Found Front D44 looking for advice

[Johann]

Hey all found a bare housing semi locally that has cut and turned knuckles. Decent price. My brain is swimming with D44 factoids and I want to make sure I am heading in the right direction.

Here is his detailed response to my questions. Questions follow the quote

"Ok, here goes, it is from a 76' ford f-250. it is standard pinion, standard
cut gears. It was cut at the knuckles and pressed, and I had the pinion
turned up 10 degrees when that was done to make the standard pinion very
usable. It has the cast leaf spring pad on the driver side, but an
aftermarket perch on the passenger side. Yes both sides will need custom
axle shafts if you are looking to do aftermarket or have spare shafts. The
shafts now are cut down stock shafts, but are plenty strong, ran 37 inch
boggers for a year and never had a problem. No hubs, no outers, hubs are
everywhere for nothing. I would recommend building the outers with chevy
parts, then everything will be brand new for less than the cost of a d44 old
and all together. It will include tie rod, and a drag link for a jeep (a
jeep w/ crossover steering)"

How much of a $ pain is it to get shafts cut down to have spares? I'd want to have them on hand since they would be custom dealies. I'm only running 33's (at the moment) so I'm not sure how much breakage I'll have.

Is this one of the years with the cast spring pads that interupt the axle tube or is that just 78+

I have a d300 that is flat clocked and tucked WAY up there. Will the standard pinion give me issues I can't work around? I really don't want to unclock it if I don't have to.

Right now it is set up for a YJ so I'd have to convert over to the coil/Long arm I have on my rig.


Anyone else see issues I have neglected? I want to go into this with my eyes open


Thanks all

 

[Johann]

Anyone? Bueller?

One other specific question fo people familiar with Ford axles is if the 10 deg knuckle turn is enough change to deal with 6" of lift.

Am I in uncharted territory or what? Any hints would help

John

 

[JeepFreak21]

Anyone? Bueller?

One other specific question fo people familiar with Ford axles is if the 10 deg knuckle turn is enough change to deal with 6" of lift.

Am I in uncharted territory or what? Any hints would help

John

I'm about ready to swap that same axle (w/o the change to the pinion angle) into my XJ. Has the axle been shortened? If not, then you can get Warn shafts for it fairly easily unlike the 79s. The biggest problem that I've ran into so far is the lack of space on the driver's side for the control arm brackets. I ended up cutting an inch and a half of the cast perch off to make some room... so it is possible, but we'll see if it weakened the housing much. As soon as I get my setup finished, I'd be happy to show you some pics.
Billy

 

[1986xj]

I'm about ready to swap that same axle (w/o the change to the pinion angle) into my XJ. Has the axle been shortened? If not, then you can get Warn shafts for it fairly easily unlike the 79s. The biggest problem that I've ran into so far is the lack of space on the driver's side for the control arm brackets. I ended up cutting an inch and a half of the cast perch off to make some room... so it is possible, but we'll see if it weakened the housing much. As soon as I get my setup finished, I'd be happy to show you some pics.
Billy

Warn does not make shafts for the standard width F250 D44. The F250 D44 pumpkin is offset differentely from what the F150 and bronco ones are. I have a set of Warn inners laying around that were sold to me by Drivetrain Warehouse, I was sold them with the reassurance that they would fit but when I went to install them one was about 3/8" short and the other about 3/8"+ too long. Called Warn and the tech dept told me they do not make F250 replacement axles only F150 and Bronco ones. DTW would not take them back. (these were for my 77 F250 which I've wiped out 3 stock shafts in so far - 1 outer & 2 inners)
As for custom shafts I highly recommend Moser for fronts, I've harshly abused the ones in my CJ's front 44 while running a detroit and 6lbs. in the TSL SS 36's and haven't hurt one yet.
Mike B.

 

[JeepFreak21]

Warn does not make shafts for the standard width F250 D44. The F250 D44 pumpkin is offset differentely from what the F150 and bronco ones are. I have a set of Warn inners laying around that were sold to me by Drivetrain Warehouse, I was sold them with the reassurance that they would fit but when I went to install them one was about 3/8" short and the other about 3/8"+ too long. Called Warn and the tech dept told me they do not make F250 replacement axles only F150 and Bronco ones. DTW would not take them back. (these were for my 77 F250 which I've wiped out 3 stock shafts in so far - 1 outer & 2 inners)
As for custom shafts I highly recommend Moser for fronts, I've harshly abused the ones in my CJ's front 44 while running a detroit and 6lbs. in the TSL SS 36's and haven't hurt one yet.
Mike B.

That's wierd, cuz I called several WARN distributors and then called the WARN tech line, and they all pointed me to the same part number. I bought one inner, and it seems to fit just fine.
PS - of course it's not the same as a Bronco 44... it's 3/4 ton and full width!
Billy

 

[Johann]

Thanks for the replys guys. Nice to see I am not the only one scratching my head about this axle. I tried to get into Mr N's D44 reference site (http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html) but he has it closed pending relocation.

Do either of you have a pic of the axle specifically the cast spring perch?

This axle has been cut down to 65"+- so I think I am in for custom inners for both sides. It comes with one set of cut down stock shafts.

I think I will go for it since the price is right. I can always take anything I do to build up this axle (except shafts) and swap onto another D44 later if it doesn't work out.

John

 

[JeepFreak21]

Thanks for the replys guys. Nice to see I am not the only one scratching my head about this axle. I tried to get into Mr N's D44 reference site (http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html) but he has it closed pending relocation.

Do either of you have a pic of the axle specifically the cast spring perch?

This axle has been cut down to 65"+- so I think I am in for custom inners for both sides. It comes with one set of cut down stock shafts.

I think I will go for it since the price is right. I can always take anything I do to build up this axle (except shafts) and swap onto another D44 later if it doesn't work out.

John

I stole the top one from Mr. N's site a while back. The other 2 are mine, illustrating where the coil should sit in referance to the cast perch.

Billy

 

[1986xj]

That's wierd, cuz I called several WARN distributors and then called the WARN tech line, and they all pointed me to the same part number. I bought one inner, and it seems to fit just fine.
PS - of course it's not the same as a Bronco 44... it's 3/4 ton and full width!
Billy

http://www.warn.com/truck/axles/inner_axle_app.shtml It may work but if you measured against the stock axle there was a 3/8" +/- length difference which may be "OK" going in a straight line but when turning the splines will either be barely engaged or be jammed in way too far at the differential. If you have your stock shaft still just measure it and compare to the measurements given on the Warn site page I posted above. I learned long ago not to trust any tech line or salespeople so I always measure and check everything to double check.
Mike B.

 

[Johann]

Thanks Billy those pics are perfect. Really gives me a idea of what I'm looking at.

I pick up the axle housing next week. Wish me luck!

 

[JeepFreak21]

http://www.warn.com/truck/axles/inner_axle_app.shtml It may work but if you measured against the stock axle there was a 3/8" +/- length difference which may be "OK" going in a straight line but when turning the splines will either be barely engaged or be jammed in way too far at the differential. If you have your stock shaft still just measure it and compare to the measurements given on the Warn site page I posted above. I learned long ago not to trust any tech line or salespeople so I always measure and check everything to double check.
Mike B.

I don't have the stock shaft, so I guess we'll just find out.
Billy