tried the search to no avail sorry if this gets asked often. I want to replace my drum brake 44 front in my 71 f250 4x4, I really want a dana 60 but they go for about 4 times what a 44 does and its pretty tough to find one that will fit mine without some fairly serious fabbing due to the narrower frame. the HD44 is fairly abundant and can be found for about $250. I need it to handle some serious hp and 37"+ tires, is it possible to make a 44 live? with the one i have now its always the hubs that go first, other than that it's done ok and the HD disk brake hi pinion 44 is a bit stronger than the 44 i have now. I guess my question is, is there some beefier hubs/axles/gears to get this thing a bit sturdier and comparable to a 60 and would it even be cost effective? I plan to use my pickup for drag racing in 4 wheel drive, climbin sand dunes and general light wheeling. Anybody with experience trying to make the 44 work i would love to hear your comments. i want to keep a low budget but above all i want to do it right so...

 

Welcome to the site;

Low bugets and survival are not supposed to belong in the same sentance.
I do believe that there might be a misundestanding with regards to your narrow frame. The front of your frame shares the same width and spring perche width as any other F-250 frame up to 79.
Find a D60F from a 78/9 truck and it will bolt right in.
If you want reliability and strength, you will eventually go this direction. 35 spine outers will be a must.

Those 4 wheeld drive passes have got to be hard on the weak front hubs abd this will be a problem as long as you continue to use locking front hubs. Short of buying drive flanges or a stronger set of lockouts (you are breaking the lockout and not the hub itself right?) you will continue to do do. The larger axle is stronger and mightlast longer. Internal locking hub designs are stronger than the earlier external, so ditching that old axle will be a plus regardless of which direction you go.
Now, you have to get rid of the drum brake axle for saftey reasons. What kind of ET's are you running? Gotta be pretty scary trying to slow a drag truck down with drums front and rear, so any front axle with discs will be a night and day difference.

With 37" tires and some power, your riding on the razors edge of strength. You can upgrade to chro mo axles and drive slugs, but then you will simply have an expensive front axle that is about as strong as a stock D60F (with 35 spline outers).
Lets do some quick math:
Buy a high pinion D44............250 bucks (thats cheap by the way)
chro-mo stub shafts.............300 bucks
chro-mo axles......................450 bucks
u-joints...............................30 bucks each (spicer 297's)
OK, this is not all, but we will consider that rings and pinions are about the same for a D60 as well as the other items such as lockers etc. Yes, I know that the prices are slightly different, but for the sake of this explaination, we will just look at these costs above.
OK, to build a D44 that is as strong as a stock D60, you wil have to spend 1000 dollars in aftermarket supplies to gain equal strength. Break this and there is no options for an upgrade. I suppose you could have some shafts made from 300M material, but that is just crazy.
How much did you say that you can find a D60F for? You said 4 times the cost of the D44 right? You can get a D44 for 250 bucks, so is it safe to say that you can find a D60F high pinion front axle for 1000 dollars?
Should you break a D60F, then you can at least upgrade it, and dollar for dollar you will be time and money ahead.
If by chance you build a D44, and throw all kinds of money into it, then find out that you can break it (you will) then all of the money that you threw into it will be wasted, and you will have a very heavy paper weight. Maybe you can find someone to buy it from you, but you will be right back where you started from.
If you are breaking D44 parts, then you can upgrade but will continue to break the parts.
Eventually you will buy and build a D60, and this is probably where you should start.
You wont be sorry, and while the initial costs seem to be high, you will save time and money in the long run.

 

Thanks, I've been around this site for a while but dont post much. I currently have never run it, but i want to do what i see the diesel guys doing and ive seen those guys go sub 11's in 4 wheel drive, so naturally thats what i have in mind, big motor,stout c6, big axles and go through the transfer case. Honestly i dont know what breaks in the hubs when they go, i've just been wheeling on more than one occasion and one will break and one a the fronts will have no drive, this is climbing sand dunes with 35" tires. i know the frame is the same up to 79, what im saying is i cant even find one from that year that will bolt right up and if i did it could cost up to 1200 respectively. I was only curious if anyone had used a 44 in similar fashion and how it held up and thats pretty much what i expected to hear. Many of the trucks i see running that fast have manual hub dana 60's so they must be able to handle it. Most are Dodges and powerstrokes running stock dana 60's anyway. the 60 is the answer im looking for because like you said i have no interest in trying to beef up a 44 only to find it still wont hold up so i guess its a matter of waiting and saving thanksby the way, has anyone ever been able to stick a 60 out of a 80's or 90's 1 ton and make it work?