Lookin to buy some 47" super swampers for my 78 f250. Will it be able to handle this big with out a lot of serious work? Its only got a dana 44 front. What do u guys think any info would be helpful, thanks.

 

the short answer is NO.

I don't know what you are building your rig for, but the 44 front will almost certainly eventually fail with that large of a tire. Plus its gonna be hard getting your gearing low enough without a doubler. What motor do you have? Hopefully a big block.

You should have a D60 out back which should be ok. No one makes a lift kit for your truck bigger than 6" so its all gonna have to be custom, and to clear 47's I think you will need about 16" of lift or so. You can get 3" easy with a body lift, and maybe run some mild lift springs and relocate all your hangers and shackles for the rest. You will need longer driveshafts and brake lines, and you will need something for the front, probably a full crossover steering system.

I dunno. To me thats a lot of serious work.

 

6" lift and sawzall the rest. What kind of wheeling do you do? I think you will be ok in the mud and with mall crawling. If you do rocks... Get some spare shafts and u joints while you save up for cromo shafts or a D60 front.

 

yup its got a 460, and its already got a 12 inch lift on it, just finished today actually, and plan to probably do crossover anyways.

For wheelin, I dont do any rocks, just mud and minor trails nothing to extreme

 

Ever heard of Pirate4x4.com? I think you would fit in well over there... Just don't mention mud.

 

I'd be on the look out for a D60, running 47" super swampers the D44 is going to have a very short life span unless the truck is strictly a pavement pounder and even then you're pressing it.

 

haha ya ive been on there a couple times. And ya, i was originally going to get 42s, I shouldnt have to many problems with if i ended up going with those right?

 

.....Don't mention you're running 12" of lift with a 44 either. I second the motion for a lower lift and saw-zall the rest.

 

..........

 

that 44 is going to be a major weak link. they just can handle that large of a tire. one of the 4x mags put 47's on an awsome old school wagoneer, it did fine on the highway....then they drove up a small and i do mean small dirt pile, and it all went pop pop pop...and rolled down a 3 foot incline. now they had a 16 spline d60 out back and they knew that it wouldnt hold for long...just didnt know it would snap so quick...

 

That stock rear axle is also only a 30 spline unit. Thats the same as the front dana 44. Weak, weak, weak in stock form and will not survive with such a large tire.
You can kill those with 38's all day long, even in the mud.
This is a heavy truck, and the little 3/4 ton axles are not up to the task.

 

ok so the 47s are out of the question. How about those 42s i mentioned?

 

Did you see the post above yours? 38's will kill those axles.

 

I disagree, I mean with chromoly shafts and such you can make 60's much stronger than they are. thats one of the big advantages. They aren't great stock, but stock parts are dirt cheap and relatively easy to change.
If you are the type to get out and really romp on it and bury it, I'd upgrade, but otherwise I'd try upgrading things as they break. no point buying money in it just yet, IMO. The dana 60 is a strong axle stock that can be made bulletproof.

 

You are talking about a rear 60 right? The one ith 30 spline shafts????
WHy throw chro mo axles in something so smalll when a Dana 70 or 14 B ff already has 1.5" shafts?
Chro mo is expensive and not as strong as a larger stock shaft.

Puttinh things into perspecive, the toyota truck, yes toyota uses the same size shaft as a dana 60 rear.

While a 60 can be upgraded, it is not worth the effort, nor is it worth the expense. Heak, I dont evene think the 70 is worth throwing money at.

There is a fine line between throwing money at a problem to upgrade it, and simply throwing money away.

Chances are the ring and pinion of a rear 60 will hold up, but the small spindles will not accomodate the larger 1.5" shafts, thus leaving a user with the expense of boring the spindle.
Ring gear deflection and small pinion diameters plague the dana axles, and are simply not up t the task of tires in the range of 44" and above.I was busting dana 70 shafts on a regular basis, and ended up using chro mo. It was expensive, and chro mo 60 shafts would never hold up in this case.

Gotta weigh the costs VS the results, and cinsider alternatives, instead of throwing nickles and dimes at something that can be resolved in a much better manner.

Far too often we see used dana 44 front axles with chro mo shafts that are otherwise useless, because someone unerstood that it would be just as good as a stock front dand 60, and well,,,,,,,,,,,,,they were wrong.

The smaller axles can survive in some applications, but for the majority, they are just too small.