Dana 44 Knuckles on Dana 35 TTB

[410Fortune]

I run the ac delco premium ball joints as well

Dorman hd has a new line of them also that are very heavy duty I will likely try those next

Are you gonna drill the rear axle shafts to 5 on 5.5?

 

[Ronfoox]

I run the ac delco premium ball joints as well

Dorman hd has a new line of them also that are very heavy duty I will likely try those next

Are you gonna drill the rear axle shafts to 5 on 5.5?

hopefully these premium ones last a long time lol

ive seen the dorman hd on rockauto hopefully the ac delco are good enought

i honestly havent thought about the rears i have alloy eagle wheels and i bought a pair of american racing baja which are the same wheels as the alloy eagle ones i have. at some point i had the idea of adapter plates but i never heard good thing about those. im planing to do disc brakes on the rear so when i start doing that ill figure what to do there. i havent done much these last days been raining a lot here in south florida. will update soon with some pictures.

 

[Ronfoox]

So i might have drilled too far in on the lower ball joint. Came across this issue where the axle stub is hitting the lower inside of the spindle found out trying to install the lockout in the hub . Now gotta figure out how to fix the issue.

 

[410Fortune]

Does your spindle have a bearing and seal in the backside still?
The u joint caps on the yoke will come
Close to the knuckle but should never hit
The outer axle should be riding on the spindle bearing

If you drilled too far then… ouch
I’m not sure if they make a shim?

 

[Ronfoox]

So i thought i was too far up with the knuckle itself but i was fine.

actually for the axle stub to align with the center of the spindle the knuckle has to move a bit up so I wouldn’t have the issue im having.

But if i do go up a bit more the clearance from the lower ball joint and the beam are going to be tight. I think i was already in the limit.

i guess if remove the spindle bearing i wouldn’t have this issue but from all the info i could find none mentions this issue.

I noticed todd article on ranger station he removed some material from the bottom side of the top bj.

 

[Ronfoox]

That’s the space i currently have on the lower bj should i drill i bit more?

 

[410Fortune]

Here’s my truck lol

 

[410Fortune]

Hard to tell with everything assembled and dirty
Did you reem both knuckles already? Can you compare depth to the other side that is still stock?

 

[Ronfoox]

I haven’t done the other side yet, so i drilled a bit more so the lower bj goes in a bit more. I still have clearance on the top bj with the beam but it is tight. Now i know why i think it was brian removed some material from the top beam to make the top bj have better clearance.

I assembled everything now and it seems like i have better clearance with the spindle and the axle stub

The problem i was having was the stub was completely leaning on the bottom side of the spindle so when i was installing the lockout it wouldn’t go in the hub because the stub was not moving freely on the spindle.

I went about 1/8 +/- more in so the whole cone of the bj is in the beam.

I freaked out the other day thinking i went too far in it was late night i was tired and frustrated LOL.

Also do you remember which angle camber bushing you used?

 

[410Fortune]

I use the superlift style infinitely adjustable ones they are from 0-3.25 correction on a 4wd

https://a.co/d/5IBu07m

I measure camber with shims centered at 0, raise truck in air, make adjustment from subtracting what is needed from actual measurement… put truck back down and check
The ball joint stud you want facing towards the back of the truck in a perfect world, that should get your caster close and camber near perfect
The shims come with a chart tell you what number to line up with what
Letter to get the correction you need

With 35s on a bronco ii I pretty much set my camber at 0 maybe .25 degree + and toe at 1/8” in per side…
Works great. I get even tire wear.

 

[Ronfoox]

Ok ill have to buy those then, i got what i had before which was 2-3/4 the fixed ones not the infinite adjustable ones. The guys at the alignment shop i take the truck don’t like the fully adjustable ones not sure why.

Before i had issues with the camber i couldn’t get 0 camber even with the fully adjustable ones. Issue was the springs were old and were sagging now i have the james duff ones and i stopped having that issue. Praying I dont have alignment issues now .

Will try those and see if i can get it closely aligned myself.

 

[410Fortune]

I like them because they go to 3 degrees or just past and anywhere in between. I have never had one move once set/ pinched
Any correction shim that gets you in spec is a good shim

After 18 years or so I replaced
My skyjacker 6” coils last year. They don’t make the red ones anymore and they don’t make the 8” either….

 

[Ronfoox]

Wow they lasted a good amount of time, i bought the truck already lifted so im clueless how long it had been lifted for. It had some cheap lift too. To i went with the james duff kit.

So i just finished putting everything together it fits perfectly. I’ll have to wait for the camber bushings now. I installed the one i have but i have no clue which angle is which.

 

[410Fortune]

Awesome looking Mazda!
We have 4 Mazdas outside right now
One is a 96 with 320k miles on it just got a newer engine and another is a 93 with a 4 cyl manual 4wd!!! Pretty neat little rig

James duff makes quality
Good choice

 

[Ronfoox]

She been a nice truck overall 190k miles and counting. Im planning to do a 1.9 tdi swap in the future.

Just finished both sides i still haven’t gotten the fully adjustable bushings. So i have the 2.75 ones installed and im still some degrees positive both sides passenger side more than diver side.

According to what the bushings paper says im fully negative on camber. The ball joint stud is currently facing out.

You can barely see it in the pics it was also getting dark. Hopefully the 3.2 gets me where i need to be.

 

[410Fortune]

New springs will settle some
Get some pics in the daylight!
Will be amazing with tdi

 

[Ronfoox]

New springs will settle some
Get some pics in the daylight!
Will be amazing with tdi

Springs have some miles on them i would say 6000 miles maybe.

I will try to take some tomorrow weather permitting. Hurricane helene will be passing by tomorrow here in Florida. Im not in the cone thank god but we will get lots of rain.

 

[jasonb135]

I'm going to do this knuckle swap soon. If I get any slop, I might experiment with a speedi sleeve on the bushing. Also has anyone tried these new Mevotech "Xtreme" balljoints? Desolate Motorsports sells these to go with their Bronco D44 beams?

 

[fordpickupman]

Just tighten the bolt, there won't be any slop.

 

[allmyEXes]

Please excuse my ignorance. In the link below, Is this pretty much what you guys are doing to the
dana 35? I may hold off and let the next owner of my 1991 4wd Explorer 4dr do the swap. I'll only have 31s anyway.
Dana 44 Knuckle Swap on to Dana 35