5 to 8 lug swap (what not to do!)
 

Well here we go… My 5 to 8 lug swap did not go as planned! A planned one day job turned to 3 then 4 then 5 days all because of some differences in my truck and not enough relevant information on what exactly is needed to properly do this swap.
Here are the parts you need (or what I needed!) I live in British Columbia Canada!
-Chevy ¾ ton rotors - lordco part # 5523
-Chevy ¾ ton calipers – lordco part #’s SLC528 and SLC529
-Chevy ¾ ton Dana 44 Spindles – find a wreck!
-All the bearings and seals – lordco part #’s seals 25077, outer bearing BR35, inner bearings (Timken 368a and race 362a)
-Brake hoses – Lordco part #’s BH38898, BH38121
-Banjo fittings (Brake hose bolts) No part # but the Ford ones are fine thread and the Chevy ones are coarse thread so this is a must have!
-Chevy ¾ ton backing plates *get backing plates with the dust shield not the smaller non dust shield type*
-Chevy spindle studs - Wrecking yard
-Chevy wheel studs - Wrecking yard
-Lug nuts – Wrecking yard or new if you want to be flashy!
-Locking hubs – Warn part # 9072
-Pads – Lordco part # PGD-52-M (Raybestos blue box)

My Truck is a 93 (build date Oct 92) Ford F150 Super cab Flare side 4X4 it has a 302 m5od 5 speed, bw1356, Dana 44 and it did have auto locking hubs at one time in its life.
Day one... One of the problems that I ran into was that my spindles were held on by 5 studs not the 6 like I have found in all the other F150 4X4’s that I have ever seen in the wreckers, That made necessary the swap of my steering knuckles to the 6 stud spindle type (cost us one day at the wreckers with hand tools *I do not recommend this*) After changing out the steering knuckles and contemplating stitches for my damaged thumb I cut off the brake mounting tabs on the new knuckles and went to test fit my backing plates…. Whadda yah know. They won’t fit without grinding away most of the knuckle all the way into the ball joint or without cutting the backing plate / caliper mounting plate into small strips of steel about 1 inch thick ( not safe in my mind ) so back to the wreckers I go… enter day 2.
We thought we were lucky after locating a late 70’s 4X4 Chevy and it was already stripped of most of the front differential parts that just happened to be lying in the box of the truck. It was missing only the spindles and the hub and rotor parts - no biggie, after all
There were the backing plates just waiting to be snagged! Next stop - the parts store to get new bearings and rotors and stuff, then lunch and wow its 4:00 so off to home. We put the backing plates on and realized that when the other web sites that we had looked at… when they said a little grinding we thought they were on glue! Wow there was a lot of metal to be removed there. Got it all done and installed the rest of the front brakes and got to install the calipers and realized that the mounting hole on the backing plate would put the bolt for the caliper through the rotor!? WTF OMG ½ TON BACKING PLATES!!!
Welcome day 3!
Ok so by now the wreckers are asking if we would like to rent a spot there to do the work (hahaha funny JERKS) we walk around forever and cant find what we need so we spend the rest of the day driving around looking for a couple backing plates… We end up having to drive almost 100km to get them in another town and get home to continue work!
Its now 7pm and we put the backing plates on to find that we really don’t have to do any grinding at all now after all we took care of that YESTERDAY! Darn it.
We decide to call it a day!
Day 4 Monday (supposed to be in the body shop for paint)
Wheee - this works so much better now everything is bolting up nicely and it comes time to install the calipers… phew, with just an extremely small amount of grinding on the knuckle they fit. Reach back into the bag for the hubs and put on the left side and it looks great! Go back to the right side and the bolts will not fit into the hub (jeez what now)
Take off the snap ring and remove the locking hub and find out that there are 5 broken bolts in 5 of the 6 holes in the hub that goes on the spindle. (by now we aren’t surprised at all and we disassemble the right side) after many hours of drilling we try to get the remainder of the bolts out with and easy out that promptly broke and created more work for us. (This happened in two more of the holes as well!) We gave up at dark to work on it again ON TO DAY 5!
Day 5 was the day that we should have started on right from the start! Everything went together as it was supposed to right at the beginning. There was a little grinding needed on the backing plate and on the caliper to fit the 15” rims but otherwise it was an easy day!
I tried to include the part #s of the new parts that I needed from the parts store so hopefully it will save you a bit of time on your future conversion! If you have any questions that I may be able to help you with just message me and I will see if I have an answer for you!

*I found that I didnt have to replace my outer axle stub as it works just fine with the Chevy parts!*

Hope I don't run into this swapping my 1979 from 5 lug to 8 lug on it's D44!!

You won't the solid axle D44 5 lug and D44 8lug are one and the same.

above is what all is done to swap the F150/Bronco D44 TTB to 8lug. they ain't as interchangeable as the good ol' solid fronts!

So what your saying is that if I get a 78 F150 solid axle dana 44 I just need to get the parts from the knuckles out from a similar year solid axle 8-lug dana 44?

Which would be easier, the above idea or adapting an 8-lug dana solid axle to coils?

Swapping to 8 lugs on the dana44. Sorry burple. That sucks. I read a tech article about a TTB swap, and the guy said it is a lot of work. As far as spindles, mine are 5 lug. I thought they all were. My friend's 96 was too. Pony- if you can repack the bearings, you can do the swap. No fab or modification at all, just bolt on.

Pony,

Yes... if you have say a 78 F150 they have the 5lug D44 and you want to swap it to 8lug. Just find a 75.5-79 F250 with the disk brake 8lug d44 and swap spindles out. It's that easy on the solid axles.

when you pull your rotor you'll see 5 nuts holding the spindle on. Unbolt and bolt it right to the F150 D44 and your good to go with 8lugs.



Heres the tech write-up over the TTB 8 lug swap
http://www.off-road.com/ford/bigbron...lug/index.html

Thanks Txquadhunter :-X22

I'll look into it cause I am probably going to go with the 8-lug front and rear(with a 1-ton rearend) when I do my SAS conversion. It should look cool having 8-lug on a short bed extra cab F150! :-X06

Im swaping over to the 8 lug 3/4 ton D44 rotor's to match the rear which has a D60 with 8 lug,and I have a ARROWCRAFT dually kit with 6 235/85/16's.Seen one on the internet,and it looked real cool,plus I do alot of trailer towing.I will post pic.'s when done.everything I own seem's to turn into a dually.Oh yea this all is being done to the Brown Bronco in my gallery.I replaced everything under it last year with a 4" lift but now I seen some pic.'s,and im on the dually Bronco deal. :-X25

When swaping to the D44 8lug 3/4 ton do I have to use the axel's from the 3/4 ton 8 lug D44 in my current 5 lug 1/2 ton D44 straight axel?The conversion has started.Just not with the Bronco I planed on useing.I found a sweet 79 Bronco in a local yard a couple of month's ago,and ie been tinkering with it everynight in my new garage I was able to have built after many year's of playing in the sand!Thank the lord I was able to build this year.Get's cold in the winter grounging me inside.

I think your going to be ok with the 1/2 ton axles... Just need to use the 3/4 ton spindles

there both 28 spline shafts.did a lot of swaps for 8 lug broncos.you cant use any chevy parts just the bearings

If i need a spare axel down the road could I use the 3/4 ton D44 axel's in my 1/2 ton D44?Thank you for the output.