ok on my 92 f150 4x4 im puttin the straight axle conversion up front. i'm going with a DANA 44 out of a 78 bronco. my question is this: can i retain the automatic locking hubs? is this possible? i love this feature about my old truck and hate to lose it but the twin i beams gotta go.


please help

 

didn't you just spend a bunch of money getting it lifted? you won't be able to use your lift brackets with a solid axle lol and yes i am pretty sure you can still use automatic locking hubs with the solid d44

 

yeah i did but the guy that is going to put the straight axle on is going to fabricate some parts to make my lift work. i'm just so unhappy with the ttb because it has proven to be so hard to align. it's ready to go now but i've been told that the ttb is weak when it comes to putting it into muddy situations and i wanna get it dirty eventually.

 

why would you want auto hubs for mudding anyways?? when you are in a tough situation, the autos can fail. i go manual all the way. ive had autos fail on me before, and i literally could have died because of it. (long story) when i put my rigs in fourwheel, its because i need fourwheel. not to move aways before they lock in, IF they lock. stick to the manuals, you will eventually find out that the autos arent what you think they are...

 

im with 460/5,

id go with the manuals if your wheelin the truck,
also a solid d60 would be better for ya too, the d44 will be at its limit with 38s

gl

 

i've been told that but the problem is that my wheels are brand new. five lug. d60 carries eight lug. i can't afford to by new wheels. other wise i would get axles out of a 78 f250 4x4 with the d44hd and the d60 rear. the only reason i would like to keep the auto's is that i would have to cut a hole in the floor to put the stick in for the manual and plus the type of wheelin i will be doing is at a mud park here in my home town. not anything really hard just the occasional mud ride. i want my truck to last, not just long enough to where i got to work on it all week to drive it on the weekend. plus i still got a long way to go. new axles, driveshafts, u joints, engine overhaul (it's got 300,000 miles on it), and a few other things so for a long time this truck will not see much action, probably for the next year. once i get it where i want it, then i'm gonna start testing it's limits.

 

Do a search in the off-road section....tons of info, for both hubs and the SAS.

 

I'm no mechanic, but why would you have to cut a hole in the floor and add a stick to change the hubs to manuals?

 

He wont have to...the hubs have nothing to do with how the transfer case is engaged. (push button or lever makes no difference) One of the best things I did to my truck was get rid of those auto hubs.

 

manual hubs you get out and turn the ***** not cut a hole in the floor haha

 

well that's good then, i thought that if i took the automatic hubs off the push button would not work. guess i was wrong, in that case i'm not so aprehensive about changing over to the manual hubs.

 

there you go man. lol. my explorer has an electric transfer case, and manual hubs. they have nothing to do with how each other operates. by the way, switching to manual hubs, is about $100. also, for your axle options, i would put the dana 60 in, and just swap the spindles. everything from the u-joint in can stay dana 60, from the u-joint out, dana 44.

 

seriously? see you can tell how new i am at this stuff. so your sayin i can do with the dana44hd up front and change it to five lug and dana 60 out back and change it to five lug? or can you put a dana 60 up front and out back? these are some things i need to know so i'll know what kind of money i'll need to allot for it. i want this truck to be as bullet proof as it can be. speaking of which does anyone know how good of an idea it would be to switch to the c6 tranny from the e4od? (which is what it has now) and how easy of a swap is that to make?

 

well, i KNOW that currie makes a ford nine inch with one-ton axles and bearings, and as for the swap up-front, i THINK you can change the knuckles and make it a dana 44 hub and spindle on the dana 60, so that the innards of it are still good and beefy.

 

Don't swap in a Dana 60 rear, they suck. Go with a 10.25" for the rear and swap over to 16" 8-lug wheels (the drums won't clear 15"s) if you want a tough set-up.