prepare" the housing to be welded on, is this the case? What welder/rod did you use? What did you do for manual lockouts for the hubs? Did you make up jigs for the bracket locations and angles? Awesome job! I've now got inspiration!

I did read about pre-heating the cast when using a mig, but I used a Lincoln AC-225 Arc instead.

I had good fusion to the cast and penatration was significant with several pass and no pre-heating with the stick welder.
I'll be running a Warn prem. hub set shortly, but I still have the manual lockouts. Making cardboard brackets and lining it up took the majority of the time. Everything went smoothly after several critical measuring and re-measuring attempts.
:wave1:

Why don't your UCA mounts match? Looks like the driver's side is leaned over? What rod did you use on the pumkin? The way I under stand it, you need pre and post heat even with a stick welder.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but you posted the pics. I wouldn't drive that thing 10 miles with those upper control arm mounts. The one welded to the housing is especially suspect and I would bet money that it won't hold, and it does need to be pre-heated. I don't like the other side either. It doesn't have enough bracing in my opinion and depends on the strength of that one weld of round tube to square tube. If the weld is really good, it may be OK, but I'd prefer to have better support in the design and not depend so much on any one weld. Notching the square tube on the top and putting the mount in that notch, eliminating the short piece of vertical round tube, would be much stronger. And what's the deal with the angle of the upper mount that's welded to the pumpkin?

BTW, a little work with the grinder to round off the square corners of your drag link mount on the tie rod would make it look much better. Don't know if you're looking for kudos or advice, but there's some advice for you.

I needed to locate a suitable flat surface for the UCA mount, so that is why the angle look awkward on the pumpkin. The driver side UCA mount angle wasn't a major concern with a radius longarm setup.
I used a Softweld 55 Ni 55% Nickel electrode.
The UCA mount welds will hold, if not I'll fabricate a bridge mount above the pumpkin.
I excepted to draw some negative comments the UCA mount, but we'll see if my junk hold up. :yap:

Dazz, why not just gusset the upper mounts?

couldn't hurt, might help!

talk to URF's tech hotline.

they're the "gusset kings" of the jeep world.

they even gusset thier speedometer needles.

I'll start this off by saying I don't know the first thing about it, but it seems to me that those spring mounts are way to tall and the springs will bind on them when compressed. I know thats what happens to bumpstops (or hockey pucks) on the axle side if they are too tall.

:dunno:

Beezil,
Gussets clearly noted!

basalt51 said:

I'll start this off by saying I don't know the first thing about it, but it seems to me that those spring mounts are way to tall and the springs will bind on them when compressed. I know thats what happens to bumpstops (or hockey pucks) on the axle side if they are too tall.

:dunno:

Click to expand...

These will sit on the RE 6" ZJ coils. I ran the same bumpstops height with the D30 and didn't experience any binding.

Dazz said:

I needed to locate a suitable flat surface for the UCA mount, so that is why the angle look awkward on the pumpkin. The driver side UCA mount angle wasn't a major concern with a radius longarm setup.
I used a Softweld 55 Ni 55% Nickel electrode.
The UCA mount welds will hold, if not I'll fabricate a bridge mount above the pumpkin.
I excepted to draw some negative comments the UCA mount, but we'll see if my junk hold up. :yap:

Click to expand...

Hey Dazz, the rest of the stuff looks good, so I'm not trying to be negative. Just questioning the upper mount design. I understand you were looking for a flat spot on the diff, but you could have angled the cut on the tube to still point the mount straight up, and it would be a good idea to add some gussets. Breaking out on the trail when you're with other people is not the time to find out if something will hold. Additionally, since you are going to be running a radius arm style long arm setup those upper mounts need to be extra strong. Those mounts need to be strong enough to force bushing deflection when the axle is articulating.

Dazz said:

Beezil,
Gussets clearly noted!


These will sit on the RE 6" ZJ coils. I ran the same bumpstops height with the D30 and didn't experience any binding.

Click to expand...

How tall are those? And are they 3/16 wall?
-Billy

Looks very nice.