D35 with 44 outers..anyone done it?

[cookiemonster]

Originally Posted by gwaii

i've done the d44 outers on the 35,as well as the 44 swap(and pretty much any other combination you may think of).
the outers add a bit of width,but the rear adapters will add about the same amount.the adapters,as has been said in an earlier post will not be a strength issue.an f 150 rear will add too much width.

i highly recommend this for tire sizes up to 33'',35'' will be ok but won't take as much of a beating.
i beat the crap out of mine with 33s,never a problem.
while the bigger brakes and hub locks are an advantage,the biggest plus of this swap is the bearing spacing,as the 35 has the wheel bearings pretty much right up against each other...the 44 has some space between them so there is much more resistance to side load damage.
i used outers from a '96 f150 on mine.

Thank you, very much! Are the 96 outers, the ones that require no reaming? Or is that just for the bronco spindles?

Looks like im gonna hopefully start tearing apart my d44 tomoro! Pretty stoked, thanks again. Will probably have more questions upon the install, So keep an eye out, your help would be awesome!

[gwaii]

Originally Posted by cookiemonster

Thank you, very much! Are the 96 outers, the ones that require no reaming? Or is that just for the bronco spindles?

on mine i was doing a cut-and-turn anyway,so i ended up just welding the lower part of the 44 arm onto the 35 arm for the lower ball joint hole.

i'll have to take another look at it to see what else i did,that was a few years(and projects)ago....but i still have it.

[kryptonitecb]

Originally Posted by railman

you can't get adapters for the front...they wouldn't fit over the hubs....so run adapters for the rear....Greg ( 97TrailrigDD ) has them and wheels his rig hard....so I know they aren't a weak link...

I've seen adapters for 5x5 to 5x4.5, is it not possible to have the center hole enlarged to fit over the hub? The reason I ask is cause I plan on doing the 44 outers and buying new wheels isn't a viable option for me. I have trail worthy fab wheels and I don't have the funds to buy new inners (they run ~$100 each IIRC).

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

[4x4junkie]

Originally Posted by kryptonitecb

I've seen adapters for 5x5 to 5x4.5, is it not possible to have the center hole enlarged to fit over the hub? The reason I ask is cause I plan on doing the 44 outers and buying new wheels isn't a viable option for me. I have trail worthy fab wheels and I don't have the funds to buy new inners (they run ~$100 each IIRC).

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

It's 5x5.5" to 5x4.5". The D44 hub itself is much too big to fit within a 4.5" bolt circle.

FWIW, the bigger brakes would be the only real reason I see for this swap myself, I've had 0 issues out of the stock D35 setup using Timken brand bearings and the Warn Jeep hubs. That is not to say the D44's bearing setup isn't better (it most certainly is), but I'd maybe try switching to Timken brand bearings & races (SET-37) if you're having issues with it, which seems to solve the problem for a lot of people.

[kryptonitecb]

I was using the Timken bearings but was blowing them up just as fast as the cheap ones. My problem is the wheel/tire combo I have are around 100 lbs each (37" tires on trailworthyfab hummer wheels). This puts enough stress on the bearings that during the winter when I couldn't ride I was going through bearings once a month or two. Good to know that I can't get the adapters to fit before I started to do this. Would've been a huge waste of money for nothing.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

[4x4junkie]

How are you tightening your D35's bearings? I'm thinking regardless of your tires the Timken bearings should last at least some amount longer than some cheapo ones...


I went out and looked at the D44 hubs on my Ranger, I'm now thinking there could be some possibility you could make it go together, however I'm still not sure how comfortable I'd be with it. You'd probably end up with around 5/16" thereabouts between the studs and the I.D. of the adapter on the 4.5" side (which I'd certainly want the adapters be made from steel, I think that's too thin for aluminum ones). The next thing would be how much meat would be left on your wheel centers if you widen them. It'll be tight getting a nut & socket in between there for sure.

[kryptonitecb]

The centers have tons o room. However at the dfw meet today hazmat mentioned that the d44 hubs are to big like you mentioned so it's time to stop procrastinating and get the d60 under the truck.

I was tightening the bearings a bit tight. Last time I did the bearings I only seated the bearings then tightened the outer spindle nut as much as possible. So far its lasted longer but I use the bike as much as possible. 45 mpg on a motorcycle beats out 15 mpg in the truck IMO.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

[4x4junkie]

Originally Posted by kryptonitecb

I was tightening the bearings a bit tight.

The inner nut only needs 15 inch-pounds, no more (some say 16 inch-lbs, close enough), then the outer nut goes on to 225-250ft-lbs (making sure the inner nut & washer doesn't try to turn with it).

If you got a 60 on hand though, then what the heck are you waiting for?

[kryptonitecb]

Money, of all the threads started saying they where doing a cheap swap easily turned into a $1500+ job. I have college, no place to work on it, and non existent funds to use. And I won't be that guy that uses a credit card to finance a SAS.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

[4x4junkie]

No doubt, I hear you there...

Well, good luck on your D35 then... I think you should get at least a couple years out of it with your setup if you get the preload right on it. I put MT/R-Ks on my rig early last year and with the steel rims they are probably within 15lbs of what yours are (MT/R-Ks are heavy-ass tires). And that's on bearings that have already endured 12 years & 70K miles with my prior BFGs and the mileage under my Ranger before I did the D44 on it.

Alright, giving the thread back to the OP.