I'd say tompatjj is correct on most of his points. Don't expect to get the stopping power of a Porsche by doing this swap.
My list of reasons for doing it was this: drums were past max. machining diameter, and I was doing all new bearings over the whole axle. Rather than buy new drums ($$ for the D44), and since I had it apart anyway, and since I had a parts crown vic sitting around, I figured I'd try it.
It stops better than it did, and in fact at the state inspection station I noticed a slightly higher rear bias than stock. Whether this is from replacing worn drum parts, or swapping in a ZJ booster, master cyl, and prop valve I don't know. The problem with doing so many things at once is that you can't isolate where the most improvement came from.
Things that I like MUCH better: braking feel and pedal modulation (the 'brake fade' tompatjr mentioned), easier to maintain, and much better control on the trail. My past experience was that if I got a tiny bit of moisture the rear would either lock up instantly or not do anything at all. There's this one obstacle we encounter a lot that is a deepish fish bowl followed by a very steep hill climb, and I used to worry about having to stop on that hill climb and not having the rear brakes work, and sliding back into the bowl. Now I've got a lot more confidence in the rear holding power - immediately after getting soaked.
Drums do have better static holding power when dry, and also have theoretically better stopping power because there's more pad area in contact. However they seldom work to their best potential because of things like adjustment, improperly turned drums, dirt and debris, and so on.
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Kejtar, here's the pics I was talking about, I apologize for the crappy low light sensitivity on my camera. I think you can make out enough detail though.
Driver's side:
The tab immediately under the leaf spring is the stock softline mount from the Crown Vic. I welded a bolt to the axle tube, which goes through that tab and holds it in place. I also cut the hardline fitting from the Crown Vic and put it on the factory D44 hardline, then trimmed to length and reflared the end.
Passenger side:
Here you can see what I mean about the line exiting on top of the caliper rather than on the bottom - the driver's side is the same way. You have the option of orienting it however you want due to the symmetric bolt pattern. I chose this way to keep the lines out of possible harm's way. The problem here is the bleeder winds up on the bottom of the caliper, which means the caliper must be removed in order to bleed it properly. I've had excellent luck just removing the caliper, holding it in the right orientation, and gravity bleeding the rears one at a time, starting with the passenger side.
The line plumbing is the same method: welded a bolt to the axle tube, mounted the stock crown vic softline to it, matched and reflared the factory D44 hardline.
Parts list: Crown Vic caliper brackets, calipers, rotors, pads, softlines. The rotor needs to be slightly modified in order to fit over the little nub in the middle of the axle flange - 5 minutes with a die grinder and you'll be set. You'll also need to grind down some ribbing on the caliper bracket to make it sit flush, and also grind out the center hole to allow for the slightly larger D44 wheelbearings and seals. Make sure to give more than enough clearance here - I didn't the first time, and buggered the axle tube seal putting it in.
On the D44 end, I used the Rubi retainer plates, redrilled.
HTH? Let me know if you have any other questions.
. I finished it today and have driven it a total of 20 miles or so and that's all it took for me to be impressed.
