HP44... what do i have here (+ questions)

i picked up a 44 for next to nothing. picked it up in the dark, but the guy is a friend of mine, so i took his word for it. mainly bought if for the housing, but am wondering if i can make a few bucks or actually USE the other hunks of metal that came with it.

'77 ford hp44 3/4 ton
cast wedges (cut off)
BTF truss
was set up for a cherokee (very poorly)

it came out of a mudd truck, so its a very honkey setup. but it has 3/4 ton outers, and what looks like flat top knuckles. the drivers side is drilled and tapped, which seems odd to me (just like the rest of the axle) if it came out of a cherokee. from what ive read, the 3/4 ton knuckles cant be used for 1/2 ton setups, is this correct? i think id like to swap to 1/2 ton to make finding a rear axle a little easier/cheaper. is this reasonable thinking, or am i an idiot? can the 3/4 ton spindels be used with 1/2 ton stuff? also, are the shafts interchangeable? i was give 3 short side, and 2 long side shafts with it (and what do these usually go for used?).

what kind of identifying marks can i look for to verify what i have?

please... pass along any information/links you found useful when looking into a full width 44 swap. can get pics of anything needed.

SWITCH THE OUTERS TO 1/2 TON CHEVY.

please for the love of god dont throw all your money into the ford 3/4 ton shit. i did, i effing hate myself. its easily twice the money as 1/2 ton chevy for everything. sure, i have huge dual piston calipers, reid knuckles, brand new everything... but its retard-grade expensive and in the end i could have built a 60. you need new (different) knuckles to use the chevy stuff, which is 90% the same as waggy stuff.

What's your opinion XJLI, on staying at 5 on 5.5 hubs (I have Warns), but worried about the built D30. What's the cheapest way to step up to a D44 while keeping on 5.5? I sure would like bigger front brakes as the D30's a weak on 35's.

chevy outer > ford outers?

ive got a hillbilly friend with a ton of ford stuff laying around, im sure i could wrangle up a lot of the parts for 5 on 5.5, if not all of them. id like to keep a lot of the parts over the counter, and use he shafts i have (for now). this is budget minded, but im willing to spend the money in the places needed.

is there a market for the 3/4 ton stuff?

Trail Yeti said:

What's your opinion XJLI, on staying at 5 on 5.5 hubs (I have Warns), but worried about the built D30. What's the cheapest way to step up to a D44 while keeping on 5.5? I sure would like bigger front brakes as the D30's a weak on 35's.

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any 44 with 5x5.5 outers.. half ton ford is one. dont think the brakes wont stop you well with big tires bc its single piston.. youre getting a MUCH bigger rotor and the caliper almost twice the size of a stock jeep one.

VAhasnoWAVES said:

chevy outer > ford outers?

ive got a hillbilly friend with a ton of ford stuff laying around, im sure i could wrangle up a lot of the parts for 5 on 5.5, if not all of them. id like to keep a lot of the parts over the counter, and use he shafts i have (for now). this is budget minded, but im willing to spend the money in the places needed.

is there a market for the 3/4 ton stuff?

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chevy stuff is cheaper than ford, 1/2 ton is cheaper than 3/4 ton. its all over the counter stuff, but when you go ford it is less likely to be in stock. chevy stuff is more readily available if you wanted to grab a caliper at auto zone. there is a market for the 3/4 stuff, its just not as popular. to put it in perspective, 1/2 ton chevy calipers are like 20 bucks each, whereas 3/4 ton ford ones are 80-100 bucks each.

from what ive gathered using Mr N's site...

chevy knuckles
chevy small bearing spindles
im guessing all chevy brake stuff?

the small bearing spindles use the same bearings as the ford spindles. so does this mean either ford or chevy lock outs will work fine? if i use ford lock outs, will i be able to use my current shafts?

I thought the lock outs were universal.

You use the Chevy spindle to mount the Ford hub with the 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern.

I have not worried about brakes...yet.

the lock outs being universal would make sense if the spindles take the same bearings.

This should answer a lot of your questions:
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=993467


PS: Keep your 3/4 ton stuff. Eventually you will want a one ton rear axle and might want a 3/4 ton front to match while you build the funds to make a matching one ton front.




PPS: Keep the D30, or go to a D60. A 1/2 ton axle is a waste IMO.

Starboard M said:

This should answer a lot of your questions:
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=993467


PPS: Keep the D30, or go to a D60. A 1/2 ton axle is a waste IMO.

Click to expand...

