You need to be tough as nails to install one without some kind of assist, a jack or another body etc. I think I was talking to a company called BDS suspensions here in Nebraska about springs, it's been awhile. Jeff's Bronco Graveyard is good for getting technical advice from. It's worth a phone call at least.

 

Hmm, I was planning on changing out my ball joints because I assume they haven't been changed with 235k miles on the truck now. I thought that when I had that stuff apart, it woulld be pretty easy to swap in springs then. Maybe I'm wrong then? I might look at spring compressor tools then. I just know a shop would charge an incredible amount of money for something that is seemingly simple from what I see.

I think I decided for now to keep my current 8.8 rear and dana 44 TTB front when I swap in the 7.3 until I save up enough for a shop to do a SAS swap or I get a hold of a better welder. The reason being, the price for swapping needed parts for the 8-lug setup seems like it will cost about 1100 to 1600 bucks. On top of that, some of the parts will be semi hard to get a hold of too. If I could just swap on an 8-lug rotor, that would be awesome, but trying to find Chevy spindles and backing plates then all the other needed parts from older Chevy trucks seems like it will be quite an undertaking. So not only will it take a long time to find the needed parts, but it will be quite expensive. It seems at that point that I should just swap in a dana 60 or even a TTB 50. So I figure I'll just upgrade the springs, and take it slightly easy until I can swap in stronger axles. I'll have the ZF5 transmission so that part will be good at least. Also, I won't have to worry about getting new wheels and tires again if I stay with the 5-lug pattern. So overall, it will be several thousand dollars off in the meantime.

Worst case scenario, I'll just swap in the 10.25 rear if something bad happens in the back with the 8.8.

 

I'm not familiar with the specifics of TTB Dana 44's as I've only ever owned 1 truck that had TTB and it was a bone stock Ranger.
You could also investigate swapping everything from the ball joints out on your front Dana 44 to the 8 on 6 1/2" bolt pattern by using the factory Ford parts from a 75 or 76 F-250 4x4 that has the front Dana 44HD. If you check the build thread of my Bronco I did that to the Factory Dana 44 in my 78 Bronco using donor parts from a 1976 f250 4x4 Dana 44HD front axle. I did it to keep the coil spring front suspension on my 1978 Bronco and to get the 8 on 6 1/2" bolt pattern to match my rear Dana 60 axle.
I don't know if there is anything different on the TTB Dana 44 from the solid Dana 44 that would prevent you from doing the swap. If you can do the swap you will also get the benefit of larger brake rotors and dual piston brake calipers. It means keeping the center section of your front axle and coil springs since the F250's use front leaf springs.
Here's my build thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-truck-2.html
It starts about post #39 thru post 45.
Whatever you do be sure to document everything and share so we can all learn what does or doesn't work. Someday I'd love to get a 96 Bronco and swap a 7.3idi diesel into it. No worries about emissions testing in Florida.

 

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely check out what you did and see if I can do that swap. I'll have to find a late 75-6 F250 first, but if I do I'll definitely grab the parts. I know that with the Chevy swap, there are so many different parts I need and it looks like its a huge undertaking in finding everything, then another big thing paying for it. It sounds as taking everything from a 75-6 F250 would be much cheaper and easier.

I'm hopefully bringing home the 95 diesel F-250 home tomorrow so I can have that ready for my truck. The truck is stuck in 5th gear, but apparently drives well if it can get going. I'm hoping I can take the inspection cover off and see if I can unstick it from 5th. The shifter is super sloppy while stuck in 5th, so something may have broke. I did purchase a ZF5 today that I could take the shifttower off the top in the meantime to see if I can swap them to get this truck driveable.