Howdy!

I got a Ford 1978 F150 4x4 with a Dana 44 with the cast outers/C's.

Found out my front axle is bent, by simply looking at it from the front. Wheels are supposed to have a \---o-/ look to them, but my passenger is straight up |---o-/. Talked to a friend of the teenager (at NAPA that I frequent a lot at) that had it years before me (he's not a teenager now) and he tells me the story of how the wheel fell off and the truck smucked into a car. Heh, sounds like my teenage years

Anyway, I have picked from the dump an open knuckle high pinion dana 44 HD from a crew cab f250. Poor thing was just lying there so I grabbed it and dragged it home without any plans for it. Welp, I got a plan and want to run it by you guys (and gals) for any opinions or experience on doing such a swap.

I searched and found that the pinion angle might be off from the stock dana 44 but as long as I get the caster correct I should be ok. I have a married NP205 so maybe I can run a driveshaft without the CV part to be correct, as long as the Pinion angle matches the Engine/Trans/NP205 angle.

According to this guy, Post #15 I have a radius arm that fits a 3" outside diameter tube. And the Dana 44 HD is 3" Diameter, so... I'm thinking some wedgies and a trackbar mount and I'm mostly golden! Unless stuffing leaf springs up front is a better idea.

Along with axle shafts, and maybe gears and bearings and other stuff... Which I'll salvage from my existing Dana44... except the shafts, which are a different length... maybe I'll RCV it...

Anyway, post some advice!

 

To my knowledge you can't swap the knuckles so it would be 8 lug if you can swap it you could still run into problems with different yokes figure out if those two will work for you and I can't see why it won't work

 

Knuckles?

Should be the same or similar because it's still Dana 44's... and both are ball joint'd ones and not the closed stuff.

Anyway, I dragged the heavy beast and can do some measuring and stuff to identify it.

And got some pics of it:





BOM





Drivers side Ball Joints





Dana 44 Beastly





High Pinion, pointed downwards

 

Ok, found http://www2.dana.com/pdf/X510-SD.pdf
1977 1/2 F-250 3/4 Ton Pick-up (Part Time Transfer Case)
610010-4 Standard 4.09 700040-1 706695X 706696X 706616X 660003-3 660003-4

And this axle ain't a HD part, but I'm not complainin'!

I found the Wedgies, where do I find the trackbar mount?

 

Hope you have plans on replacing your tie rod. It is seriously bent. Are you wanting to keep your coil springs or go to leaf springs? I'm pretty sure you could convert to coil springs, but I think it would require cutting off the leaf spring pads on the axle and welding lower coil spring buckets to the axle. If going with leaf springs there's no need for a track bar, if going to coil springs you will probably be better off to buy an some aftermarket brackets and track bar.

 

Bent tie rod? Pfft, toss a jack under there and bent it straight!

Just kidding, I would only do that if I was a dumb teenager or twas a trail repair to save mah butt.

Well, the plan now is to retain. As much of the original '78 f150 dana44, and make this one a drop in replacement. Then o.ly things that deviate from stock are the shafts and driveshaft.

Looks like it's easier to keep the coils, weld on wedges, locate a weld on track bar bracket, and install!

It's easy to think this when it's still in back of my truck!

 

Ok, but have you measured to see where you will need to mount the lower coil spring buckets? Are you saying the "wedges" will go underneath the spring buckets?

 

Here's a photo of the existing '78 F150:



The Coil bucket mounts on top of the Radius Arms, which encapsulate the axle tube wedgies... Found them on Dufftuff, but cannot locate a weld on trackbar mount.

AFAIK, this is far easier that going with leaf springs. Set my Castor Angle and hope for the best on pinion angle. There's no way I'm doing a cut and turn on the big C's, so I hope the pinion ends up with something I can work with.

Know what? I can't find anything about this axle on Mr N's Dana44 website! Is he listing the tube inside diameter? My Outside tube diameter is 3.0" (Circumference is 9.5" so divide that by pi and *poof* 3.0"). However, his high steer and flat top knuckle info is spot on. The F250 knuckles will not work with F150 brakes. Annnd, I have the HD Dana44! according to his info, I've got those reinforcing ribs, and 3" tube and it's reverse spiral (aka High Pinion, man)!

Looks like an upgrade to me

 

Look at your pic in post #8 above. Look at how the axle tube has a small section that is cast onto it that is angled to match the rubber "wedgies". The 3/4 ton axle doesn't have this and I would think that not only would the axle sit further back towards the cab a small amount, but it would also be more prone to rotate around the centerline of the axle if you hit a hard bump because it has nothing to keep it from rotating other than the radius arm bolts sandwiching it in place. Also, think about with the new axle being round and not having the protruding section that mates to the rubber "wedgies". You now have a void that has to be made up some how or else the rubber "wedgies" will not wedge as they are supposed to and your axle is free to move. I personally would ditch the stock radius arms and build a set, but this is your project not mine. If you built a set, you would weld on brackets to keep the axle from rotating as described above.

 

The weld on wedges should take that space up. The ones from james duff stuff. As long as I don't booger weld them on, that is! Think I'll tack them on and have a pro shop do the final weld. Your right about rotational forces on the axle, especially during hard braking.

The diameter is larger than stock, but even so the stock cast piece is 3" in diameter. So I think I'm good.

Although, I kinda like the new super duty radius arm setup but at the moment, I'm going to a for a drop in replacement to the stock axle.

Going to order those wedges from James Duff (beer?) and keep looking for a nice weld on trackbar bracket.

 

So, an Update...

Decided to pull the cover and see what's inside, and Poop, I'm missing something!




Missing Bearing Caps! Anyone ever deal with this? like a garage fix, and not dragging it to a machinist ($$$)? I found this guys advice: Missing HP Dana 44 Carrier Bearing Caps - Off-Road Forums & Discussion Groups Post #4

So how *bleeped* am I?

 

There was someone on the forum in the last week who was dealing with a bent front axle and was installing a donor axle I would try and hunt him down for parts .. Otherwise you can try writing people on ebay that are selling Dana 44 parts .. If you have the ring and pinion you should come out ok .. if not you'll spend $150 on a new ring and pinion + bearings and the caps .. At that point you should be able to buy a complete axle for $200-$250 off craigslist ..

 

*nods*

I have spare dana 44's (and even a chevy 10-bolt front), so parts should be an issue. And I'm going to be taking my existing original reverse spiral gear set and stuff them into here.

Freaking out about the bearing caps though. Think I'm going to try the hone method and get a bore gauge to double check things on the replacement caps.

 

Yeah it was pretty stupid of the person that walked away with the bearing caps they're not doing them much good .. The guy in the link you provided seems to have a point "You are just trying to hold a race in place that WILL NOT have any rotational torque applied to it (ROLLER BEARING, not FRICTION BEARING),
And you just need it 'Round' enough to hold the bearing race without distorting it too much..." .. That certainly cost wise would be your savior if you have the parts ..

I don't know, I think I would be more inclined to keep other options open for other axles that would require less mods to make it work ..
https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/5119626602.html

 

I'm very interested to see how this pans out if you do use bearing caps from a different axle. RedRoad's quote from a different post does have a good point about it being a roller bearing instead of like a main bearing on a crankshaft. Keep us updated on your progress. Good luck!