43" tires on a BII

[The Jester Race]

Originally Posted by The_Dealer

i found a 79 bronco d44 front for 100 bucks, should i snatch it up? will it be the same as swapping in an eb d44?

I believe that the 79 bronco D44 is full width where the EB D44 is narrow, but other then that it should be the same, coils with radius arms. I paid $200 for my high pinion D44, so I think its a good price if you want to go full width, or put the work in and narrow it.

Lots of good info here.
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Dana44.htm

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...ord_dana44.htm


-Jester

[The_Dealer]

i got a f/w 8.8 in the shed...so maybe ill snatch it up. will it be the same process as swapping in an eb d44?

[The Jester Race]

Originally Posted by The_Dealer

i got a f/w 8.8 in the shed...so maybe ill snatch it up. will it be the same process as swapping in an eb d44?

The same process? Yeah, remove all the old crap and put all the shiny new stuff in its place. I don't know. How do you plan on setting up your suspension? Coils? leaves? Stock wheel base? Extended wheel base? Stock mounts(coil buckets, etc.) on the frame?

I don't think going full width is any more work then a narrowed SAS. Do yourself a favor, spend the money and set your steering up the right way the first time. Don't try and jerry rig it, it's not the spot to try and save money. It's not worth the headache.

-Jester

[The_Dealer]

i mean same process being the same as doing an eb d44 swap, using eb coils, eb radius bracket, and fab a trac bar bracket(or get poly p, ballistic, or ruffstuff bracket). think ill keep stock mounting points till i get everything right on it, then shift the front axle forward about 4 or 5"...but at the same time it would be easy to do leaves and shift the axle forward right out of the gate, using some waggy springs with the offset pin

def not going to jerry rig anything...my newborn rides in this thing. gonna get the axle this weekend if i can get off work, and start tearing it apart for a overhaul, then start collecting parts. i have 4.88's in the 8.8 how bad will that suck with 38's?

[The Jester Race]

I dont see why not. But I cant say for sure, I did leaves on mine. 38s with 4.88 gears should be pretty close to the stock ratio, might be a little tall but not bad at all.

-Jester

[D'cheat]

Its going to be the exact same process to swap in a full size d44 as a EB's axle. Only your radius arms will be angled in a little bit, you will have to space your coil buckets out about 1.5" from the frame and your panard bar will be longer. Thats it.

[The_Dealer]

is is better to try to space out the buckets i got, or get some ballistic fab buckets and make mods from there? well i set up a time to go pick up my axle...im pretty stoked, about to start making things happen. D'cheat u made me get a little motivated to do the dam thing

[The Jester Race]

Fab your own buckets. I personally wouldn't spend the money on the ballistics buckets if your just gonna cut them up to make them work for what you need. Dont get me wrong, they make some damn nice parts, but you can get quite a bit of 1/4" plate for $70.

FWIW, I'd copy Ruth's design.

-Jester

[RUTH]

Originally Posted by The Jester Race

Fab your own buckets. I personally wouldn't spend the money on the ballistics buckets if your just gonna cut them up to make them work for what you need. Dont get me wrong, they make some damn nice parts, but you can get quite a bit of 1/4" plate for $70.

FWIW, I'd copy Ruth's design.

-Jester

well thank you sir, but yeah mine was was very cheap, less than $ 20 for the materials for the coil buckets, panhard bracket and still had some small pieses left... plus mine was very basic and looks good i think... but if you do copy mine, make a coil retainer for the top too, you dont want the coil dropping out

i wouldnt try and modify the stock ones by spacing them away from the frame, thats booty fab lol


sorry for the dirty pic :(

[D'cheat]

Originally Posted by The_Dealer

D'cheat u made me get a little motivated to do the dam thing

What do I need to do to get you really motivated?
No, im not giving you free parts. I know where this was going the instant I typed it. Hehe.

For BigRed, I used a set of coil buckets I nabbed from a 1970 bronco, and spaced them out with some 2x4 .240 wall tube that I cut to fit. Fabbing your own is just as easy. When I built BR, nobody had done this before. There was only one BII that I knew of at the time that had a EB axle up front. Hell, I had swapped in the v8 before anybody made the parts for the swap. So it was all trial and error. Now there are hundreds of people who have done the solid axle swap.

[D'cheat]

Front axle brackets. Also toying with the idea of running a 4 link. Hmmmm. Need to get this pig under the truck this weekend and see if Ill have the room for the links.

[The_Dealer]

i was toying with the idea of running leaves but it seems like about the same amount of work, maybe a little more. what are yall sas guys doing to tie in the steering to the b2 pitman?