D44 and 9" from a 79 ford

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Phillippi
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D44 and 9" from a 79 ford

Post by Phillippi »

how does $300 for the set sound for FS Dana 44 disc and 9" rear? I have a guy near me that is selling these and he says they are in good shape. Opinions...


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Nobody
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Post by Nobody »

That's about fair, assuming complete. What gear ratio?
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Phillippi
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Post by Phillippi »

He says complete. He hasnt answered on the ratio tho
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Post by Happy_Jack »

This is for the SAS BII swap correct? How were you going to attach the front axle? I thought the FS 44 had the c-bushing wedges too far apart to use the ready made cross member that works with the EB spacing and radius arms. I've heard that some of the FS axles have the c-bushing wedges welded on and that new wedges can be welded on or the old ones moved. Or you could fab your own radius arm mounts.

The 9" rear would be great. It should be 31 spline. Just be careful taking measuerments when you set it up. I would wait till after you have your v-8 in to do the rear. As V-8 swaps can very some. I set my 8.8 up with the same pinion angle as my old 7.5. My v-8, tranny,t-case must be at a different angle and the rear out put yoke at a different location as I had to shim the axle when I installed it to make it right.

Not trying to rain on anyones day just bringing up some stuff I remember reading. Good luck and I hope this helps.
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Phillippi
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Post by Phillippi »

Is there a way to use the stock radius arms without moving the wedges from a FS? If they are cast and unmovable, then ya thats a deal breaker, but if I can use them stock and/or cut and reweld new wedges then it sounds good to me.
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Post by FatMan »

unfortunetly 79 was one of the year's they casted the wedges on the axle, but you can still run it. it's just gonna take more fabrication. i cant remember what year d44's you should look for but i know one of them is from a mid 70's F-150 extended cab.i really like the fullwidth so if you really want to go that way it can be done.
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Post by Happy_Jack »

If your going to build your own mount brackets to attach your radius arms to the frame then it should not be a problem. Grif over on the RRORC built his for his EB 44 in his X. Digger had bought Grif's old Ranger and it had a lift on it with longer after market radius arms. The kit had a new cross member to mount the longer after market Radius arms. When Digger did his EB 44 front SAS the stock EB radius arms bolted up to the lift kit cross member and aligned the axle perfectly. I'm not sure but I think it is the Skyjacker lift and a lot of guys go this route. Just get an EB 44 and the cross member. Most get rid of the smaller weeker axles and u-joints in the EB 44 and up grade to GM outers for disc brakes and larger u-joints and Warn axles. My son did the axle/u-joint upgrade on his EB front 44. Then you do the gears you want and the locker you want. Have to do those anyway. I think the Warn axles are stronger than the FS 44 stuff, but the FS 44 stuff will be stronger than the stock EB stuff.

Just didn't know how you planned to do your SAS. I just wanted to bring this up so you would know about it.
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Phillippi
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Post by Phillippi »

Does anyone here have the FS setup with custom crossmember for the radius arms? PIcs? Or should I pass on this one. Also what years have both the welded wedges and disc brakes?
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Post by Happy_Jack »

I found a couple of treads on FS 44's over on the RRORC board. Seems some disagree and it started some bad fellings that moved to the members section. What most seem to agree on is that 79 is a bad choice and 77 and older is the way to go. From what I can gather with a quick look at the threads is that you get a an earliers 44 that is leaf spring and buy a set of the wedges. That the even earlier coil buckets stick out far enough to work. It gets way more involved and I'll post the links and let you decide if you want to do it or not. But the second link will have pic's and folks to contact that think this is the way to go and gives you the most flex. Here is one of the links. http://www.rrorc.com/forums/showthread. ... =full+size This is the other post http://www.rrorc.com/forums/showthread. ... =full+size

I learned some time ago that there is more than one way to do something. I also found that if everyone liked the same stuff then we would have only one truck and they would all be the same color. What works for some won't for others. I hate to tell folks what they should do. I just try to provide what info I can and let you make your own choice.
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Post by DBrown »

well, the one good thing you can pull off the 79 D44 is the disk breaks. so in theory you could get the 3rd member out of the rear(31 spline), have the axles cut down and knuckles for the disk break in the front. the carriers also can be used from the D44 unless you are wanting to run a bigger gear. typicly they come with 3.50's. prsonaly I have had a hard time finding a D44 in this area, so I would snatch them and make the brackets to run the full width setup. that way you just alter the crossmember and space out the buckets.
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Post by TNMAN »

I believe that the 77' and older 44's had the wedges welded on...not cast into the axle tube.The high-pinion,heavy duty(thicker axle tubes) 44 that I used is from(I think) a 1972 model Ford. When I was gathering parts for my leafed SOA conversion I had to be very selective in diff selection as the later models would not have allowed me cut off the wedges.As for the 44 I did use...I just had to use a wheel cutter and grind into the weld holding the wedges on and then just knock them off with a BFH. I then smoothed the tube with a grinder and welded on the spring perches where I needed them.
*Just a little note here:I wish...not that it's all said and done....that I had opted for the coil spring frt suspension.Though the leafs were simple(somewhat) to add....they caused considerable problems when it came to using high-steer,hydraulic steering, and setting pinion angle.*
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Post by Nobody »

If I were going to go full width, I would find an axle with welded wedges. I would rather move the wedges than space the buckets and radius arm brackets out off the frame. Aside from being cleaner and less work, moving the wedges in gives you some extra tire clearance.

If you were going EB width, the 78-79 axles with cast wedges can easily be cut down.

I wouldn't buy the axle for the disc brakes. The arms on the knuckles are too low on the ford brakes. I think the chev brakes are better anyway.

The 9" can easily be cut down as well.
Guest

Post by Guest »

TAKE IT, all you have to do is make it fit
you can bend the springs in, like this / \ it looks a little off but works fine, you will need new coils in the front as well, the 79,s are too stiff, with the radius arms, you will have to take the 79's perches and just cut new holes in your frame to get it to hook up, then I would recomend fabing a new crossmember. you can make the old one work, but it is a lot better to make a new one, I have pics of both....if you want pics of mine just let me know, moving the wedges in would help on tire clearance :), I would also recomend taking this time to move the axel 2 inches forward as to fix some stearing linkage problems as well as moving the tire away from the drivers side floorbord well, thats it for me,
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Post by PHROX »

yes, what that guest has to say is very true, we should worship him and give him money:)

btw, the price is right too, I payed 500 for my d44 and 100 for my 9",
1987 Bronco2, d44/9" locked, sweet paint job. Now with available 5.0
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Phillippi
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Post by Phillippi »

Pics PIcs. I want to see it all before I decide on the purchase. As it is now, it seems a bigger pain in the ass, so I think I might wait. Hell I dont know, I need to yank the motor out of the FS first and finish the stuff I started before I can really worry about the d44. I really dont NEED the 9" it jus would have been nice to have matching front and rear gear ratios.
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