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Narrow dana 44/ford 8.8 sas xlt ranger


DANIELVINCENT

Well-Known Member
Solid Axle Swap
TRS Banner 2012-2015
Joined
Feb 28, 2010
Messages
111
City
Vancouver WA
Vehicle Year
1999
Transmission
Automatic
so here i finally go!!! after a few years I'm going to get my SAS on the way!!!

so here is what i have...
-a 1978 ford high pinion Dana 44
-ford range 8.8
-both have 4.10 gear ratio
-custom long arms
-14" FOA coil over
-5 inch toyo rear springs/ with a 2 inch lift block{going to do a shackle soon but do have money}
-time being 35 inch Maxis big horns
-cold air intake
-cat back exhaust
-3 inch body lift

so thats my truck in a small nut shell... tones more i want to do with it but i dint have the money yet.

here are the pics of the swap

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there is my truck with 35 and a IFS lift on it and a 3 inch body
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then i picked up a few axles to flip so i can narrow a High Pinion Dana 44 to match my ranger 8.8
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so the first Axel i had was a matching set of 3.50 gear Dana 44 ford 9 inch out of a full size 1979 ford bronco, so they were full size and i didn't know what i was doing at the time but i knew what they were Worth so i picked them up for 400 and the re sold them to a Friend for 600 so i was up so it didn't bother me much... also it had a full 9 inch lift on it.
now the second Axel i got was a wagy Dana 44 for 175 and it had (or i was told) 4.10 gears... cause my plan is to just run my 8.8 till it blows and switch to a Dana 60. but the real gear ratio was 3.50 when i popped the cover, i was pissed so i panted it and flipped it for 400 so i was pretty happy.
now the Axel i have now is out of a 1978 ford bronco, has 3.50 gears and had the cast C knuckle on it. i took it all out cleaned it panted it and then found another full width Dana 44 with 4.10 gears and swapped them in there, also took 6 inches off it and made it to early bronco specs then went down to Dutchman's and got the shaft shortened so now it will be all complet... i have a narrowed high pinion 31 spline Dana 44 that is the same width as my 8.8 under there... here are some pics of the Dana 44
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so i cut the long side down six inches and she is SHORT!!!
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so i put the cast knuckle into a vice so i can get the Axel tube out... pain in my ass but we got it. i took it up to pro tech and got a FAT ASS weld for 30 buck! best deal out of the swap...
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here is the narrowed Axel to the Donner 4.10 Axel crazy short
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got the gears out of the full size and put them in the narrowed Axel today
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also that same day my Blastic joints came for my long arms
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more on those later :icon_hornsup:
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so here is the Axel all ready to go i do need to get new rotors and breaks and calipers but I'm going to wait on NAPAS half off sale to pick them up witch is this saterday...
so the swap Begin on Monday, i took my truck up to my Buddy's shop in long view. he is a FOA and TRAIL GEAR dealer so he hooked it up big time.
we got the IFS shit off the first day
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so that is all off and i have bare frame, cleaned it all up and time to mock shit up...
so I'm going to be using 14 inch FOA coil overs in the front and toyo hoops and tabs on the Axel (more of those pic's later) we now are going to mock up the placement of the Axel
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dint mind my little red headed Friend he helped out a lot!!! so did my Buddy Aaron who owns the shop and the name is Wahoo Fabrication
so got it pushed up to the frame
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got tabs welled on
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made my long arms
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crazy long there about 6 foot long right behind my T-case and bent them out so they sit on my frame rail. made them out of DOM 2 inch .250
so got eve thing tacked in place here are some pics
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so here it is siting on its own weight looks good it DAM high man the hood is sitting about 63 inches off the ground on 35 inch tires.... i can clear with out cutting 41 with a bit of rub.... CRAZZY
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so thats up to today the 9th of sept 2011 the rear has a 5 inch leaf pack and 2 inch block, i will get more pics soon on that and the track bar and steering!!! the last parts should come Monday dam USPS cant do anything sometimes. ever thing is there expect the links for the steering, I'm using an IFS box from a toyo and drilled my knuckles out to do like a mid high steer! more pics will be coming just hold on thanks for looking leave comments and feedback!!!!!
 
That is damn good lookin. Don't stop I need mooooore!!!!
 
Great so far. but we need more pictures. How am I supposed to have such great dreams without more pictures. Your just being a tease right now.
 
Wish more people would do this and follow your method: gather parts, money and know-how, then commence their swap while taking pictures (and not telling anybody about it beforehand). Then the readers can just read through the whole swap (or in this case, 1/2 of it) and not have to wait in suspense while the builder takes their time :icon_twisted: :thefinger:

Lookin' Good :icon_thumby:
 
I really hope you beef up those radius arms a bit, they don't look like they will hold up
 
I really hope you beef up those radius arms a bit, they don't look like they will hold up

HA HA HA yeah man they are just laying in each other in that pic right now so they are welded now! ill get more pics soon it also has 5 inches of the DOM sleeved onto the arms and its pretty dam strong i think we will plate it on Monday.:icon_welder:
 
AXLE!!! jeeze man... lol

other then that this thing looks sick
 
so i picked up new rotors and break fluid!!! napa is spendy! but my pads and calapers are coming tomorrow..... now the foming bubbles are because the car i used to drive up there is stained from everthing!!!! dam McDonadles
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picked up so new meets what do u guys think for 550
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so yeah for the winter time these 38.5 15.50 15 boggers will have to do:thefinger:
 
that is CRAZY high.... i'd have to lower it some for my taste..
but hey, its yours. looks great! keep it up
 
that is CRAZY high.... i'd have to lower it some for my taste..
but hey, its yours. looks great! keep it up

yeah it got big real fast!!!! but its my first run at it so next time it will be better but thanks man!!!
 
give me some pics with the chrome wheels and swapers on there. lookin good
 
give me some pics with the chrome wheels and swapers on there. lookin good

i wish i could but those dam wheels are for a Yoda 6 lug!!! so heres a tricky deal... some guy said that he wants to buy them for 400 and trade bead-locks also ?!?! what would you do? :icon_confused::icon_confused::icon_confused:
 
well the rims i would say bye bye to!!!does the guy want the swapers as well..if he does what tires are u gettin and how good of condition are the beadlocked rims and tires if u are gettin those in the trade???????
 

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