THANK YOU! ive seen that one many times, but have never saved it. and of course now that im looking for tech, google searching wasnt bringing it up. lol.

am i losing any strength with the 1/2 ton stuff versus 3/4 ton?

You'll never need more than a 1/2 ton axle, heck you'll never need more than a 30. You won't break anything driving back and forth to class on 33's... Just teasing Walt.

I recently ran across a thread about converting 3/4 ton 44 outers to 1/2 ton, I think it was on great lakes.

need? no... but thats the idea.

VAhasnoWAVES said:

from what ive gathered using Mr N's site...

chevy knuckles
chevy small bearing spindles
im guessing all chevy brake stuff?

the small bearing spindles use the same bearings as the ford spindles. so does this mean either ford or chevy lock outs will work fine? if i use ford lock outs, will i be able to use my current shafts?

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For 5x5.5, you will want:

Chevy/FSJ knuckles, caliper brackets, spindles, stub shaft (The spindle determines the stub shaft, and the ford is a different length than FSJ/Chevy), calipers, pads and ball joints. Ford 5x5.5 hubs and rotors, bearings/seals for a small bearing spindle, which should the the same as the Chevy/FSJ bearings. The lockouts are not unique to Chevy/FSJ or Ford, they work in them all (Assuming 1/2 ton).

VAhasnoWAVES said:

the lock outs being universal would make sense if the spindles take the same bearings.

Click to expand...

The lockouts have nothing to do with the spindles or the size of the bearings. They engage the 19 spline stub shaft, which was constant on D44s, and the splines in the outer most portion of the hub.

John D said:

You won't break anything driving back and forth to class on 33's... Just teasing Walt.

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[size=-3](I know you're only teasing and all, but)[/size] Its not impossible to break front D44s on 33's.

thank you begster for the clarification.

if i run a chevy spindle, ill need to pick up a set of chevy outers?

Begster said:

[size=-3](I know you're only teasing and all, but)[/size] Its not impossible to break front D44s on 33's.

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I was mostly teasing because I can never get Walt to actually use his Jeep, but its also possible for a D30 to survive with 35's and a V8 - there's a lot of factors that go into axle breaking.

VAhasnoWAVES said:

thank you begster for the clarification.

if i run a chevy spindle, ill need to pick up a set of chevy outers?

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This is what what I did to get my flat tops. I found a disassembled Chevy D44 with flat top knuckles for $50. Then for another $50 I found a set of Ford D44 hubs, rotors and lockouts. Between the two I had everything I needed.

I used:

Chevy Small bearing spindles
Ford bearings
Ford Hubs
Ford Rotors
Wagoneer Calipers
Wagoneer knuckles
and
Wagoneer Caliper brackets

I got all the Ford stuff for an 85 Ford F-150. My parts store usually keeps it all in stock.

You can use all mid 80's Dodge W150/Ramcharger parts.

Flat top knuckles, 5x5.5, and they're cheap since it's very similar to Chevy stuff.

No need to mix/match parts. Much easier to find this then 70s Chevy small bearing spindles.

Here's some pics.

Passenger side knuckle, flat top.



Drivers side already milled/drilled/tapped.



Spindles, and they came with slugs factory. You can swap these out for lockouts.



5x5.5 hubs

John D said:

I was mostly teasing because I can never get Walt to actually use his Jeep, but its also possible for a D30 to survive with 35's and a V8 - there's a lot of factors that go into axle breaking.

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i may not be able to afford to go to winterfest, but lets count the amount of times ive been to rocks and valleys over the last year, and count the amount of times you were "too busy." :kissyou:

VAhasnoWAVES said:

if i run a chevy spindle, ill need to pick up a set of chevy outers?

Click to expand...

i think i worded this wrong... what i meant to as was, what part of the kuckle/spindle/hub combination dictates what stub shaft to use? if i use chevy spindles, does that coorelate to chevy D44 stub shafts?

Lowrange2 said:

Chevy Small bearing spindles
Ford bearings
Ford Hubs
Ford Rotors
Wagoneer Calipers
Wagoneer knuckles
and
Wagoneer Caliper brackets

Click to expand...

thank you for the parts lists, everyone. i should have enough info now to get started. my biggest question now is concerning the stub shaft.


can you tell im D44 illiterate? :dunce:

I'm fairly certain that the Ford Stub shaft will work fine in the Chevy small bearing spindles. I'm running waggy stub shafts in my Chevy spindles.

I'm guessing they're all the same.