Installed my full width 44/60 today!!

Finally! Purchased the axles on February 13 and finally got the front installed today. I put the 60 in about a week ago and have been riding around looking like a redneck superhero with the full width rear 1 ton and the stock turdy up front. The project is far from being 100% though. For starters, the 1330 yoke on the 44 is for the 1 1/16" caps and the conversion u joint I have has 1" caps and the u bolts that I ordered were for the 1330 yoke that accepts the 1" caps and are too small, so I could not install the front drive shaft yet. I should have checked all of that a long time ago, but did not realize there were two different sized 1330 yokes/ujoints.

The OTK steering I purchased from TnT is a little off... The drag link tube is too short. I have about an inch of thread from each TRE in the tube and it still wont reach. PITA! That is something you would never know until you set it all up. I will have to call them Tuesday and see what can be done about that... I should have made it all myself...

I am running the RE drop brackets with out adjustable arms and for some reason, the uppers push the axle too far forward which makes my pinion angle too steep which bows the coils puts the shock out of alignment and makes my castor at about 0*. A little squirrelly on the road to say the least.


I have a couple plans of action and would like to run them by some of you with a little more experience to see which one makes the most sense.

• Fab or purchase new adjustable 'short arms'. A possibility, but would like to get rid of the drop brackets if I am going to go to the effort of making arms or the expense of buying new ones. Rock Krawler is a good choice for a purchase. I could have uppers and lowers for around $350.
• Fab cross member with BDS style adjustable 4 link. Would be nice, but would require some serious fabrication. Not sure if I am up to that level yet.
• Purchase the BDS long arm upgrade? $1100, bye bye new tires. Probably the best option but too pricey...
• Purchase the RK 3 link? $600, not out of the question, but would like to make my own. The kit looks simple. I would get a local machinist to cut and tap the Cromo for the threaded links. I could make the brackets.

I dont really want to purchase/fabricate a new cross member because I am planning on an LS1 swap in the near future and would hate to spend that much money/time and have to alter it to support the shorter drive train.

:smsoap:

How bout some pictures?

my daughter broke our digital camera... I will see if I can borrow one and post some tomorrow...

Here are some pics. I have some old BFG ATs and stock steels until I get it all polished up. Between the alignment and castor, Im sure it will eat tires...

Im going to take it by a local shop that does free alignment checks and see just how far off it is.


It looks like I have a camber issue, but I think it has to do with the amount of toe in and the pinion angle being so steep...

For those of you with a sharp eye, there are no shocks in the rear. The shop I was using to do the install will not allow you to weld on the vehicle. I am taking it to my units motor pool to weld up the shock mounts later this week







The damn uppers push the axle too far forward and there is no adjustment. I had to rotate the axle a lot to get the lowers to line up...

Im sure it will look a lot better once I get some nice wheels and tires, but it sure is wide...

Your rear bumper is crooked.

damn this set up looks awesome!

Starboard M said:

Your rear bumper is crooked.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I smashed it on a drop off...

Cant put it in 4wd, but took it to a place this after noon to see what 4lo would be like and DAMN! 33s and 4.88 is low! Everything flexes right and the DS upper CA mount clears the TB by about half an inch. Those worn out AT suck though. No shocks in the rear meant a lot of wheel hop when I spun it up. I cant wait to get it right, its going to be a lot of fun...

Sweet man, looks aweosme.
fyi...castor doesnt wear tires, just toe and camber and camber is not adjustable without special balljoints.

Whats with that intake???

looks like its time for adjustable control arms to pull the axle back some.Bad thing about that is it may cause tire clearance issues at the rear of the wheel well.If you are a good enough welder you could cut those arms you have on there now and shorten them.

Are your coil buckets welded on too far foward???

How about a close pic of that truss?

igotanxj said:

Sweet man, looks aweosme.
fyi...castor doesnt wear tires, just toe and camber and camber is not adjustable without special balljoints.

Click to expand...

Wasnt saying castor does anything to the life of the tires, just that a low degree of castor makes for a squirrelly ride on the street but quick maneuvering at slow speeds.

igotanxj said:

Whats with that intake???

Click to expand...

I almost hydro locked the engine a while back when I just had a cone K&N under the hood, so I made a snorkel. Took some flack for it here when I posted pics but thats cool. The large y connector is used for a clean out and has worked quite well. Just ugly, but function over form I guess.

outlander said:

looks like its time for adjustable control arms to pull the axle back some.Bad thing about that is it may cause tire clearance issues at the rear of the wheel well.If you are a good enough welder you could cut those arms you have on there now and shorten them.

Are your coil buckets welded on too far foward???

How about a close pic of that truss?

Click to expand...

The truss comes from TnT in one piece, so I would guess the buckets are in the right spot... Never know though, the drag link was too short so I guess it is possible. I will have to do some measuring when I can get back to the shop. Just borrowed the camera for about 10 minutes today from a friend, I need to go buy a new one... I will try to get some close ups posted...

mattyj said:

whats the WMS measurements front & rear??

