price of having an axle shortened

[swynx]

was gonna go pickup a ford dana 44 and have it shortened to 60 wms. dennis at the4x4store wants 600$ to do this. ive looked at the article in the tech section and it doesnt seem THAT difficult pkus ive read about people havin this done for 150$ on pirate4x4. price just seems steep to me. especially since its already out of truck.

what have you guys paid? imaybe ill just go full width or with a waggy 44. altho i was lookin forwrd to coils

 

[straycat]

I know a few guys that just swapped in a Jeep front end and it fits great and is heavy duty. Easy to do if you cna do it yourself. Cheaper than you will think. Search her on the forms and do a Google on Jeep front end swap to Ranger/Exploder.

 

[straycat]

This is an article from Jim our founder of the Ranger Station:

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Dana30.htm

 

[brinker88]

The price is so high due to the time and effort it takes to make. You need to make sure exactly how much you cut off, you need to set the caster PERFECTLY, you need a 220V welder and an acet torch to make SURE you get the proper penetration needed to keep the axle together. If you have none of these tools and do not feel you are capable of making it RELIABLE (w/out killing yourself or others) I would most certainly pay the $600 to have it narrowed. I probably have 10 hours into the cleaning and narrowing of my D44. At $65/hr (that's a LOW avg. shop fee for welding/fab) you're looking at $650 so all in all, $600 is NOT that bad.

 

[swynx]

ive read all about the waggy swap. i figure if im gonna do it i should do it right. i want high pinion. the waggy is low. what would be reasons to go leaf sprung over coils? i dont need like alit of suspension travel. but i figure i can get what i need with leafs.

 

[wr250rdr]

When i had an inch taken out of an 8.8 out of an exp for my falcon it cost me about 250 at a local shop.

but I pulled everything apart cleaned it, stripped it, did all the measurements, so it was just a cut and weld.

 

[PlumCrazy]

ive read all about the waggy swap. i figure if im gonna do it i should do it right. i want high pinion. the waggy is low. what would be reasons to go leaf sprung over coils? i dont need like alit of suspension travel. but i figure i can get what i need with leafs.

LP isn't as bad as it s made out to be. I have beat the hell out of my EB 44 with out failure.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[hdmm]

LP isn't as bad as it s made out to be. I have beat the hell out of my EB 44 with out failure.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

I agree. One a fullsize D44 (dodge) I broke u-joints and axles at the joints, broke one carrier too and tooth off a pinion. After that I went D60, this was on a fullsize with 38's though.

A RBV is light, a D44 will live a long time under one, whether it be HP or LP.

As for the OP, $600 is a might high to narrow a axle, even though it's more work on a front one, it can still be done by the home mechanic if you have the euipment and a little patience. Personally I would just go EB D44 and be done with it.