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Custom Axle Bracket Welding Questions

Francesco

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Ventura County
Hello,
A while back I bought a Ford Dana 44 to shorten for my Jeep Comanche. I have so far, cut the tubes and clocked the Inner Cs for 6 degrees of caster and 7 degrees of pinion angle roughly, and have purchased gears, a locker, shafts, and basically everything. I'm getting close to welding mounts on, and according to Clayon, the Uppers face inward with around 11-12 degrees of turn on them, and the outers with roughly 5 degrees facing outwards. My question is this:

When welding on mounts, do I set the caster to roughly 6 degrees, and then weld on all of the mounts, so they are perpendicular with the axle, as in basically straight up and down? Or do I angle them outwards? I have uppers, lowers, coil bucket, and track bar mounts to weld on. Planning on doing the coil buckets, as well as the control arm mounts(first tacked of course), then mounting the axle, and cycling, then measuring the drag link to get a track bar as parallel and equal length as possible.

Thanks,
Francesco
 
I'm a little confused. You seem to have instructions. Follow them?
 
No instructions, just a drawing from online, which seems to show what I'm saying, but it's vague, its basically just showing their spacings and such.
 
I went with the TNT truss to avoid having to do the math for every bracket. It really does simplify installation- only have to set the truss and LCAs properly
 
My LCA brackets are cut with some angle in them, I would assume the factory amount, and I can easily place them where I need to go, and I believe the upper is too (passenger side at least - driver welds onto a flat surface). I Just want to make sure I weld them at a 90 degree angle to the floor when the caster is set, if that makes sense.
 
I went with the TNT truss to avoid having to do the math for every bracket. It really does simplify installation- only have to set the truss and LCAs properly

This is my plan as well, it works with a Waggy (driver-drop) D44, right?

I just have to decide the full build- if I need to go to OTK steering, highsteer, etc....
 
This is my plan as well, it works with a Waggy (driver-drop) D44, right?

I just have to decide the full build- if I need to go to OTK steering, highsteer, etc....

They make one for most of the common swap axles
 
Burnkat,
In my eyes, you might as well. Sure with a waggy 44 you get a stronger axle - but In my opinion, the best part of a 44 swap isnt the ring gear or axle shafts, it's the high steer, bigger brakes, and all of that associated with it.
 
Yes, that echoes my thoughts on the matter. This is why I went histeer D44 with my S10 SAS
 
Hello,
I haven't touched the axle in a bit, but this week I went hard, it now has brackets, and is geared. Only thing left to weld on is a control arm mount, and the track bar, but I've run into an issue. There simply isn't enough clearance between the upper CA mount on the passenger side and the tie rod at full lock, does this mean I need offset TREs, or is there a fix? Will post pictures shortly.
 
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