Click to expand...

Wide........
I did not measure, 1976 F250 High boy...
I would say there is about 4" more tube on each side. I will measure and post...

nice! Welcome to the fullwidth club.


now get rid of the snorkle...j/k

rcmf5525 said:

...For starters, the 1330 yoke on the 44 is for the 1 1/16" caps and the conversion u joint I have has 1" caps and the u bolts that I ordered were for the 1330 yoke that accepts the 1" caps and are too small, so I could not install the front drive shaft yet. I should have checked all of that a long time ago, but did not realize there were two different sized 1330 yokes/ujoints.

The OTK steering I purchased from TnT is a little off... The drag link tube is too short. I have about an inch of thread from each TRE in the tube and it still wont reach.

I am running the RE drop brackets with out adjustable arms and for some reason, the uppers push the axle too far forward which makes my pinion angle too steep which bows the coils puts the shock out of alignment and makes my castor at about 0*. A little squirrelly on the road to say the least.

I have a couple plans of action and would like to run them by some of you with a little more experience to see which one makes the most sense.

• Fab or purchase new adjustable 'short arms'. A possibility, but would like to get rid of the drop brackets if I am going to go to the effort of making arms or the expense of buying new ones. Rock Krawler is a good choice for a purchase. I could have uppers and lowers for around $350.
• Fab cross member with BDS style adjustable 4 link. Would be nice, but would require some serious fabrication. Not sure if I am up to that level yet.
• Purchase the BDS long arm upgrade? $1100, bye bye new tires. Probably the best option but too pricey...
• Purchase the RK 3 link? $600, not out of the question, but would like to make my own. The kit looks simple. I would get a local machinist to cut and tap the Cromo for the threaded links. I could make the brackets.

I dont really want to purchase/fabricate a new cross member because I am planning on an LS1 swap in the near future and would hate to spend that much money/time and have to alter it to support the shorter drive train.

:smsoap:

Click to expand...

I did a 44/60 swap last year, and I went through all the same issues.
I used a spicer 5-134x 1310 to 1330 conversion u-joint for the front drive shaft. My D60 had the Ford special 1330 size yoke. A normal 1330 u-joint has 1 1/16" caps, the special Ford version uses 1 1/8" caps. I made a conversion ujoint to go from my 1310 driveshaft to the Ford D60 yoke by purchasing 2 spicer ujoints and swaping the caps on one side. (distributor didn't stock the right conversion joint).

I went with flattops and highsteer so no help there.

I was also running the RE short arms with drop brackets, they caused my caster to end up at -2*, which is really fun on the freeway swaying and wandering all over the place. I quickly upgraded to the T&T Customs Y-Link long arm kit and set my caster to +5* and it drives great. Any adjustable arm setup will get your caster back, and it makes a huge difference. If your going to swap in a LS1 and make a lot of changes soon, then I would just make/buy a set of adjustable short arms for now and not waste money on a long arm kit with an expensive crossmember that you can't use.

Sierra Drifter said:

I did a 44/60 swap last year, and I went through all the same issues.
I used a spicer 5-134x 1310 to 1330 conversion u-joint for the front drive shaft. My D60 had the Ford special 1330 size yoke. A normal 1330 u-joint has 1 1/16" caps, the special Ford version uses 1 1/8" caps. I made a conversion ujoint to go from my 1310 driveshaft to the Ford D60 yoke by purchasing 2 spicer ujoints and swaping the caps on one side. (distributor didn't stock the right conversion joint).

Click to expand...

Glad to hear Im not the only one...

Sierra Drifter said:

I went with flattops and highsteer so no help there.

Click to expand...

DId you use the stock knuckles?

Sierra Drifter said:

I was also running the RE short arms with drop brackets, they caused my caster to end up at -2*, which is really fun on the freeway swaying and wandering all over the place. I quickly upgraded to the T&T Customs Y-Link long arm kit and set my caster to +5* and it drives great. Any adjustable arm setup will get your caster back, and it makes a huge difference. If your going to swap in a LS1 and make a lot of changes soon, then I would just make/buy a set of adjustable short arms for now and not waste money on a long arm kit with an expensive crossmember that you can't use.

Click to expand...

Thats why I am leaning towards the Rock Krawler 3 link. $600 and no new crossmember...

Im going with the RK 3 link long arm upgrade. I found it for $548.05 shipped. Not too shabby. I was wondering what the difference is between Gen I,II, and III? Which one does this website sell?

http://www.discountjeepparts.com/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/228/products_id/27372?osCsid=10430f31b953cb38a5a5248fb23f0b32

bump...

Not being impatient, just going to order the upgrade today and would like to know which one it is...

The difference between gen 1 and 2 i think is the joints that they used. Gen 3 has bent arms similar to the TNT Y arms along with bushings at the frame end of the LCA as well as LCA frame mounts that i think you don't have to weld(I would still weld them.)

I have the gen2 kit on mine and love the flex i get out of it.