I am looking into building some axle trusses for my 79 Bronco. I am not ready to part with the money to put 1 tons under it yet so I have to make due with the half ton stuff. I am worried about bending/ breaking the axle housings if for some reason the truck gets airborne. I am pretty savvy with metal fabbing and so forth, I have torches, welders, etc... and access to a tubing bender. I pretty much have a game plan for the rear but not totally sure how to go about bracing up the front. I was hoping some of you guys might have a few ideas or better yet some pictures of how to brace up the D44 front axle. Any and all feedback is appreciated!
John

 

Here is the start of what I did. Than did the same to the bottom, and plated the gap shut.

Here's a kinda c rappy pic but gives you a idea

 

Good idea John...
******** width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1IVvz6Sd0Q?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u1IVvz6Sd0Q?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed>*********>

 

Boy that video looks awful familiar. The previous owner of my Bronco broke the original front axle the exact same way. Hmm apparently this happens more often than I thought. How did welding to the cast iron center section hold up? I assume you guys did preheat it some before welding to it? At this point that is my only delema. Thanks again for the ideas, any other suggestions are appreciated!
John

 

my 9" when i was running in tuff truck races

 

My Dana 60 patiently waiting..........



Oh and welding to the housing...... Pre and post heat is a must, weld with mild steel filler. Cool as slow as possible and enjoy!

 

Oregonmudder... yep thats pretty much what I was thinking for the the rear axle, I was also looking into running a brace across the back of the housing too. Hmm that blown out 3rd member looks awful familar too, you must have one of the those "experimental" front wheel drive trucks! I just broke mine the same way hopefully the nodular center section I plan to order will fix that.
Bender99... I like the tube style brace you made, I may go that route also. What diameter and wall thickness did you use? From the looks of it I would be best off to brace the top and bottom side of the D44. I was kind of hoping I could get away with just doing the top, mainly for ground clearance reasons. Thanx again guys.
John

 

Awesom !!!! Something had to give.

 

The end result of a heavy right foot, a healthy big block, big tires, and 1/2 ton axles. Something WILL GIVE!

 

No the result of using one of the weakest center sections ford ever made for the 9"

I ran cut 39.5 bogger, a 926hp big block and left the line at 6000rpm for 5yrs, that carrier is now behind the 406 in my galaxie and still holding together running 28" slicks.

 

Yeah, I haven't heard much of anything good about the factory center sections. I am looking into an aftermarket nodular iron unit, I don't want that to happen again. It trashed the center section, R&P, the drive shaft, busted the yoke on the t-case, f^(#ed up the brand new exhaust, and beat the crap out of the bottom of the truck. It aint gonna be cheap to fix either.

 

easy answer

 

We blew the pinion out of my Dads 74 bronco with a stock 351w. Didn't screw up the gears or anything besides the third member itself. Grabbed a spare off the shelf n put it back together.

 

early christmas present Rob??

 

several years ago Tom. That is the carrier that I had in the Ranger and is now in the Galaxie.

When I first built the ranger with a small block I put a factory N case in, but when I built the big block I didn't want to chance it so bought that.