Yeah well I did build it for slow crawling through trails in mind, I just haven`t really done that yet, what a dumbass I am sometimes...
I`m having a hell of a time finding axle shafts; the spirit of the anonymous donor axles is haunting me, trying to get a positive ID hasn`t proven to be a [rhymes with a kick you do when you are to far from the endzone for a field goal].
If y`all don`t remember, the axles were given to me as found, in a backyard attached to only a frame. Behind it, in the weeds, was a hood that looked like a Bronco or F-150 hood. The cast-in c-wedges on the Dana 44 led me to believe it was from a 78 or 79 Bronco or F-150. This was pretty well my only clue at the time. I ordered parts for my axle re-build for a 79 Bronco but did run into some snags with front inner seals and rear bearings that didn`t match up but they didn`t clear up where the axles came from since axles that used those parts were on many Ford vehicles.
So now I get to the point where I have to order axle shafts and am told that 78 and 79 did not come in the length (31&7/8" outer wheel face to shaft end) and big bearing size (slightly over 3") AND have a 28 spline shaft in either the Bronco OR F-150 of that vintage.
It was almost as if I was being told these shafts never existed anywhere, which was frustrating (it was even suggested they had been modified, umm not likely) if I hadn`t have had my shaft with me at the parts store they wouldn`t have believed me. The parts store of course knows the uncertain history of the shafts and are still looking into it
I`m looking deeper now though, the hood that was near the frame looked full-size Bronco-ish but so does older f-150 hoods. I suspect the axles may have been even older and from an F-150 after all. Darn I wish I got some pics of that hood.
I pulled the third member and had quite a fright when I looked at the mess in the spline hole and the broke end wouldn`t fall or be magneted out. I started thinking the inner splines were mangled and I just flushed 800 bucks down the drain in the shape of a Detroit locker. Fortunately there is a hole between the splines you can fit a drift pin through.
Just a light hit and the broke end fell out, and the inner splines on the locker still look perfect.
Here`s a pic along with the metal hunks and shavings I got out with the magnet..