I have a '79 bronco apperently it has a dana 44, It has coils on it? My friend has a '79 f-250 with a Dana 44 it has leaf springs. Mine has 5 lugs. His has 8 lugs. could someone explaine to my what the differances are are they the same axle just with diffent hubs? Same spring pads just differant berackets

 

as far as internal parts such as ring and pinion gears, yes they are the same. I dont remember if the f-250 axles used thicker wall tube or not. The hubs are different from the knuckles out. I believe the inner axle shafts are the same, not sure if the outer stub shafts are, but i think they are. The knuckles are interchangeable such that you could have an 8 lug coil spring bronco. As far as brackets, the f-250 has spring pads and the bronco has radius arm wedges. both are welded to the axle tube.

 

The Bronco axle will also allow you to have a tighter turn radius than the F-250.

 

The bronco is the 150 axle

 

I can't tell any difference in axle dia between 150 and 250, don't know about spline count though. I can't see a difference in axle tube dia, wall thickness, or pumpkin wall thickness either...

Only thing different between the housings for the HP D44s in my 250 and the bronco(same year trucks too..78) is that the one in the f250 has a rubber gasket/seal around the ends of the axle tube where they press into the pumpkin... the bronc doesn't have that. (a buddy thats had dozens of GM mounted LP D44s apart had never seen that in any of them..... its also not mentioned in any manuals I've seen.. )

G.

 

damn double post... I hate this forum software.

 

Aside from the spring perches, there isn't a difference. Maybe the seal thing, but I thought all D44's had those. You sure yours weren't missing? Not saying it's not possible...the 70's were a little crazy...

 

I don't mean the axle seals that the axles pass through, that go into the inside of axle tube. This is a thin layer of rubber around the outside of the end of the tube, between it and the pumpkin/housing. Maybe its there in the bronco, but I sure don't remember it.

I dunno, I guess it could be missing, ie not put in when it was built, but it would have had to been milled differently or else the tubes would be loose without it.

Deff. one of the stranger things I've noticed.

G.

 

That doesn't sound right to me. I'd like to see a pic.

 

I'd post one if i had it.
I didn't have my camera that day, and was disipointed that we had to work through it as fast as possible to get it back together, I didn't have time to go get the camera to get a pic.

Like i said, my buddy Garrett has done dozens of D44 rebuilds under GM/Chevy trucks, and had never seen a 'seal' like that, in that place... Its almost like they used an adheasive between the parts when the tubes were pressed into the pumpkin was what we thought at the time.

The next time i have that diff apart, I'll definetally be taking pics of it, but having to take that apart is obviously something I'd like to avoid since it just went together with new parts... not a place i want to need to do work for a while.

G.

 

So there basically the same axle besides the hubs are they interchangeable?

 

Sorry about that post should have read more in detail thanks guys! I may look into new 8 lug hubs, or go with a Dana 60. Does anyone know of some good places to get some 8 lug hubs, or would it be better to get one out of a F-250? Thanks for all the help.

 

Same inner axles and tubing used. The Bronco "C" brackets are cast pieces for 78 and 79 they do not weld on. 77 and earlier had the weld on C's. You can swap the 5 lug for the 8 lug from the ball joints out. Bigger bearings, bigger brakes so they can handle a little more weight and abuse.