Chico4554’s Dana 44 Ranger Build

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Why Josh Chose a Dana 44
• Axle Upgrades and Modifications
• Radius Arm and Coil Spring Installation
• Transmission Crossmember
• Steering and Trac-Bar Setup
• Final Build Photos
• Related Articles
• FAQ

Introduction

I came across Josh’s (chico4554) 1993 Ford Ranger 4×4 in the forums as it was going through a Dana 44 swap from an early Ford Bronco. This page documents Josh’s build and process, showing how he upgraded his Ranger from a Dana 35 TTB to a full Dana 44 solid front axle. This is a showcase of his work and is not an endorsement to replace your stock Dana 35 TTB.

Why Josh Chose a Dana 44

Josh got tired of wondering when his Dana 35 TTB front axle was going to break with the 36-inch tires and decided a solid axle swap was in order.

Here you can see where Josh removed the Dana 35 and is uhhhh……pointing it out for us in this photo.

Josh’s axle of choice was a Dana 44 from a 1973 Ford Bronco. A lot of Ranger enthusiasts like these axles because their widths are close to the Ranger’s stock axle width and use a similar coil spring/radius arm setup. Some may like the stability of full width axles, but having the tires stick out so wide may not be legal in your state.

The early Bronco Dana 44 isn’t an exact match when it comes to the coil mount widths. Josh measured to the center of the coil bucket mounts on the frame and on the axle. On the frame he found that the width was 35-5/8-inches while on the axle it was 37-3/4-inches. That’s about a 2-inch difference which split on each side means the coils sit in toward the frame 1-inch on both sides.

Axle Upgrades and Modifications

This wasn’t a cheap build where he threw in a stock Dana 44 and called it quits. Josh set out to do this right. Early Dana 44s come with drum brakes and small u-joints. Josh upgraded this axle with new axles from a full-width Dana 44 to get the larger 760-X u-joints. He didn’t shorten the axle on the long side, instead he got a replacement from www.broncograveyard.com.

To convert the axle to disc brakes, Josh used a 1978 Dana 44 and transferred all components from the knuckle out. The Dana 44 has a 5×5.5 bolt pattern, so he added 5×5.5 adapters to the rear 8.8 to match the bolt pattern all around. The 5.13 gears are Yukon’s; the rear has a Detroit Locker, and the front uses a No-Slip. Gears were set up by RWARanger.

Radius Arm and Coil Spring Installation

To mount the radius arms, Josh used the rear hole in 1978-1979 radius arm brackets and lined it up with the bottom frame hole from the transmission cross member. Using these holes as guides, the rest of the holes were drilled.

Josh used 3.5-inch BC Bronco coils from www.bcbroncos.com. These are linear rate coils designed to give good flex. Upper shock mounts were cut out of the stock coil spring bucket, reboxed, and F-250 shock mounts were installed.

Transmission Crossmember

The transmission cross member was made by ZainyD (forum user). Josh followed the advice to use a new cross member to prevent bending the frame at the radius arm mounts due to flex.

The cross member is made from 2″x2″ 5/16″ wall square tubing with 1/4″ flat plate on the ends and for the transmission mount.

Steering and Trac-Bar Setup

Josh got the steering from www.partsmike.com. Accurate measurements from knuckle-arms and pitman arm were provided to Parts Mike for fabrication. The kit included 1-ton tie rod ends with thick tubing. Josh used a trac-bar mount from www.broncograveyard.com and modified it.

He reamed the pitman arm for the taper on the 1-ton tie rod end using the X-Kut Reamer from www.xkut-reamers.com.

Final Build Photos

To see more pictures of this Ranger, visit his Cardomain page HERE.

Related Articles

The Early Bronco Dana 44

James Duff Ford Ranger Dana 44 Axle Swap

Early Bronco Dana 44 Swap Into A Bronco II / Ranger

Ford Ranger Solid Axle Swap (SAS)

Ford Dana 44 TTB

Dana 44 Solid (Live) Front Axle

FAQ

Last Updated: January 3, 2026