When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello I was scrolling through facebook marketplace today and saw a NP203 hub and remembered a friend of mine was looking for a slug for his 76-77 D44 however nobody makes one for that "Big Hub" design they used on those couple years.
What I am wondering is if he could buy a NP203 non locking hub and put it onto his locking hub axle or do they use different length axle shafts?
This is the "non locking hub" that I am referring to.
This is what I am referring to as a slug however I know the NP203's non locking hub is different I imagine it would be stronger than a locking hub. This friend of mine keeps breaking his locking hubs and is looking for a solution.
The shafts are the same, you can add locking hubs so that means you can remove them.
The original Spicer big hubs are very strong, the Warn premiums are too, a lot of the others are junk. if you're breaking the good hubs you're doing something wrong, and if you prevent the hub from breaking something else will.
Hey I am the friend in the original post who wants drive slugs. The axles are on a rock crawler and I have been smashing the warn locking hubs on rocks more and more. I can’t find replacement parts easily and I wish they wouldn’t stick out so far hence the search for a smaller solution.
The shafts are the same, you can add locking hubs so that means you can remove them.
The original Spicer big hubs are very strong, the Warn premiums are too, a lot of the others are junk. if you're breaking the good hubs you're doing something wrong, and if you prevent the hub from breaking something else will.
I understand that however there is 2 different lengths that these D44's used and I am not sure which the full time hubs used. They have the 10.66" length axle shafts and the 9.72" axle shafts.
I know my truck uses the 10.66" axle shaft with the locking hub however the full time hubs may be different which may be why you can buy 2 lengths.
The 7700 GVW Dana 44 HD used the big hubs, the standard GVW F250 as well as the 1/2 tons used the standard hub 44. the longer stub shafts were for the big hubs .
I'm 99.9 % sure this is correct, but I've never tried to interchange them. I do know part time conversions were a common practice and adding locking hubs didn't require changing the stub shafts. so there's only one logical conclusion.
The big hubs are hard to come by.
When I bought my '76 it had a set of Selectro hubs on it and I see a lot of them on these old Fords.
Fortunately a very generous forum member gave me a set of the old big hubs.
I just think if you have one of these old F-250 4wd they just look right with the bigger hubs.
Tires still do take a thrashing though, but the lock in/out is pretty safe in there.
I can not find the pick of me sticking my hand flat (4 fingers with wiggle room) in the hole.
Some tire vulcanizing, a big inner patch and a dump truck inner tube, and bam back on the trail at 8 psi.
The 7700 GVW Dana 44 HD used the big hubs, the standard GVW F250 as well as the 1/2 tons used the standard hub 44. the longer stub shafts were for the big hubs .
I'm 99.9 % sure this is correct, but I've never tried to interchange them. I do know part time conversions were a common practice and adding locking hubs didn't require changing the stub shafts. so there's only one logical conclusion.
Interesting so thats basically all he needed to know because I believe the full time hubs I'm talking about only came as the big hub.
Awhile back I had a buddy of mine take a picture of his full time hub on his 76 F250 that a rewired a couple years ago. So I suppose in theory it should just bolt directly onto where his locking hub is.
Originally Posted by Rubiranch
The big hubs are hard to come by.
When I bought my '76 it had a set of Selectro hubs on it and I see a lot of them on these old Fords.
Fortunately a very generous forum member gave me a set of the old big hubs.
I just think if you have one of these old F-250 4wd they just look right with the bigger hubs.
Sorry I did not address your question.
Yeah @Mezza is kinda stuck with this axle as it is already trussed and I believe 4 linked onto his Jeep.
I agree the big hubs look good on these trucks.
Originally Posted by 77&79F250
Once you get drive slugs you are "locking in" the front axle all the time. And I am prettty sure no way to unlock it (unless via the xfer case?) to do a rear dig....unless the xfer case is twin sticked. Get some rims/beadlock protective plates/rings (mud blaster/cover stock car thing....) like this, to protect the lock in/out. Or...
Tires still do take a thrashing though, but the lock in/out is pretty safe in there.
I can not find the pick of me sticking my hand flat (4 fingers with wiggle room) in the hole.
Some tire vulcanizing, a big inner patch and a dump truck inner tube, and bam back on the trail at 8 psi.
I believe @Mezza has either locker or a spool in the front axle and is a dedicated rock crawler such as your bronco.
Im not sure what his transfercase setup is but id assume hed have some sort of front dig already.
I think hes got KMC Grenade beadlock wheels with 42" Patagonias on his Jeep.
So I think a mixture of the offset of the wheel doesn't help much to his case of not smacking them on things.
