Yep, that was why I was wondering if Dick did the swap. I have been keeping an eye out too on the swap in case I do my D50 in. So far it has never been an issue, but you just never know.

 

I know this is getting further and further off-topic...

I always wondered why the D50 was such a bad thing.

Because it's really a D44 in a D60 case.

The D44 in my '74 highboy went through absolute bloody hell... My brother plowed with it, towed with it, mudded with it, pulled people OUT of the mud with it, you name it. It never gave up, never broke anything, nothing. That truck had over 300K miles on it when I finally went to a disc-brake open-knuckle D44 out front. And used the internals from the original D44... including the bearings. Axles were pretty much the same, same splines, same diameter, no difference, except for the obvious open vs. closed-knuckle.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is, since I got my SD, I've done some pretty stressful things to the front-end (well, the entire drivetrain, really).

Pulling stumps in 4LOW, with all four wheels bouncing off the ground. Pulling large trees out of the woods, you name it. Lots of backing up, and taking off like a bat-out-of-hell, spinning all four, and with almost no tread in the back, the front's doing all the work.

I think the diesels on 'roids are the ones that blow the D50's.

In the meantime, you and I have a lighter unsprung weight in the front. I guess large tires can be a pain too, I still have stock-diameter tires...

I've been warned the Super 60 front-end can be - shall we say, OVERWEIGHT!?!?

Oh well...

I can see setting up a D60 front-end with an air locker in it. Maybe even a Super 60. That'll be the day I go to a 4.30 gear too Because I'll already be replacing the entire front end.

Oh, rambling off...

 

Well we can blame the discussion on Dick's post. Like you and Dick the D50 has not been an issue for me. I am always looking for upgrades for the truck just in case I break something so I know what I am going to replace it with. I use to be worried about the D50, but it has been doing well for me so far and like you I had a D44 in a 1977 F-150 that was abused and stood up to it very well.

Ok, enough on the D50 and back to your regularly scheduled programming on "lockers"!!!

 

Don't know if I can take the heat LOL Ya its my fault.


Dick