Dana 44's

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azbroncoII
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:21 pm
Location: Chandler,Az
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Dana 44's

Post by azbroncoII »

Ok i seen alot of talk about the dana 44's. I was wondering what is the best donor vehicle? One where i can use more then just the front end. My beast is currently stock(except for the 31's) and need a good off road rig while still being my daily driver. I cant spend alot(the wife) will not let me due to something about a baby being born next week, women go figure.
90 broncoII 2.9 Life is like my bronco
"under rated & over worked"
Rockcrawler
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Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 10:41 pm
Location: San Juan Bautista, CA
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Post by Rockcrawler »

it depends on what you want. If you want to keep it street legal and stock width go with an early bronco axle. if you want full width i would go find a 74's axle with weld on wedges because you can move your coils in instead of moving your buckes out! The biggest down side to these axles is that they are drum brakes but its really easy to convert them to disc brakes because you can get any brake setup you want i ran chevy 6 lug ones for awail and now im running chevy 8 lug sense its alot easyer to come by them around here. If you get full width ones off a 78 79 bronco they will be cast which means you can change the location of the coils but they do come with disc brakes. It costed me 400 bucks in parts (thats with the axle to) to put the axle under my BII and 500 for the hyim joint steering. I dont know how you will do the steering for cheap sense i didnt go that way. Just expect to spend more then you think you will.
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FatMan
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Post by FatMan »

you'll probably want to go with the early bronco d44. it will alow you to keep your daily driver street legal. then after the baby is born you can start to spend his/her college fund on the fullsize set up :laugh: . early bronco d44's are'nt cheap either so your gonna have to shop around. good luck with you mod.
Darker than your average wheeler!!!!
azbroncoII
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:21 pm
Location: Chandler,Az
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Post by azbroncoII »

So i'm not crazy :hmmm: for going the d44 route. I live in Az so finding a rust free donor will not be a problem. I just saw a rolled early bronco in the trader yesterday for $500(all not parts) so i guess i better jump on it.(i hear cloth diapers arent that bad) thanks for the peace of mind fellas
90 broncoII 2.9 Life is like my bronco
"under rated & over worked"
FatMan
Posts: 762
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 10:26 pm
Location: Mt.Vernon, WA
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Post by FatMan »

not crazy at all :laugh: . if you get that rolled eb make sure it has the d44 cuz i think before 72 they came with d30. if your not running over 33" tires then i would'nt worry if it were a d30. i'd swoop it up and bolt it in but most people dont like the d30 cuz there not as strong. take the whole rig though that way you have v8 and all the part's you need for the suspension not to mention the 9" rear. cloth diaper's hmmmm!! also good for washing/waxing car's. :laugh:
Darker than your average wheeler!!!!
Bob Myers
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Post by Bob Myers »

Even if it is a D30 that is still a good buy!! Swap it in and later if you need you can simply unbolt and replace with a 44 'cause all the work is done!
If it is drum brakes, take the time to swap to disc. Knuckles and all from a 75 to 79 44 are the target items, well worth the expense. Double well worth the time.
88 BII,4.0, 9"& D44/4.88 locked. 1350/1354 doubles
92 XJ-wifes toy
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