Dana 35 to 44 knuckle conversions

[RonSerling]

I recently read the article on converting the knuckles on my 35 to 44's. Seeing how mine is going thru a set of wheel bearings every two months I am looking further into doing it. My question is there are a zillion vehicles out there that come with 44's but are there any particular year make and models that I should be looking for to get my donor knuckle, spindles and stubs from. I saw in Todds article he said his were from an 84 - 86 but not any specific model. I have been looking at some and in truth not all are alike. So that is where I get my question from. The work looks pretty easy as I could handle it all in my machine shop but I want it to be as easy as possible with the donor being as simple a change as possible. Thanks for any input !!!

 

[brinker88]

Buy quality wheel bearings, install them properly, and you should NEVER have a problem with them. I'm running 35s and flog the living hell out of my D35 (bent two driver side beams in 3 trips) and have never run into a wheel bearing problem.

 

[RonSerling]

I been using Timken A37's which I believe is a pretty good bearing !! Any suggestions on another brand ?????

 

[brinker88]

That's what I use. What are you doing with the truck and what are the specs? I mean, if you're running 39's or something, even a D44 wouldn't be able to handle that kind of abuse.

 

[RonSerling]

Nothing ridiculous LOL !! Daily driver for work but I live up in the mountains where we get pummeled with snow !! Its a 93 Ranger basically stock with a lift on it and I just put a set of Nankang 33/1250x15 Mudtsars on it !! Thats when the bearing problem started !!

 

[swynx]

Grease them more often. I do mine once a month. I assume its from an f150 ttb

 

[brinker88]

Nothing ridiculous LOL !! Daily driver for work but I live up in the mountains where we get pummeled with snow !! Its a 93 Ranger basically stock with a lift on it and I just put a set of Nankang 33/1250x15 Mudtsars on it !! Thats when the bearing problem started !!

Grease them often with QUALITY grease. I actually use the Marine grease. "Waterproof" and whatnot.

 

[AgPete139]

We are not answering the OP's question. Todd used pieces from an F-150 with a 5x5.5 bolt pattern. Other higher models have more wheel studs, which makes wheel options/adapters overly complicated.

1980-1996 FSB or F-150 will suffice. IIRC, the u-joints for the front stub shafts should all be the same.

FWIW, I install my wheel bearings correctly (both inner & outer), quality PN# A37 from O'Reilly's, and I have issues, too. I also tend to use the skinny on the trails, too. I still have to fully service my TTB once a year, maybe twice (rechecking the lock spindle nuts). It sees long trips sometimes, 35x12.50 on 15x10 w/ 3.75" BS. It just wears out, even with quality moly grease. Speedy wear of front wheel bearings is common with large tires on our D35.

Part of the reason for really bad wear could be attributed to your alignment, RonSerling. These trucks are stupid when it comes to camber.

 

[4x4junkie]

I agree with the others, there's no reason you should be going thru bearings like that, something's wrong (my D35 still has OE bearings in it from '94 when the axle was originally under my Ranger).


Are the Timken A37s a bearing set? (Race + bearing)? You aren't mixing up races & bearings are you? (such as using the chinese races that are often pre-installed in rotors). How much wheel offset are you running? (or what size wheel & backspace)?

 

[swynx]

I agree with the others, there's no reason you should be going thru bearings like that, something's wrong (my D35 still has OE bearings in it from '94 when the axle was originally under my Ranger).


Are the Timken A37s a bearing set? (Race + bearing)? You aren't mixing up races & bearings are you? (such as using the chinese races that are often pre-installed in rotors). How much wheel offset are you running? (or what size wheel & backspace)?

Not sure how old my bearings are but the hub hot enough you couldn't touch it. I re-greased and re-used those same bearings and they work great now.

 

[FFChuck]

That's something I want to do also...switching to D44 knuckles. I use SKS bearings on my D35 and had a lot of problems with them. Need to switch to timken.

 

[RangerSVT]

92-96 full size bronco used spindles that have the same bolt pattern as the ranger knuckle, so rather than modifying the balljoint hole for the 44 knuckle, you can simply bolt on the spindles, caliper brackets and hubs/rotors from the donor.
With that said, I ran timkens on my 35 running 37" iroks, DD'd with 2-3 wheeling trips a month. Periodic bearing inspections every 2 or 3 months was all that was required. The bearings lasted til I pulled the 35 after about 2 years...

SVT

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm with them... unless the wheels have more offset than normal or are really wide (same effect... that's part of why I'm running 8" wheels on my truck), I've never had a bearing issue on my Ranger and I'm running mismatched bearings of unknown quality (whatever was in the rotors from the junk yard, just checked that they were in good shape and repacked)

 

[dirtcowboy]

Use 80-96 F-150 or Bronco Dana 44 TTB front axles, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE '87 MODEL YEAR . That year uses the "top hat" style hubs as the Dana 35 axle. I'm doing 3rd conversion this winter. They are stoopid simple to accomplish. I use Dutchman axles on the 8.8. I use Curries disc brake kit for the 8.8 as well. I also use Ruffstuffs 8.8 axle swap kit and diff cover for the 8.8. Best tip; go SLOW when reaming your Dana 35 beams, it doesn't take much to ruin them.

 

[bobbywalter]

Buy quality wheel bearings, install them properly, and you should NEVER have a problem with them. I'm running 35s and flog the living hell out of my D35 (bent two driver side beams in 3 trips) and have never run into a wheel bearing problem.

I agree with the others, there's no reason you should be going thru bearings like that, something's wrong (my D35 still has OE bearings in it from '94 when the axle was originally under my Ranger).


Are the Timken A37s a bearing set? (Race + bearing)? You aren't mixing up races & bearings are you? (such as using the chinese races that are often pre-installed in rotors). How much wheel offset are you running? (or what size wheel & backspace)?

man those statements need qualification.


i cant even come close to agreeing that the d35 bearing setup will hold any 35 in tires trouble free. light radial 35's are doable with increased maintenance. heavy 35's no way. in hard stop conditions the brakes cook the fawk out of the grease.


the offset of the wheel tire type and actual miles and driving conditions are the variants that make these suggestions out of place for me.

granted i run over weight as well, the d35 required constant attention. and often they are improperly setup and maintained...but setup was not an issue for me.


4x4 junkie considering i usually drive more miles in a year then your bearings seen from 94 to 2009, i can say for sure the d35 setup sux ass for big tires. a set of bias 35's driven to the wear bars in one year in city traffic will eat 2 sets of bearings easily. at least...if you consider if you have to grease wheel bearings more then twice a year especially if the thing never was over the hub in mud in 25-30k miles....something is wrong.


its asking too much of them to run 10 inch wheels and 35 in bias ply tires.



so light 35's on sane wheels are one thing.

swampers on typical 10 on wheels are another.

where you drive, how much you drive, how much you weigh are key.


if you want ruthless 37's and setup some 488 gears running the ttb 44 knuckles or f150/bronco abs spindles and outer stubs are a worthy investment if you want to stay narrow as possible.

though using the f series abs spindles required custom parts for the brakes that are simple to fab with 3/8 plate to use the big calipers.