I know this has probably been beaten to death but I’ve searched and couldn’t really find what I was looking for. Does anyone have pics of a lowboy on 35’s with just add a leafs or zero rates? I’m putting an oil burner together and I’d like to get the rpm’s down at highway speed. With 3.54’s and 33’s it’s a tad on the high side. Thanks in advance.

 

These are 315/70/17 on 17x9 rims, 6" bs that I mounted to move my project 79 f250 around. It's still stock height. This was taken shortly before I mounted them. They're 2006 dodge ram rims. They measure just under 34 1/2" tall on the truck. They rub my sway bar near full steering lock. My yards cramped with parts and cars and I have no issues maneuvering around with them going lock to lock. I might remove it to get a little more steering angle, not sure yet. With an add a leaf I'd try and get true 35s, maybe look at 36s if it's a street truck.

Idk why I can't repost the pic, here a link.

20161012_150742_zpsjuevdr1z.jpg Photo by speedfreak78 | Photobucket

 

I would have though the Dodge wheels would have had a metric bolt pattern.

 

Don't quote me on it, but i think dodge still runs 8x6.5 on the new stuff.

 

I have 33x12.50x16.5 on my silver 77 lowboy, they fit fine on the rear. But if I was not very careful off roading I could get a tire in a front fenders badly. I put on a front set of add-a leafs and have way better clearance now. But I doubt enough for 35's on the front of it. My blue 78 has 35's and a 4" lift plenty of clearance.

And that oil burner is going to be heavy on the front end.

 

 

I would attach some pics but FTE is acting up today. Decently priced Dana 60...lol good luck with that. $1000 to 1200 for a 78/79 kingpin D60... if you can even find one. A fellow FTE members take on D44 versus the D60.

D44 versus 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:
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: (The outer shafts are the same diameter as the outer shafts on a D44) POSSIBLY INCORRECT (just a different spline count). Instead of maybe breaking a u-joint you will likely break an outer shaft and good luck finding a cheap replacement.

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.

 

I ran 35 inch gumbo mudders till the late 80's. Only had to trim the lower front edge of the front fender. There is a pic on my user page, the one with the jump and the one with the duals all the way around. The pic by Bigfoot is with 33's, I was truck pulling that weekend. I went to a set of High boy front springs is the late 80's to level truck out. With the oil burner you might need to add a leaf like you said.