BTR is Jack Stand Wheelin

[Todd]

BTR is Jack Stand Wheelin, Pics added

Ok so my buddy got a ton of TTB 44 stuff from the scrap yard that he works for at the price of scrap. He got all this stuff for spare stuff for his rig but didn’t need it all so I figured I would pull my rig into the shop and do the 44 knuckle swap.

Tore into her and while waiting for a buddy with a ream to come up to ream the beams I tore down the rear to redo the rear bumper and put some beast tow points on it. When doing that I noticed one of the rear spring hangers was bent. So Im building some new ones now. Just like everything else I built when I redid my rig earlier this summer, over built.

So with the front tore down and rear axle out I was thinking why not put those 5.13’s in both diffs I have always wanted. I have the cash for them now so why not, eh?

So I am doing some more major things to the BTR

1. 44 knuckle swap
2. Rear tow points and reinforced frame rails
3. Rear spring hangers
4. 5.13 gears (Edit: going with 4.88's now)

With the 5.13’s my final crawl will be 117:1 (Edit: 111:1 with 4.88's)

Will be posting pics

 

[Sunk]

Sweet.... and that's an insane ratio.

 

[ChrisR1S]

WOA what a ratio

 

[Todd]

Ok some updates and progress. Ordered my gears, no longer going with 5.13's got 4.88's coming my way. Still puts my final crawl at 111:1.

Got the rear tow points and spring hangers done.

Also got both beams and knuckles reamed. Knuckles reamed to accept the 35 tierod ends from the top. Then the 35 beams reamed to accept the 44 lower ball joints.

First the depth the ream was found by placing the ream in a 44 beam and marking depth of cut with tape.

Un-reamed beam

Reamed beam

Anyone can do this

44 lower ball joint in 35 beam

My original plan for the upper ball joint was to use a 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive TIB ball joint as its the pinch style like the 35 and the stud fit into the 35 cam. But the ball joint base was not the right size and didnt fit into the knuckle. So after a little thinking I took a 44 cam and when to test fit it onto the 35 beam to see what needed to be done to make it fit the 35 beam. And wouldnt you know it slid right in!!!! TTB 44 cams fit onto 35 beams. Granted some custom work needs to be done to them to make them work but still a lot less then I thought.

Here is a 44 upper ball joint with 44 cam in 35 beam.

As of now Im at a spot where I cant do anymore untill I get my gears. True I could mount the 44 knuckles but I dont want to do that untill the beams are under my truck.

And after I am done a full write up on the 44 knuckle swap will be writen with way more pics and steps.

 

[PARKINGLOT]

looking good! what kind of hubs do you plan on running?

 

[Todd]

I have a set of stock manual ford hubs. I believe they are spicer. Way stronger then any 35 hub.

 

[ZSK]

Why are you running just the 44 knuckles? Why not swap the beams and all, have full width to match the rear?

 

[CopyKat]

Why are you running just the 44 knuckles? Why not swap the beams and all, have full width to match the rear?

Doesn't look like he had much of a D44 to work with.

I'll be taking Notes Todd

Food for thought. Why not cut a slice in the D44 cam with a saw and make the D35 slice wider. Should be plenty room to clamp. Then with the top nut on the D44 Joint.

 

[Hahnsb2]

Lookin good! You ever gonna do that exo like you were talkin' about last spring?

 

[compleckz]

Why are you running just the 44 knuckles? Why not swap the beams and all, have full width to match the rear?

that would be pretty dope, make for more stability

either way, todd's rig is already badass back 2 studying

 

[Todd]

Why are you running just the 44 knuckles? Why not swap the beams and all, have full width to match the rear?

I thought about it but didnt want to dick with moving the coil buckets out and mess with the rad arms. Then I dont know if my ubber soft coils would work with the longer beam lenght.

Also think of this, the one shaft on a 35 what was smaller then the neck of a 44 was the stub shaft. With running the 35/44 hybrid the overall shaft diameter is greater then that of the neck on a 44 inner. True the 35 inners tapper down to 27 spline to go into the side gears in the diff but this is still a larger diameter then the neck on a 44. So all in all the 35/44 hybrid is stronger then a 44.

Food for thought. Why not cut a slice in the D44 cam with a saw and make the D35 slice wider. Should be plenty room to clamp. Then with the top nut on the D44 Joint.

The 44 cam fits into the 35 pinch just as the 35 although the 44 cam does not have the slice you are talking of. Instead it is tappered just like the lower ball joint. My plan is to get the cam in the right spot then clamp the cam in the 35 beam using the stock pinch bolt. Then the 44 upper ball joint nut can be used to retain the upper ball joint just like in the 44 beam.

Lookin good! You ever gonna do that exo like you were talkin' about last spring?

Its all about the money. I was either start the cage or get gears. Plus I was only going to attemp the cage if the club was going to buy a tube bender with our tool money this year. And I dont think that is going to happen.

 

[4x4junkie]

I have a set of stock manual ford hubs. I believe they are spicer. Way stronger then any 35 hub.

You break a "Jeep" hub?

Also, why 4.88 over 5.13?

Lookin' good though.
We could use a better writeup about the knuckle swap

 

[Natedog]

...why 4.88 over 5.13?

Lookin' good though.
We could use a better writeup about the knuckle swap

Stronger gears. Looking great and forward to your write up on the knukcles swap.

 

[Todd]

No I haven’t busted any of the Jeep 35 hubs but plenty of the damn regular ones. I Have always thought about getting the Jeep hubs but at the same time I never wanted to buy them as I knew I wanted to do the 44 knuckle swap. Then my buddy came home with all the stuff I needed and I was like, well might as well do it now. For the parts I traded an extra high lift jack I got at a scrap yard for 18 bucks.
And as for the gears I got a better deal on 4.88’s then I could find 5.13’s. When your in college its all about building your rig on the cheap by fabbing your own stuff and getting parts as cheap as you can.

 

[4x4junkie]

No I haven’t busted any of the Jeep 35 hubs but plenty of the damn regular ones.

So how would you know they're way stronger than "any D35 hub"?




J/K

They probably are stronger (especially if they're Spicers).

I think the stock D44 Ford hubs of that era are Warn units though.
IIRC, the Spicer hubs disappeared sometime in the mid-late '70s (and are a bitch (read: impossible) to turn if there's any driveline bind AT ALL between the front & rear axles when you go to take it out of 4WD).
Being that it's trail-only, I'd just stick drive slugs on it.