Do Dana 44 sas just bolt right up?

[stevenf]

I dont remember where I saw the article, but other then steering and radius arm brackets, the guy just claimed that the coils and shocks just dropped right into place....
Is this correct? If so, is it on all D44 front axles or only a few?

[vabronconut]

also the track arm needs a special bracket fabricated.(this i think is the biggest pain) and you should use early bronco coils. i don't think the b2 coils are big enough and will not fit right. other than that front brake lines probably need extended hoses, and new wheels for the d44's 5 on 5.5 lug pattern. and a whole lot of time under the truck.

[stevenf]

So the coil/shock buckets line up fine. The rest are small mods and fabbing brackets? Its the same way with all D44 or only the early bronco ones?

[vabronconut]

this is for the early bronco axle. all other d44's from ford are wider and i have no idea how they line up. other axles like jeep might have leaf springs and i have seen some nive swaps with that but i don't know anything about doing it that way. for the eb you hang the axle by the coil springs and then locate the radius arm brackets so the spings line up fine. the shocks need a little mod but nothing major

[stevenf]

So exactly what year does everyone refer to as EB dana 44's? Dont want to screw myself in a junkyard purchase.

[vabronconut]

So exactly what year does everyone refer to as EB dana 44's? Dont want to screw myself in a junkyard purchase.

early bronco is refering to the years 1966 to 1977. but someone correct me if i am wrong but the dana 44 wasn't used until 1969. i doubt you will find one of these in a junk yard though, they are very rare. you can get one off of ebay, classic broncos, sometimes craigs list. they go from about $100 used needed some work to $900 having allot of upgrades on them

[DBrown]

71.5 is when the EB got the 44. the quickest way to tell an EB D30 from an EB D44 is the 44 has balljoints the 30 has king pins.

on price I would say you are looking at used stock EB D44's starting around $500. I have one and I wouldn't let it go for any less then that because of how hard it is to find one.

[vabronconut]

ebay sells them cheaper than $500 by far. also classicbroncos commonly sells them around $200-300. This is usualy with drum brakes though. it all depends on the seller

[DBrown]

The problem with those prices is shipping. at that weight I would say you are going to be close to the price I would ask. Area plays a large part in price also. EB's are like gold around here, you will have a hard time finding anything that even resembles an EB part. I already have disk brakes on my D44 but if you look for the 76-77 you get them from the factory.

[stevenf]

Ok, well whats so special about the EB D44's? I know someone who has about 4 of which he claims are D44's from old Jeep cherokees and such.

[vabronconut]

Ok, well whats so special about the EB D44's? I know someone who has about 4 of which he claims are D44's from old Jeep cherokees and such.

the bronco 44 is the easiest to swap in. the biggest deal is the pumkin location. fords are drivers side , some jeeps are also drivers. but chevy, dodge, international scouts, and allot of jeeps are passenger side. if you do a jeep transfer case behind a ford transmission and run everything the other side it can be done. ( jeep used allot of both gm and ford parts in their day including transmissions) also the only axles that are the correct width for a bronco ii swap are the early bronco and jeep axles. you can do a full width axle swap but it is more work. the early bronco axle is also more attractive in the fact that it is coil sprung versus the jeeps more common leaf sprung axle. if your not in a hurry, keep looking on ebay and one will pop up in your area at a good price.

dbrown has a point about shipping adding to the cost. you pretty much have to figure out what your after first before buying. do you want a axle just to shove under your truck and run and not do anything to it? or are wanting to go through it from one end to the other and customize it? i personally got one for $50 off of ebay and drove 100 miles to go fetch it. but i knew before i bought it that i would be keeping very little of the origal axle i bought. i never run used brake lines, always replace all bearing and seals. the ring and pinion i put 4.88's and a locker in so i new the pumpking was getting replaced, i did a f150 disc brake conversion so i knw that everything from the kncukles out where getting replaced. and so on and so on. this is why its important to figure out what you want. don't pay $500 for a axle that your going to toss most of the parts on anyhow. and the parts coming off are about worthless so its not even worth putting most of them on ebay.

this is my opinion so take it for what its worth

[stevenf]

Why would full width axles be more work?

[vabronconut]

Why would full width axles be more work?

coil buckets will not line up with cups on axle, radius arms will need reworked to reach frame mounts. track bar will need work. it can be done but you have to figure a way to widen the frame or mounts where the suspension links are.

[DBrown]

coil buckets will not line up with cups on axle, radius arms will need reworked to reach frame mounts. track bar will need work. it can be done but you have to figure a way to widen the frame or mounts where the suspension links are.

this is realy only true if you are using a 78-79 D44. on that axle you cant move the cast "c"'s in because there is not axle tube behind the wedges.

if you find an earlier d44 you can grind off the wedges and move them in. then you don't have to space anything out. but, yes it is more work.