Dana 44 Info Needed

[morbo]

I bought an 87 Bronco II that is V8 and solid axle swapped with a D44/D60 combo. At some point someone swapped Chevy outers on the D44 and I am trying to gather parts to convert it back to Ford so RCVs will fit through the knuckles fully assembled. The previous owner said the D44 is from a 78 F250 but things aren't matching up. First off it has 3" OD tubes which no F100/F150 was supposed to have, which would indicate it is in fact an F250 D44. BUT it has cast radius arm wedges and all F250 D44s were supposed to be leaf springs. I seem to have an axle that isn't supposed to exist. The axle length measurements appear to be 33.91 and 18.91 inners with 9.72 stubs which are F150 measurements. I am starting to think this is some kind of F150 Supercab axle or something. Was there a 3 inch tubed F150 D44 that i am not aware of? I just ordered Reid knuckles and the short F250 6.25" spindle yesterday. According to Bronco Graveyard the 76+77 F250 used 7 1/8" spindles and the 78+79 F250 used 6.25" spindles and notes said it was for use with 9.72" stubs which it had with the Chevy brakes and had the axle tip snap rings in place. That was surprising because i thought all Chevys would have been 9.94" stubs. I am totally confused what i even have much less what hubs and rotors i need. I would like to end up with the dual piston calipers, which brings another question. Are the brake caliper plates that mount to the spindles the same for single and dual piston? Thanks for any info. It is high pinion btw and i forget the measurement but it measured the same across the ball joints as another F150 HP D44.

Since i ordered the 6.25" F250 spindle with 2" inner bearing journal that was for 78+79 F250 i should be able to use that year hub and rotor i suspect. I need the caliper plate though and not certain if the dual and single are the same or if the dual will work with those parts. I found a set that the guy wants $250 for and says they're for dual piston. any advice on what i'm trying to do. i already have the RCVs with 9.72" stubs so i need to make something work with those.

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site.

So are the axles 8 lug or did the PO switch to 6 lug?

 

[morbo]

It is Chevy 8 lug and I am trying to gather the parts to swap it to Ford 8 lug and hope there is a way to do it with dual piston calipers and using 9.72" stub shafts.

 

[dvdswan]

It sounds like the PO used a 1/2T D44 from a F150/Bronco and put chevy 3/4T outers on it. It is possible to have the larger diam. axle in the 1/2T but why the extra expense by Ford or Dana/Spicer.

My thought would be that the outers shouldn't matter what the stub shafts are if you are using all the same set up from the knuckles out. i.e F150 knuckles out, F250 knuckles out, or c/k knuckles out.

knuckles out would be steering knuckle, spindles, rotors, etc. to include the stub shaft from the u-joint.

D44 outers are unique to the vehicle. 1/2T, 3/4, Ford, GM, Dodge.

 

[morbo]

Yes 8 lug Chevy outers were def used. The PO advised me it was an F250 housing but have cast radius arm that cannot be true. The D44 in page here at Ranger Station says all F150 housings were 2.75" diameter, but i have a 3" diameter F150 housing that the info here says does not exist.

Yes the outers matter. There are different spindle lengths, different overall lengths of hub/rotor assemblies, and different stub shaft lengths depending on your combination of spindle and hub/rotor. I know all that for fact, what i dont know is if the single and dual piston brake mounting plates are the same, and what combination of spindle and hub/rotor used the 9.72 stub shafts. The knuckles are all the same, but everything else including the stubs has more than one possibility.

The part about the outers all being unique to vehicle is not accurate by the way. There are differences of course between 1/2T and 3/4T and in the case of Ford 3/4T has two options, but Jeep, Dodge, and Chevy all shared the same parts.

 

[bobbywalter]

Go to mr n....or the Dana 60 bible

Lots of things are misunderstood.

Find the BOM number and run that.

I know for damn sure 3 in and larger tubes came on 70s coil ford's

 

[bobbywalter]

Not sure why rcv won't package the gm outers with the ford inners.

The gm brakes are better and allow you to run a 15 in wheel

 

[morbo]

Go to mr n....or the Dana 60 bible

Lots of things are misunderstood.

Find the BOM number and run that.

I know for damn sure 3 in and larger tubes came on 70s coil ford's

Yes lots of things are misunderstood.

The BOM is of no help unfortunately because its an F150 axle and i am doing 8 lug outers because the rear D60 is 8 lug. The original owner put 8 lug Chevy outers on it but since RCV bells wont fit through Chevy knuckles, i am trying to gather parts to swap it Ford. I need to do F250 outers to keep it 8 lug though.

I was surprised on the 3 inch tubes, since the D44 info page here at Ranger Station, while informative with lots of great information says all F150 tubes are all 2.75" which is not correct, although some are. Does Mr N have a working page currently? All the links i found the other night were dead pages.

 

[morbo]

Not sure why rcv won't package the gm outers with the ford inners.

The gm brakes are better and allow you to run a 15 in wheel

It has 17" beadlocks.

