D35 - D44 TTB upgrade!

[death_ranger]

Anybody try putting the knuckles and spindles from a TTB yet? If you did, how was the experience? What parts are required to do this, and how much modification is required?

Just a ranger guy wanting to know if I should do this or just swap in a regular 35 (we have 28's and they suck).

Here's a reference for you folks:
Dead Link Removed

You guys have talked about it... did anyone atempt it?

 

[BislamJoe]

As far as I know, no one has done it yet. I'm going to later on, but first I'm getting a widened TTB fabbed, along with many other mods. I'll be doing that swap though with d44 outers. I don't know if it'll work on a D28 TTB, though. What I would do if I had a Ranger, go to a junkyard and find a wrecked 91-94 Explorer or two. Get hold of a 4x4 X and pull the front TTB assembly, and get the rear axle too (you may want the rear axle from a 95-up though, they have disks. just be sure to get the gear ratios the same) and swap 'em in. That'd be stronger and give you a wider stance. Or you could pull an Explorer TTB, do the D44 outers, then swap in a Ford 9" in the back (mebbe cut to match the front??) and swap in a V8 and ...... Sorry, got carried away.

 

[death_ranger]

I am planning on doing the swap with a D35 from an sploder. I figure a 9" from an Early bronco has the same track (pretty sure it's whithin an inch) and put that in the rear. That way I have the 5.5 on 5 bolt pattern everywhere.

Otherwise, I'll just take the D35 and 8.8 out of a sploader. But seems to me if I'm going to all that trouble in the first place, why not go all the way? The disc brakes don't impress me all that much, they have they're benefits, but too much hassle for my lazy @$$ (Have to change the cyclinder etc. etc.).

All I want to know is what's involved in the D35 - D44 swap. Is there any machining/fab-work that has to be done, or should this just bolt up?

This is something that really interests me because you can keep the TTB and become as strong as a 44 straight without all the trouble involved with swapping to a straight.

If it is possible to swap to the 44 knuckles and spindles out of an f-150, wouldn't it also be possible to do the same with the ones from an f-250? would those be stronger? Do they even have ttb's? Just a thought anyways... I'm not in a rush, I'm only going to get to this stuff when spring rolls around.

 

[BislamJoe]

There was a 3/4 ton TTB axle, the Dana 50. In fact, according to what I've read, the Dana 50 was only made as a TTB. I don't think outers from a D50 will swap on though.

I think the EB rearend is close to Explorer track width, though I may be mistaken. Another option may be to pull the Ford 9" out of one of the passenger cars. I think Perry McNeil's '93 Explorer has a 9" out of a Lincoln Continental in the rear and I think it matches the width of his widened TTB front (I think the Lincoln Ford 9" may be my best option, since I'm getting my TTB widened) and I think it may match the original bolt pattern.

I really don't know exactly what's involved and what parts you need, but I'm pretty sure that there's no fab work involved. From what I understand, it's a straight bolt up operation.