Need some help

[Harder93]

Probably 33s or 35s
I can find a 44 front for 50 to 100 easy, what is the width difference between stock and full width from a 79 bronco by chance? Is there a way I could run a different backspacing front and rear so the front would come in and the rear would come out to use the stock 8.8? That would cut a lot of cost down rehearing is a must already my stock gears a 3.27 what tires should run with what gearing? Thanks for all the help and sorry for all the newb questions. Just wanna do it right and as cheap as possible

 

[rhauf]

Probably 33s or 35s
I can find a 44 front for 50 to 100 easy, what is the width difference between stock and full width from a 79 bronco by chance? Is there a way I could run a different backspacing front and rear so the front would come in and the rear would come out to use the stock 8.8? That would cut a lot of cost down rehearing is a must already my stock gears a 3.27 what tires should run with what gearing? Thanks for all the help and sorry for all the newb questions. Just wanna do it right and as cheap as possible

I'd swap the rear axle as well. for these reasons:
1. stock rear 8.8 is C clip, which sucks.
2. a 9" rear is considerably stronger, and you can get used detroit lockers for them cheap on ebay all day long (they use them for race and replace constantly)
3. lug pattern will match
4. width will be correct


anyway, in my opinion even 31's are pushing it for 3.27 gearing with a 4.0/a4ld combo. I'm running 5.38's with 37" tires. that was the lowest gearing i could get, and honestly it needs to be quite a bit lower (now im thinking doubler, atlas, etc but those options are expensive)

i think for 33's 4.88's would be a minimum. and 5.13's a minimum for 35's. get the lowest gearing you can get your hands on. you can find some pretty cheap gear sets online. you will need to swap the d44's carrier to fit the lower gear sets though, so budget that in as well. you don't need to change all the bearings though, that's just a waste of money, even though all the axle shops tell you it's required. pfffft.


A 78/79 bronco dana 44 will be set up for coil springs, so you will need to get leaf spring perches as well, and weld them on (carefully!)


Now i'm not trying to talk you out of anything.. but having been in similar situations before (trying to do a build and having limited cash) i'm going to say, i usually have buyers remorse afterword. i plan out my stuff pretty well, and i always end up spending at least twice as much as i originally estimated. the work also turns out to be more than originally estimated, every time. so i say again, have plenty of cash ready to throw at this just in case.

what kind of wheeling do you plan on doing? you know the stock d35 TTB system is under rated.. it's actually relatively strong.

 

[Harder93]

I do not mind the d35 I want to lift my explorer and cannot find a kit for it I actually like. I would like to do something custom on it but all searches have failed me. The kits run about 600 I figured for a little more I could get a solid axle and lift at the same time.

For the kind of thing the explorer will/has lived through... Just yesterday I found a hill on this rural road and was perfect for the roller coaster effect so I hit it and realized if I went a little faster I could jump it... So 80mph this time and find myself 2 feet in the air with about 5 seconds hang time.

Most of the wheeling would be Evans creek and Elbe which have a lot of off camber trails and hill climbs and mudding I live in Washington and we have a lot of gnarly trails that get fun with it raining most of the year. I also need to drive this daily

 

[4x4junkie]

Nothing wrong with the 8.8" (a 9" isn't really stronger unless you start throwing some aftermarket parts at it).
However I would agree, swapping the rear for a full-width axle is the best way to match it to the front (full-width 8.8s and 9s are a dime-a-dozen in the salvage yards... Get the rear from the same truck you pull the front from if it's available).

I do have to comment though, if you think you want to get into speed and jumping the thing, you might want to think about getting a full-width D44 TTB axle up front instead. The TTB is gonna handle that type of abuse a lot better than a solid axle would. However you're also looking at some pretty good coin to get everything set up properly (good quality race shocks on custom mounts all four corners, beefy radius arms... probably would want to cut & turn the beams a bit for more clearance as well, though this can detract from your handling on hillclimbs a bit). Might be a good idea to think for a bit about which way you want to go with it before you get too deep into it.

 

[Harder93]

the jumping thats just fun for stock if im dumping money into this thing i dont want to do something stupid like that with it, thats where finding a pos ranger comes into play if you look up buckley rangers on youtube thats what i mean.... also frrom my town as well what i really want tho is a dependable wheeler and daily driver, if i didnt have to drive it everyday this would all be done