RCV doesn't package any axle parts. The issue is the hole in Ford knuckles is larger than Chevy knuckles. I have another F150 with 5 lug outers (I need to do 8 lug on this one to match the rear D60) and when i installed RCVs in it, i was able to fully assemble them on the bench and slide them in. I havent done it but have watch videos of the Jeep guys and Chevy outer guys installing them. They have to install the inner, then slip the bell in behind the knuckle and fight it to get the splines to line up, then install the stub thru the knuckle, then seat the boot while it its behind the knuckle. Its a pain to do and i want to avoid that by swapping it back to 8 lug Ford outers.

I am aware the Chevy brakes are supposed to be better and thats why people do it, and that is what is has now, but its still single piston. I havent measured but i imagine it must be bigger diameter is why people says the Chevy brakes are better? There is a dual piston option doing the F250 8 lug outers and thats what i want to do, but i am not certain its possible using the 6.25" spindle. 76-79 F205s had 2 different spindle lengths, 2 different hub/rotor lengths, at least 2 and maybe 3 stub shaft lengths, and single plus dual caliper brakes. That much i am certain of. I just dont know which combination if any would give me dual piston brakes and 9.72" stub shafts...or if there that can be done with any combination. i am pretty well educated on the D44 but do not know the answer to that one and was hoping someone here might.

 

[bobbywalter]

Well ...I have done some rcv and you are certainly correct in that regard. The drum d44 ford's and gm style is a bastard head.

There is the d60 hub size d44 spindle assembly and the d44 hub size....they are the big hole 5 bolt spindles and knuckles..but use different bearings....and actual hubs.

The closed knuckles ECT or units with drums will be small hole. There is a hd and ld version that causes confusion with those and the later hi boy....which are leaf.

One has the big external lockout like ext d 60. The 203 could offer awd and could have drive slugs instead of lockouts....this contributes to outer stub variance as well.


Steering will change with 250 knuckles.

Unless your already setup flat top.


As to the brakes...the slide design on the ford sucks for mud and slops out easily.

It adds binds and friction on brake application

 

[morbo]

I went with Reid Racing knuckles and Ruff Stuff high steer arm for passenger side. I just finished doing a another F150 D44 under another Bronco II and for clearance issues had to drop the tie rod down to the knuckles and just do a rod over setup, so I just bought one arm this time. The tie rod is still above the tube like that and both are 1.5" x .250" wall DOM tube also.

I'll have an answer soon i guess. I now have in my possession Reid Knuckles and F250 6.25" spindles. I ordered hubs/rotors and dual piston calipers for 79 F250, which is one of the years that used the short 6.25" spindle, and also found a set of backing brake backing plates (with the 5 holes that mount to the spindle and hold the caliper) that are 76-79 F250 and supposed to have been the same for all dual piston setups. I have to finish tearing down (knock out races) and cleaning up the axle (its from Michigan and full of sand), install new gears and ARB, which if all goes well with be done by Sunday night. Then other parts should be here this week and I'll get to find out if everything works together by next weekend. At this point after much research and comparing parts dimensions, I am pretty confident about everything except if 9.72" stub shafts are going to work. That's what was in the Chevy setup and I got ahead of myself and ordered RCVs (already have them) before deciding to convert it back to Ford outers.

Slide design? As in caliper bolts i assume? The Chevy has them, and i do not have the Forb brake parts in hand yet, but RockAuto 1979 F250 pictures looks neither the single nor the dual caliper uses slide pins.

 

[bobbywalter]

Not slide pins. Worse.


Use lugnut 4x4 brackets and the gm calipers...I thought the ford massive dual pistons were better. I was wrong.

 

[bobbywalter]

But I am in Michigan....and my shit is always infested with sand silt and salt.

These ford calipers suck....and I have hydro boost power too.

 

[bobbywalter]

Dana 44 Front Axle Disc Brake Upgrade Kit - 8 Lug - 76-79 Ford | Lugnut4x4

Upgrade the OE disc brakes on your 1976 to 1979 Ford Dana 44 axle (8 lug) axle with our disc brake upgrade kit! ****Please note this kit will not work on 4x4 drum brake front axles as they cannot be converted to disc**** Parts are original quality (or better) Available add-ons include...

lugnut4x4.com

 

[morbo]

i might end up doing that as a fallback, or if the guy i ordered the mount plate for the Ford dual piston calipers will take them back and refund me. they on the way to me now and i ended up paying $250 for them because i wasnt finding any others online or at local yards. i wonder what rotors those are. do you know what vehicle they're actually for? i see in the pics they have slots in the area between the rotor face and wheel mounting surface and i'm sure they're probably other rotors that do, but the only ones i have ever actually seen like that are the Chevy rotors. the rotors i removed are exactly like that.

i knew going into this that the single piston chevy caliper was better than the single ford and even better than the dual piston ford. i was ok giving up some braking performance and spending some money to convert so i could install/remove the rcv axles all in one piece. the main thing at this point is coming up with a setup that uses the Ford Reid knuckles and 9.72" RCV stub shafts, both of which i have already purchased and received.