The only fault in your logic was that Ford, when needing a heavier duty TTB than the Dana 44, used a Dana 50.

My highboy had the Dana 44HD solid front axle. It lived up to anything I could throw at it.

The Dana 50 is basically the same thing (with a Dana 60 case).

Of course, If I were to need to rebuild the front-end of my 2001 SD, I'd be finding a Dana 60 to rebuild and just swap the entire thing

 

I was talking F350 with the Dana 50 , The F250 TTB had a 44 or 50
All F350's had a 50 ttb or a dana 50 straight axle Then 60

The Dana 50 Does NOT share a case with the 60 It shares/uses the 30 spline 44 Case !
A little machine work and the 44 case drops right in.
I have installed a few, trust me the 60 is much bigger all around.


The Old HD High boy 44 was a standard dana 44 with big external hubs and low pinion,Std rotation thick housing. std dana 44 r&p 30 spline axles.Also that style axle had a HUB breakage problem (external style hubs).Those Long bolt's get a little loose its over.
The internal style hubs are much much stronger which is why the F250 got them in 78 untill present.

Also back then the biggest motor was a 390 ci that had what 190hp ?
A 79 F350 4x4 with a 400 cid (the biggest motor you could get) had 146hp, the axle's will live for ever

Not trying to bust chops on anyone,
I have been building/working on them since the 70's and have seen it all !
working in a 4x4 shop is the real world education,
If you leave it stock and drive it cool anything can last forever. Add Big tire's , A Locker
And a teenager and you find the weak link quickly.

 

Ford has been slowly beefing up the axles over the years. Of course the trucks got heavier, payloads increased, GVWRs increased, power increased and etc. If the SDs follow the same straight axle path (looks grim but...) in 10-15 years we'll have rockwells under the SDs.

 

[QUOTE=dkf;7094081]I'm not saying the new D60 axle isn't better, I'm saying I don't want or like coils on a solid axle. Coils work better with an IFS/A-arm setup because the a-arms help capture the springs. (Only A-arm IFS on an F-250 was the F-250LD) Coils on a solid axle provides no support whatsoever thats part of the reason people have been experiencing "Death Wobble" with that setup. Coils are not strong and do nothing to hold the axle in place. They are there for compression/rebound only. Your going to have a hard time getting stronger than leafs. Coils will sag over time also. The front coils on my 74' are shot and the rear leafs are fine.


Ok,
All Truck's can suffer from "Death Wobble", My First was a customers 1973 Blazer that all most killed me. (front leaf springs)

Do you think the term "Death Wobble" started with the 2005 Superduty ?
Or Any coil sprung vehicle for that matter ? NO
Death wobble was around long before coil spring front axles

On you Leaf Spring Superduty It has a Front track bar to locate the axle right ? Not just Leafs in the front ,Just like the coil's.

Remove that track bar on your leaf spring truck and enjoy the death wobble for yourself !

As far as your 74 having clapped out coils, and leafs that last forever. My dads gardner's had a 74 and the coils were fine and the rear leafs sagged out and we had to add a leaf but the front was good. So what , Any spring can sag after 35 years leaf or coil.

 

Many guys on here experienced the death wobble on stock height, stock wheel coil sprung SDs. I have never experienced any sort of death wobble with mine, my dad never had issues with his 2 SDs and neither do the other people I know with similar years. Can you point me to any threads on FTE about death wobble on a stock height 99'-04' SD?

Of course you can experience the death wobble with a leaf sprung vehicle, mainly when its lifted and when the geometry is thrown off. I never said a leaf sprung vehicle can never get death wobble. If you like your coils good for you but I don't care for them.

LOL leafs that last forever, I never said that. The leafs are holding up better on my 74' but should be changed. Like you said they are 35 YO. Enjoy your coils.

 

Thanks,
I do Enjoy my coils , So do the jeep guys, The Dodge guys and the rest of the modern world.

This coil vs Leaf thing reminds me of a customer I had many years ago
(say 77ish). "Trucks need drum brakes" he said , "Disc brakes are for cars".
Back then FORD 1/2 ton 4x4 (f150) was disc But the H.D 3/4 (f250) 4x4 was drum. He said Disc was junk and he and his Dad never had any problems with drums and would never own a disc brake truck.I guess he never bought a new truck. And if you love leaf springs you better love your truck and take care of it because they are gone forever,like carb's and manual steering and drum brakes.
I never forgot that guy .

 

Funny how it uses the Dana 60 cover then. Looking at the Dana 50 in my SD, it's no where's near a Dana 44 case. Not even close. Which is why, without looking for the 50 or 60 cast into the case, it's quite hard to figure out which one you have in an early SD.

I know ALL about that unit It was regular maintenance to tighten those hub bolts. I still have a set of those hubs around, as well as a set of axle flanges for full-time 4x4.

The 390 I ran in it wasn't no 190 HP, that's for sure

But anyway, we're way off topic.

 

Drums are better (And Cheaper) for some applications but I agree not the SD or many vehicles for that matter. Guess we out to put IRS and coils on the rear of the SDs because they are superior. Opinions vary.

 

The Case Is inside the Axle Housing and hold's the ring gear. Not visible without taking cover off. Yes the dif cover from a 50 and 60 are the same.
Yes From the ouside the axle housing is of the same size 50 or 60

BUT : All the action is on the inside ! and that's really what matters.
Example : A 360 and a 390 look the same , a 429 & 460 look the same But we all know that they are differant on the inside. and there is a big Differance from a 50 to a 60 on the inside.

 

Rear coils and IFS ? Drum brakes are better ?

The new Dodge 1500 has 2 out of the 3 allready , Could we see drum brakes and a 8 track for 2010 ?

 

Back to engines, this thread reminded me of how you couldn't get a 460 in any F truck 4X4 from 1973 to 1979. I really liked those years of Ford pickups. The '73 to '79 360's and 390's were pretty tough, but not exactly power houses in stock form. The '77 to '79 351M and 400 seemed to have even less power, and had problems with core shifted blocks and cracking heads. We all wanted Ford to make the 460 available in the 4X4's back then.

 

Me Too,
I love the 73 -79 body style, I have the 400 in my 79 (since new) and its pretty sad power wise. No 460 in 4x4's untill 1983.

 

I said The large amount of surface area on the drum setup makes them favorable on some applications like semis. Drums are cheaper than discs so they are favored a lot of times on trailers.

I am aware Dodge has a 1/2ton rear Coil springs truck but it doesn't have IRS. Was refering to SDs and notice the sarcastic smiley.

[QUOTE]I love the 73 -79 body style.QUOTE]

I do also.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

The "case" is the housing.

The "carrier" is what the ring gear bolts to.

 

By '79 the 351M and 400 were pretty well fixed. Part of the problem power-wise was that they were all 2bbl. carb. too.