dana 44 front (yes i know theres a search)

[everythintech]

ok i am curious what makes the ideal dana 44 front for my 98 4dr 5.0 and why each part? knuckles, vacuum, outers, i dont get all that stuff, and i cant find a thread that brakes it down. I plan on coils so that might help.

the things i do know are

driver side drop- tcase is on dside
vacuum- i think no i dont know why?

and i may be wrong but i think a thread with apps and brake downs of axles for each might be kinda nice, or a thread with all the sas ppl simply stating what they used as an axle and suspension, nothing more, kinda like an index, so other dont have to read all those threads, get to the end, and find one thing that you dont wanna do. anyways thank you for you assistance

chris

 

[dreamr]

There is a 79 f-250 at the pull a part in lynwood. That is what you need to know

I do not know all of the specifics years and makes etc....

what you would prefer though is a vehicle that had the driver side drop of course.

High Pinion adds to the strength of the dif as well as creating less driveline angle issues

Most vehicles lost the front drums toward the late seventies. You will want the disc I imagine.

Vaccum mainly applies to the d30 and you do not want vaccum engaged shafts. I suppose you may run in to it on 90 up vehicles in general, but I do not know.

Some other thoughts to add to the equation are what are your overall goals? Leaf, Coil, or custom coil over. You can save yourself a lot of fab work by finding a donor and using as much as possible.

Also there is the track width to consider. Our X's are around 60" WMS if I remember correctly. Most HP D44's you will find are closer to 66"WMS. Though I believe the Waggy axles are more like 61'ish.

Sorry I do not know more, but others will fill in the gaps. I will eventualy be going the D30 route so did not spend a lot of time reading about 44's.

 

[everythintech]

thanx man thats exactly what im lookin for.. keep it comin...

 

[dreamr]

Damn guilty of skimming again

Coils sprung high pinion D44's can be found on late seventy F-250"s as I mentioned in the first post. For some good info check out Joe's thread. JrGaylor that would be. His is a first gen of course, but that gets you started thinking

 

[jrgaylor]

Unless you plan on being rough on your rig which I don't think you will, you should go with a 95+ D30 it will save you alot of money and be easier.

Let me find you a coule links to both D30's and D44 in your area that are for sale

 

[jrgaylor]

This would be a nice axle, just need to change the gears and it has the good shafts and the track would be pretty close to explorer
'95 D30 3.07's/open non vac. disco, 160K miles, 297 shafts $250

Here is a LINK to the thread. John "avanteone" owns Auburn automotive repair

Here is a D44 for full width axles
Ford Bronco front D44 complete $400
LINK

F-250 axles will be wider than f-150/bronco axles which are ~6" wider than stock explorer axles

Buy complete axles it will save you time and money doing so

 

[IZwack]

Read this:
http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html

As for the vacuum disconnects, they are also found on Dana 44's - example: Wagoneers in the middle 80's ran vacuum discos.

This forum is not the best place to do research on Dana 44s mainly because Explorers never came with Dana 44s and the ratio of ppl using a Dana44 for SASs is really small. Search Google or something. Look at exploded diagrams and other writeups - as there are many many writeups on the internet including tear downs and rebuids. The link above is only one out of many many sites

Anyways, good luck. Research, research and more research Leave this forum for a bit and start searching Google

EDIT --
Just to add, some people like vacuum disconnects for you can have the differential locked and transfer case in 4wd and still have the ability to turn. But, the system adds more complications and more parts to go bad - its a trade off - like everything else

 

[dreamr]

John (Avanteone) Is a good guy! He would be where I got the majority of the jeep parts hiding in my garage including the axle.

Thanks JR for correcting the width comments. I was not sure what the difference between the f150 and 250 would be, just wanted to get the guy started with a bit of general info while waiting for y'all to chime in.

As to the D30. JR has a good point. How hard are you going to use it? How big of tires? How low of gearing? Locked or LS or Open? If you want to run the Rubicon, or for that matter follow Joe here through Elbe, stick with the 44. If you want to run a tire under 35 with no lower than a 4.56 gear and do not plan on constant hardcore abuse then the D30 will hold up well. IMO though the Super 30 kits are not worth it. If you are going to dish out that kind of cash to upgrade a 30 you may as well start with a 44.

For the type of swap you are looking for I recommend an axle out of a XJ between 95 and 01. These are all HP with non-vacuum shafts, coil sprung, and they have the 296X joints. If you run a quick search for my name and D30's Jefe broke down what was what for me. I'll go see if I can find it for ya.

