Okay, so here's the deal. I have a dana 44 high pinion in my truck that i'm putting into another truck, which has a reg pinion 44 (as far as I'm aware). Mine has drum brakes, while this other truck has disks. Theyre both on F100's, so the suspension shouldnt be an issue. I'm wondering if I can put the disks onto my high pinion, and whether the easiest way to do this would be by swapping spindles or everything outside of the knuckle. THANKS!

 

I'm pretty sure you're stuck with seeing if the entire 'knuckles out' assembly will fit because I know the spindles are different (disc brake D44's use 5 bolts, while drums used 6). I don't know if the bearings used are the same, however, so you might get lucky if the bearing diameters and spacing are the same (again, don't know). I guess the thing that really gets me is that a later style D44 (discs) is low pinion in an F100......I think that I remember a discussion on Pirate where one guy was willing to mail out a $20 bill to anyone with a picture of a factory coil spring F100-150 axle that was low pinion. NO ONE got any money.

Not saying it doesn't exist, but that's besides the point, you're wondering about swapping the brakes over. I think you should look into the 'knuckles out' and alleviate any other mismatch issues. don't forget that your 'drums all the way around' truck doesn't have a proportioning valve in the brake system and you WILL need one if you go to discs in the front or you'll have front brake pads wearing out like crazy.

Cody

 

If your drum axle has mini kingpins, no.

 

I had a 74 F100 4x4 but I did something a little different....it's got ball joints.

It's a long story of why I went to a D60 rear axle, but to sum it up, it had to do with being passed by two 9" axleshafts because of warm bearings. But to make a long story short, 71-75 3/4 ton drums, backing plates, and hubs slide right onto 1/2 ton drum brake spindles.

Cody

 

Thanks for the help. Something i didnt mention is that i'm making a frankenstien truck lol. I'm putting my running gear from my 74 f100 into a 76 f100, and I wanted to keep the high pinion from the 74, but the disks from the 76, so proporioning valve junk is all there.

Someone was tellin me that if I rip apart knuckles, that i would HAVE to replace ball joints. I understand that it's a good idea, but with a high school budget, are they necissary to replace? I guess I'm askin whether I need to break em or something to get em out, or if they can be stuck back in. THANKS!

 

Don't fight it Scott. Get a D60 and leave my puny little 44 alone.

 

What years did they put the 5 lug dana 60 in?

 

I've got a D60 rear about ready to go . . . and some bling 16" 8 lug rims new in the box.

 

Ivan, i hate you. Remember, not EVERYONE has a rediculous budget for "discretionary" truck spending lol. I dont have any idea how I'm gonna pay for gas when i get this buttoned up...let alone PROM

 

it's all relative.... if they joints are real loose you might wanna think about replacing them otherwise i prolly wouldn't bother with it.

D60's never came with a 5 lug pattern (not front or rear that I know of!) b/c a D60 front is a one ton and the ONLY pattern it ever had up until late 90's was 8x6.5! i am not quite as sure about the rear D60's but they are a 3/4 ton and am pretty sure they remained 8x6.5 as well!

Prom? pffffft.... prom is an over rated party with rules! i never went to prom and just went to the parties! shoot, for my senior year i had a field party in my back pasture with a couple of kegs and i think more ppl came to my party than went to prom that year!

-cutts-

 

Mitch is a cheap date. Hell, he might even pay for gas.

 

yeah, and he could buy dinner at Micky-G's.

Nah, I was gettin a lot of critisizm cause i was tossin around the idea of ditchin prom and pocketing the cash (or just buy gas) but now with a gf that doesnt really look like a good option.

 

Girls come and girls go. Like I told my ex-wife, I'll get rid of you before I get rid of my truck. She didn't believe me, until I left.

 

Ah but dana 60 rear axles did come with a 5.5 on 5 pattern (as well a 4.5 and 5 on 5, less you forget dodge used them on their muscle cars and ford used them in the 1/2 trucks in the early 70's and late 60's, we had a truck with a 5 lug semi float 60 in it, but it got sent to crusher as it was of no use).

 

I was going to say, I saw a 64 F100 with a semifloater 5 lug dana 60 and stock 17" rims! They were about 3" wide, but were 17s I guess what comes around goes around Weird stuff