I understand.
Coil springs just dont seem heavy enough to me to do the job. well stock ones anyways.

Ron86toy found some deal with a swap out from a.... 05 I think.
Spring buckets and springs and front axle and radius arms.

 

X3 or X4 or whatever it is on the 350 axle. Technically Ford didn't make a 4X4 dually. The dealers would convert them. When I bought mine they were doing it at that dealership. He said,"...easy, I just send it across the street and slap a T-case and axle in there..." They were not made from the factory so any 350 axle would work.

 

I didnt' know that neal! good info

 

x3 x4? I would guess that all dually originally had coil springs. Would they use the coils when they put the axle in or was it like they used what ever they had on hand? I am just looking for a easy way out right now and that might mean using the coils I have. Jut need to figure out how to do it. Any info pics or diagrams would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

All the way up until the last few years, Ford used Leafs on the Dana 60's Up until like '06 or something. So anything with coils was a custom job. So, you'd need to get the coil buckets from a late model or fab something up. Once it's under there, you'll need a track bar to keep the axle underneath it while steering. It will need to be parallel to your steering arm, or you'll have steering problems.

As far as shackles, they are placed to the rear, (stock) or the front (called reverse shackle) and they are there to allow the leaf spring pack to lengthen as it compresses. The argument of front or rear shackles is how you want the axle to respond, and possiby how long your front drive shaft is. Front shackles, the axle/wheel will move forward, into the obstacle it is approaching. On the rear, it will fall back a bit.

The coil setup can be time consuming, and radius arms, (links) will need to be custom. So, you'll have a lot of fab work ahead of you. If you don't opt of a track bar, you'll need to do a 3 or 4 link to keep the axle centered underneath the truck.

I am working on getting a Dana44HD under my Bronco right now. I could not for the life of me get the link arm brackets fabbed up to attach the axle and use coils. I could never get the angles just right. So, bailed on the coils and got a leaf spring set for a 99-04 F250, and am fabbing up a front cross member to get it under there.

It's been a multi year, labor of love, and a leaning experience.

The Dana44HD was an F250 product, but from a time when the 400/460 was the power of choice. So, I would'nt put it under a PSD front end.

Bob

 

Big can of worms uh? O yea by the way, the differential is on the drivers side?
Thanks NW

 

Yup. It's a all Ford parts project. So, the Dana44HD is from a 79 F250. It's got the same caliper as a Dana 60. Wanting to stop 36" swampers, and going to an 8lug setup was the reasoning. I was mean to the 8.8" diff and it let me know it. So Dana 60 in the rear, out of another 79 F250.