 

[everythintech]

ok ive leaned alot already and narrowed down my search, i still think i am going to go d44 reason being, is that i dont wheel too often, i am going 33x15.5x15 super swampers, with a soa rear and matched front, i am debating keeping the bl. My gearing is going to be 4.10ish. i want coils. this is a somewhat daily driver but when i wheel i wheel hard. Hopefully that will give more insight to my project.

 

[dreamr]

With that gear and tire choice I say D30 and you will not have to buy new rims or widen the rear.

And you must define hard, full on rockcrawling is wheeling hard on this board

Me I am a pansy and stick to light to moderate wheeling with occasional challenges. After all It is an explorer that I intended for exploring not crawling.

If reiter or most of the areas around here are your ideal wheeling, The D30 will serve you well, though Elbe broke a d44 shaft for joe here not all that long ago.

 

[breel]

Don't think your issue will be axles but steering as you have rack and pinion. Us 1st gen drivers have the old worm drive and pitman arm so all we had to do was fab a drag link. Not sure what the frame difference is between a Ranger and Exploder but 034x4 has done a leaf swap and D30 on the frame using a yota steering box tapped for ram assist.

 

[IZwack]

Don't think your issue will be axles but steering as you have rack and pinion. Us 1st gen drivers have the old worm drive and pitman arm so all we had to do was fab a drag link. Not sure what the frame difference is between a Ranger and Exploder but 034x4 has done a leaf swap and D30 on the frame using a yota steering box tapped for ram assist.

I thought it was assumed that he's going to swtch to a steering box instead of a rack and pinion

Also, I thought 034x4 used a wagoneer Dana 44 I could be wrong tho

 

[dreamr]

I thought it was assumed that he's going to swtch to a steering box instead of a rack and pinion

Yep I just assume folks will realize that once the rack is cut off it doesn't steer all that well

 

[breel]

Hey man, he didn't mention that and said he did't know much about it, so I thought I would throw out that little issue. Your right about 034x4 using the D44, it was Yomie who used a D30 on his swap and looking or in the middle of swapping to a D44 also. Just feed him the info he may need and suck him in this cult that has been created. After taking my time and looking for deals on parts, and completely rebuilding my truck from the ground up I finally get to take it out tommorow. Six months of driving a Grand Marquis is enough to drive a redneck crazy. Good luck

 

[everythintech]

ok ok, but will the fact that i have a 5.0 have a matter? reiter is about the hardest place, i like mud wayyyy more then a rock crawl, so lets narrow this down more,

it will be use more in mud and muddy terrain, then a rockcrawl. i think a d30 will do good, that way i dont have to buy new wheels as mine are brand new. ok so with that in mind, what do i get the d30 off of with what on it, to do a coil setup?

 

[dreamr]

For the type of swap you are looking for I recommend an axle out of a XJ between 95 and 01. These are all HP with non-vacuum shafts, coil sprung, and they have the 296X joints. If you run a quick search for my name and D30's Jefe broke down what was what for me. I'll go see if I can find it for ya.

 

[jrgaylor]

'95 D30 3.07's/open non vac. disco, 160K miles, 297 shafts $250

This axle is about equal to a D44 except for the ring gear on a D30 Is smaller. there is a number of ways for control arms to be mounted. I think the cheapest would be to use radius arms and frame brackets from a f-150 or bronco and use the weld on cast wedges from james duff/cage offroad etc..
try to get the track bar that was oem to the axle and build a mounting bracket for it.

what ever axle you end up with try to get as much of the connecting hardware you can with it, you never know what you may end up reusing

I have 2 sets of EB/f-150 springs for sale 4" and 5 1/2" lift and I have set of 78 f-150 radius arms without frame brackets.

I had a bunch of other crap and steel but I just 2,000 of scrap to the recycler

 

[everythintech]

well how much do you want for the 5 1/2" lift and the radius arms? i was looking on craigslist i think i can find a cheaper d30 then 250, but maybe not.. im looking

 

[james t]

Honestly i would not recommend a D30 if you want to run the 33x15.50 SX's. Ive had those tires, and they are really heavy and all that width places alot of stress on the crappy part of having a D30. The wheelbearings and balljoints on a D30 are tiny compared to a D44- these are the parts that are going to wear out on you constantly with a really wide heavy bias tire. If you were going the standard 33x12.50 or 35x12.50 radial id say a D30 would be fine.

 

[everythintech]

can you get the 5-5.5 pattern on a d44?