You are where I was 2 years ago. I wanted to put 44's on my truck. I went out and bought 1 tons including a 60 front. But eventually I decided with 44's there wouldn't be anywhere left locally I could play with the truck. All the trails were too small for a truck with 44's to really fit up, and all the local mudholes you could just drive right through with 44's and thats no fun. And the off road parks and stuff that had bigger mudholes have all got TOO big, with everyone running tractor tires and military axles, so even with 44's you can't make it through. There is a balance somewhere, of having a truck well enough equipped to be fun off road and make it through a lot of obstacles, but also having a truck where you still gotta bore on it to get through mudholes and you still get hung up sometimes. To make a long story short, I'm running 35's now. I sold my tons and kept my half tons. And I'm sure I'll be breaking some axle shafts, but you can buy shafts for the 44 that will make them stronger than a factory D60 for $750, and most places anymore, the 60 itself will run you closer to $1000, and it weighs a good bit more than the 44 to boot. I wouldn't bother with swapping a D60 in place of the 9", its just not really much stronger. You can get shafts for the 9" that have a lifetime warranty for a few hundred bucks if you start breaking them.

For your stated purpose, combined with the difficulty of swapping a kp dana60 over to coil spring (and you will want coils if you are lifting that high, otherwise it will ride like a cement truck), I'd leave your 5 lug axles in there at least until you start breaking stuff, and then you can decide if you want to upgrade the shafts and etc of what you have, or if you want to pursue something stronger. But a d60 in the rear isn't a big step up, a 70 is a better step, but the 70's are all gonna have the spring pads at the wrong width, and they have REALLY ****ty aftermarket parts availability. Go try and find a spool for a 70. You may find one, but it will be $400. One for a ford 9" is like $30. lol. Aftermarket shafts for a d70? Another $350. Aftermarket ones for a 9" are half that. etc etc. A D80 is a lot stronger and has better parts availability, but they are harder to find and parts still aren't as easy as a 9". 9's are used currently in nascar, baja, and everything in between.

If you spend too much time online its easy to think that everyone out there is running 44's and one tons, or larger. But its not the truth, and that setup won't even work on a lot of trails, and won't be much fun in a lot of mudholes. Not to mention since you want to keep yours on the street, it won't be street legal in most states.

I say keep what you got and bring along some spare shafts, you can pull stock half ton shafts from a junkyard for like $20 each. If you start breaking them often, I'd just upgrade what you have. A lot of the better aftermarket shafts have warranties on them, so even if you upgrade and break them you can replace them. But for your stated purpose I bet you'll be just fine, especially if you leave the front 44 open. If you lock it up you'll break stuff faster.

 

Diggin that rear bumper anyone know who makes it?

 

You would have to talk to stinky. Maybe he can find a part number or something will see if I can find him for you.

 

Here you go. Looks like you just missed him. He will probably be back on tomorrow.

Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - View Profile: Stinky7-11