Locking hubs are just another thing to break and with 42" tires I wouldn't be surprised if they were the weak link of the D44.
So I think the full time hubs would work great for him just a matter of finding some for his axle before trail hero next week.
On behalf of me:
Man you beat those humvee tires up like crazy there.. I plan to add some rock rings for my tow truck humvee wheels.
I like the double beadlock idea and I plan to run some of trail worthy fabs pvc beadlock holder things for the split wheel.
with 42" tires I wouldn't be surprised if they were the weak link of the D44.
On behalf of me:
Man you beat those humvee tires up like crazy there.. I plan to add some rock rings for my tow truck humvee wheels. I like the double beadlock idea and I plan to run some of trail worthy fabs pvc beadlock holder things for the split wheel.
How old do you get to run you humvee tires before having to put tubes into them?
42's on a D44 is a gamble IMO unless you have upgraded axle shafts (4140 chromoly), and some CTM u joints. And that is working hard on those small version DS u-joints for sure.
FYI those are NOT HMMWV take off tires, yes same manafacture and tread design (Goodyear Wrangler MT/R). If they were Mil takes off, they would be 16.5's. But are just 15's and yes have had a hard life.
We run all sorts of tires on that thing.
Now these ARE HMMWV mil take off 16.5's. They are cheap so run'm. They will be bald before you have to tube them to get them to hold air.
42's on a D44 is a gamble IMO unless you have upgraded axle shafts (4140 chromoly), and some CTM u joints. And that is working hard on those small version DS u-joints for sure.
FYI those are NOT HMMWV take off tires, yes same manafacture and tread design (Goodyear Wrangler MT/R). If they were Mil takes off, they would be 16.5's. But are just 15's and yes have had a hard life.
We run all sorts of tires on that thing.
Now these ARE HMMWV mil take off 16.5's. They are cheap so run'm. They will be bald before you have to tube them to get them to hold air.
Well as far as I know besides the locking hub issues hes had no issues with his D44 and the 42s.
I am sure that it helps a ton that it is a jeep and not a pickup running the 42s.
Ahh I see, I just figured they were the humvee take offs since theyre pretty popular and cheap.
Well whatever tire youve got laying around thats ready togo runs on it im sure lol.
Ive got 3 Goodyear M/T tires and a MT/R on my tow truck right now because the one M/T had a blowout on me.
I think I flexed the sidewall of the M/T to much and it just split right open and then I attempted to drive it home...
which left me on the side of the road with no tire on my wheel. So fyi if you need to dismount your tire make it flat and drive on it..
I did run the MT/R tires on my one truck and got about 15 miles out of them before the ones sidewall leaked out till it was flat.
I drove home from my buddies house went inside for a bit then I walked the dog about 3-4 hours later and it looked like that..
Had tire shop remount it and it was leaking from the sidewall where the tread kinda hangs down onto the sidewall.
The MT/R's were from 2008 and the MT's on my wrecker are from 2009. Used a MT spare on the wrecker to get home which
was from 2005 lol. I have a set of the Baja T/A tires on my white truck now which are from 2018 and 2019. Looking to get some
more new tires from 2020+ for my wrecker as last thing I want todo is have more sidewall issues especially running lower psi
for a still terrible ride. Lets just say a Highboy Wrecker is not the best riding thing out there.
42's on a D44 is a gamble IMO unless you have upgraded axle shafts (4140 chromoly), and some CTM u joints. And that is working hard on those small version DS u-joints for sure.
FYI those are NOT HMMWV take off tires, yes same manafacture and tread design (Goodyear Wrangler MT/R). If they were Mil takes off, they would be 16.5's. But are just 15's and yes have had a hard life.
We run all sorts of tires on that thing.
Now these ARE HMMWV mil take off 16.5's. They are cheap so run'm. They will be bald before you have to tube them to get them to hold air.
Man youve got all sorts of places to find them. Ive only ever came across the Feltz tire website before. Ive had pretty good luck with finding tires on the facebook so far.
Theres a guy about an hour from me who sells them.
Hes been selling them for 1k for a set of 4 unused tires and sounds good to me so after I had issue with the MT/R going flat on me I bought them from him.
Havnt had any issues with the Baja T/A tires yet theyre from 2018 and 2019 with no weather checking or anything else. Need to pick another set up for my wrecker one of these days.
Ive only aired them down once and it scared me because I could see the tire moving in on the bead at about 20psi so thats where I left it for the whole offroading trip.
I plan to run the double beadlocks on my wrecker which will let me run them closer to 10-12 psi which is what id personally like to run on my white truck but without beadlocks not possible.
NP203 Non locking hub?
