I'm all for overkill.
I'll lose an inch of clearance if it means I don't have to worry about how I'm gonna get off the trail when my under built axle breaks. 98 times out of 100 when i get hung up on the center section, I back up a couple inches and just bump it and slide right over the rock.
as for the u joints, you can get 1310 yokes to swap onto those axles. some 44's and 60's even came with 1310 yokes from the factory. I'd do that before running a conversion U joint.
And as for driveshaft length, when swapping front axles in xj's most people build an inch or 2 or so of stretch into their control arm mounts and mount the coil on top of the axle tube as opposed to slightly ahead of it. This also helps with larger tire clearance. So the inch longer pinion of the 44 will be an non issue in the driveshaft length department.
I personally ran about 1.5" or stretch, a wagoneer pitman arm (pretty much required to match the throw of the 44 knuckles to retain good turning radius) with over the knuckle, inverted t steering with no a lot of lift at all. The drag link would make contact with the tie rod at full bump, but it wasn't bad enough for me to do anything about it.
As for stretching the rear, you will have to do some wheel arch modification and if you go back a considerable amount the differential might want to kiss the gas tank/skid. You can just shorten your current shaft if that isn't in the cards for you.
now onto the 14 bolt, yes they are heavy, the cool thing about them is you can run a c&c 14 bolt, which is only 63.5" wide, nice for xjs and small jeeps. With a shave and disc brakes there really isn't a reason not to run them. (the drum brakes alone have to account for about 100-150lbs of the total weight of them)
and as for the brake hose situation. I am not familiar with the ford caliper, but chevy has been using basically the same caliper from the early 70's to the late 90's on their trucks and many cars, single piston, all brake hoses work with eachother and the bigger ones are basically just that, the smaller caliper, but everything is bigger on it. I use mid 90's chevy c1500 brake hoses, they are about 26" long, bolt to the caliper, and easy to mount to the chassis. Just pry off the little metal intermediate clip that is used to secure it to the a-arm on the chevys.
if you do choose to go with a rear disc swap (which why not, less weight, much simpler, works better) most brackets (weld on and sometimes bolt on) use chevy 3/4 ton front brake calipers. They are super cheap and just plain work. for this you need a small brake hose to compensate for the caliper movement when the brakes wear. I used stock 87 j10 brake hoses, they are pretty short and bolt in. just make a tab to mount them to the axle. I have seen people directly run the hard line into the caliper, but you have to bend the line every time you want to work on the rearend, and it will constantly bend ever so slightly as the brakes wear and every time you step on the pedal. bending= breaking over time.
Oh, and I don't think i mentioned it yet, But in my experience, jeep brake hoses don't bolt to the chevy calipers, might work for ford, I am unsure.
