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Unless you want to go full width, the pickup housings are too wide. You can have them narrowed to EB width. But since the pickup 44 is high pinion design, you will need a lift for oil pan clearance.
It will work if you already have a Dana 44. If yours is a early 71, it might still have the Dana 30 with kingpin knuckles. Then it won't bolt up.
But you will need to get a 3 way adjustable linkage.
The spacing on the disc brake knuckles is different and you won't be able to adjust the toe to go out far enough on its own with the stock linkage.
I'm planning on doing the F150 disk conversion on my '74... I found a '78 front axle that I can get cheap that's got all the stuff on it.
can you expound on what I'll need to do to the linkage? forgive me as I'm pretty novice with these trucks...
can I just cut down the linkage off of the '78 and collar weld it back together? hmm... I wouldn't have to get the tie rod adapters then either... but I haven't looked to see if the drag arm hookup is the same.
I'm not positive on all the details on the F150 linkage. A few years ago, it was a popular upgrade for a tie rod over conversion.
I have the stuff in my garage, but ended up going with the PU solid tie rod.
Basically, you cut down the F150 linkage on the drivers side, threading it and put another adjusting sleeve on it. And there is a taper difference between the EB pitman arm and F150 drag link.
I would not recommend welding on any steering linkage.
Originally posted by RCrawler
I would not recommend welding on any steering linkage.
Jason
we used to do it all the time at the 4x4 shop I worked at... basicly you put a nice deep bevel on the ends so you've got a lot of weld contact area... slide a collar on the longest piece, weld the ends together, grind down the weld, then slide the collar over and weld the ends of the collar to the linkage... the welded section is probably stronger than the rest of the bar!
my understanding is that the F150 has a different tie rod hole dimension on the knuckle and the F150 tie rods are shorter, so if you want to use them, you have to add some length somewhere.
but, BC Broncos sells an adapter bushing to run the early bronco tie rods in the F150 knuckles. that's what I planned on doing.
at least that's my understanding!
Forrest
Last edited by Forrest Nearing; May 27, 2003 at 12:58 AM.
Yes, they have those. But I think they are made to drill out the taper on the knuckle bores. You probably need to contact Chuck at BC to verify what you need to do.
The stock 150 tie rods are longer than the Bronco. You shorten the linkage and add another adjusting sleeve to fine tune the toe in. You can't just shorten the passenger side because the draglink mounting is there.
F-150 knuckles & stock Bronco tie rod (stock tie-rod psoition)
You need two TRA-1 Tie Rod Adapter bushings.
Tie rod over conversion with F-150 tie rod & drag link
You need two TRO-1 Tie Rod Over bushings and one TRO-2 Drag Link bushing. This will also require reaming your knuckles and drag link, and the F-150 tie rod and drag link will need shortening. This conversion works with either the stock Bronco or the F-150 steering knuckles.
Tie rod over conversion with stock Bronco tie rod & drag link
You need two TRO-1 Tie Rod Over bushings and two TRA-1 Tie Rod Adapter bushings and one TRO-2 Drag Link bushing. This will also require reaming your knuckles and drag link. This conversion works with either the stock Bronco or the F-150 steering knuckles.
I'm still under the impression that the distance between the tie rod holes on the knuckles isn't any different... the only difference is in the diameter, and most people want to just go ahead and run the F150 stuff because they're beefier tie rods, the drag link has a better angle on the steering linkage, etc. etc.
but I just want the quickest/easiest way to get disk brakes... I spoke w/ Chuck earlier and I was like, "lemme get this straight... I've got an F150 front axle... can I just take the knuckles/spindles/brakes and put them on my '74 D44 and just run your adapter bushings w/ my '74 steering linkage?" and he didn't flinch when he said "yes"
I'll call him again just to be 1,000% sure... (lord knows I've been wrong in the past), but I'm pretty dang sure you can just run the F150 knuckles w/ the adapter bushings. period, end of sentance...
ahh no sweat man! I'm pretty new to these vehicles... you wanna know something about a Fairmont (or any other fox body for that matter)? I'm your guy... but I'm learning a lot as I go w/ these. I just was making sure that *I* had it correct before I started off on the disk conversion!