What's the limit for a front Dana 44 (77-79) in terms of tire size? I have read everything from 35" to 44" on the "trustworthy" interwebs. Does anyone have real world experience at which point a D44 reaches its limits?

 

 

I have a lot of experience with these axles from being in the 4x4 wrecking yard industry for a couple of decades. We would never sell a complete 77.5 - 79 Dana 44 because we could part it out piece by piece and make 3 times as much money. I will say the weak link in these axles is the spiders, nothing else. I've seen trucks with 44's on these dana 44's with no issues. I have installed spools in these axles and they are a beast.

 

Axle strength is more a function of vehicle weight ,tire size and traction. Under a mall crawler jeep with a4cyl and 44s it'd probably be fine. Under a full size truck, off road, on 38"+ tires, it's probably gonna pop.

 

A lot depends on WHAT you are going to do with it, mild wheeling with 38's, or hard core mudding or rock crawling. I have, and have had a few 73-79's w/D44's and have run 33's to 37's, never anything I would consider hard core wheeling on them, and they have held up great. I have romped on them a few times, but with an inline 300 6 cyl, or a tired 351Measly, not much HP getting to the axles to break things.

 

I was primarily referring to street use with a low HP stockish motor.....seems even 44" mudders would not break a stock Dana 44 in a pavement pounding mall crawler......but if off-roading and doing some hardcore wheeling even 33's or 35's could potentially break a stock Dana 44.

 

D44 will live all day mall-crawlin

 

So true

 

A wise guy once said....D44-D60 But you will have a hard time finding a 60 with the 32.5" spring spacing, it'll have to be from a dentside. The '86+axles are spaced at 36", but are more common. Honestly the price you pay for one is way over rated. I happened to get one and put it in my truck, but it is just bragging rights to say "Yeah...I got a D60 front axle." They are over rated unless you continually are beating on it so hard you are tearing your D44 apart all the time.
The truths D60
Yes it is heavier...doesn't do much but slow your truck down.
Yes it has a bigger ring gear...haven't broke yours, so why need to go bigger?
Yes it has bigger u-joint...good news is that likely won’t break on you.
The pitfall: Instead of maybe breaking a u-joint you will likely break an outer shaft and good luck finding a cheap replacement.
(The outer shafts are the same diameter as the outer shafts on a D44) POSSIBLY INCORRECT (just a different spline count)??

The D44 held up for you for now, why change it? Also spare parts for the 44 are cheap. If you have 3:55 gears now and want to find 4.11s just find a D44 with 4.11s in already. I wouldn't pay more than $200 for a D44 front...they are very common. One questions for this would be what size tire are you running? For off road use the D44 is usually good 35" and under tires (yes there are many exceptions for this). If you rebuild the D44, do you plan on putting in after market (stronger) axle shafts and u-joints (or do you already have them). Load rating tests show that a fully upgraded D44 axle with good aftermarket shafts (there are LOTS to choose from and some are far better than others) is about equal to a stock D60 with 35 spline outer stubs. Ok now you just upgraded your axle shafts... what does your current ring and pinion look like? If you are eating up teeth or snapping pinion shafts there is really no fix for this but to go to a D60... well there is one possible option and that’s a Dana 50 which is a kit to drop in D50 gears into a D44, bigger ring gear but same pinion shaft diameter. If you are going to regear and going to keep the D44 this might be a good time to look at this option for increased strength. Last question is... with the plow on the front and any extra weight are you over the D44's load rating? If you are really working it hard do you know if your D44 is still strait and are you overloading the wheel bearings? Might be time to weigh the front half of your truck and see where you are at. An axle truss might help, but I'd say if you are past the 44's weight I'd move on to a 60.

A Dana 44 with 31's or even 44's can be broken if you hammer on it hard enough with it in full steering lock. More than likely you will blow a axle shaft u joint and trash your cup ears on either shaft end in the process. A Dana 44 and some 35's should be ok as long as you drive like you have some sense in you head. lol

 

77&79, appreciate the info! I see on Craigslist and ebay guys brag about the Dana 60 being the biggest and baddest thing ever lol...and they want more money for their truck. I understand it's a "beefier" axle than the Dana 44 but all the hype is a bit much lol. I have a buddy that runs 44" Swampers on his bone stock Dana 44 and never busted anything, but he never leaves the pavement either.

 

35s is the generally accepted rule of thumb on most hard core 4x4 sites, and I agree. I've broken axle shafts with a 4 banger Nissan on a D44 conversion on 33" tires, so nothing is indestructible. With huge tires, there's a lot of weakest links on a D44 - shafts, brakes, Ujoints, ball joints, etc.

I've argued this point on early Ford Facebook sites too....there's always those few guys that have been running 38s forever on a mud truck and swear by their 44s, but for rock crawling, if I was running a tire that big, it would have a 60 under it. As it is, even with 35s, I am running Chrome moly shafts and bigger Spicer 760X Ujoints. I've broken those Ujoints with a 4 cylinder truck too.

 

D-rat, you're probably right. I know there are a lot of variables that factor into such a vague question that I posed. Any axle can be broke under extreme conditions, but the Dana 44 is not inherently weak as some would claim. I do concur 35-37's seems to be the accepted consensus on tire size limitations.

 

flatbedfordguy I just copied and pasted some opinion and info on that subject. There is always both sides of the coin. And yes I agree D60's are way way over priced on the web. I have 2 setting under parts truck for just that reason...lol I get along with my D44 Bronco just fine, 35's, locker and a 302. And yes I have had to replace one dvrs side u joint.


I am sure this guy has a D60...but you never know.

 

77&79, that's some serious rock crawling! I won't be doing anything close to that lol.

 

That orange truck is a motivational pic I have, not me or mine, I bet it gets along very well. I have been working on the Bronco for years and have finally gotten it out on some pretty good trails.You do not have to have a Dana 60 to have fun.