I have a guy that wants to put disk brakes on a 73 dana 44 front axle. Can we just change the backing plates spindles huds and rotor, or do we have to change the knuckles as well?:confused:

You'll need to swap the knuckles as well. You'd be better of doing the cheby conversion. You'll be able to keep your existing knuckles, and your tie rod will be higher than the 78 stuff. check out the picture below.

to the left is a f-150/bronco knuckle, Center is an early bronco knuckle, and right is a scout knuckle.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/knuckles.jpg

Actually I assumed you were working on an Early bronco, but you didn't tell us....so what the heck are you working on?:confused: :confused:

It is a 73 F-150. Is the Ford knuckle off of a disk brake set-up? Is the 73 knuckles similar to the chevy knuckle in the middle?

I 've done the swap on a 74 early bronco and used 76 blazer parts . Backing plates and spindles from chevy hub & rotor from
ford bronco or truck , 78 and up . This works very well and isn't to
much $$$ . :flipoff2:

what knuckle do you have to use for the high steer?

the first one in Nobodys pic F150 knuckle :flipoff2:

is it worth it? or just do the tie rod switch?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lorent eb
I 've done the swap on a 74 early bronco and used 76 blazer parts . Backing plates and spindles from chevy hub & rotor from
ford bronco or truck , 78 and up . This works very well and isn't to
much $$$ . :flipoff2: [/QUOT


Will that swap work for a weak a** dana 30 also?

Will the Chevy spindles work with the ford hubs, rotors and locking hubs?

Originally posted by lala
[QUOTE]Originally posted by lorent eb
I 've done the swap on a 74 early bronco and used 76 blazer parts . Backing plates and spindles from chevy hub & rotor from
ford bronco or truck , 78 and up . This works very well and isn't to
much $$$ . :flipoff2: [/QUOT


Will that swap work for a weak a** dana 30 also?

yes it does :flipoff2: :beer:

Originally posted by 2manyJPs
Will the Chevy spindles work with the ford hubs, rotors and locking hubs?

Originally posted by lorent eb
I 've done the swap on a 74 early bronco and used 76 blazer parts . Backing plates and spindles from chevy. hub & rotor from
ford bronco or truck , 78 and up . This works very well and isn't to
much $$$ .



:rolleyes:

I got a D44 from 78 Bronco with bad housing.... and its got Discs on it if I used those knuckles and discs and everything with a D44 or D30 from EB would I be able to convert to Discs that way? or do I need Chevy parts?

Yup..that's what I did.
'74 EB axle '79 F-150/Bronco from the steering knuckles out.
I'ld prefer to keep it Ford. But the Chevy calipers supposidly 'slide' better.

Originally posted by Rogue Bronco
Yup..that's what I did.
'74 EB axle '79 F-150/Bronco from the steering knuckles out.
I'ld prefer to keep it Ford. But the Chevy calipers supposidly 'slide' better.

What are you using for your flexible line that goes from the axle to the calipers? The stock F150 lines are to long. Did you have some custom made?

Originally posted by dangerranger33
I got a D44 from 78 Bronco with bad housing.... and its got Discs on it if I used those knuckles and discs and everything with a D44 or D30 from EB would I be able to convert to Discs that way? or do I need Chevy parts?

And you wonder why people are hazing you?:rolleyes:

For like the third time in this thread alone(God forbid you use the search):flipoff2:........ yes if you swap knuckles caliper brkts spindles etc from any disc 44 to a non-disc it will work. If you want to retain the higher steer arms from a EB knuckle that requires the use of the chevy spindles and caliper brkts from a pre-76 Chevy(Not 100 % on that part but what I have found with search) with the Ford rotor/hub.

well I'll admit this time I didn't use the search.....because there was this post and this post talked about Chevy stuff not ford... so i just wanted to throw that in their... but i'll accept it this time... shoulda used serch.... maybe SEARCH KING will come tell me so.....

Originally posted by lorent eb
I 've done the swap on a 74 early bronco and used 76 blazer parts . Backing plates and spindles from chevy hub & rotor from
ford bronco or truck , 78 and up . This works very well and isn't to
much $$$ . :flipoff2:

What all do I need for this conversion? I have a 74 bronco and am interested in the blazer disk brake swap. Do you have a writeup and parts list? Thanks!!

Originally posted by greaser


What all do I need for this conversion? I have a 74 bronco and am interested in the blazer disk brake swap. Do you have a writeup and parts list? Thanks!!

Caliper
Caliper brkt
Spindle
all from what I've heard from a 73 to 76 K5

the only thing I'm not positive of is weather the bearings and brake hoses will fit???

Just some added info to help (or just make this thing keep going) is that the difference in spindles in case you couldn't see in the pic, is the Ford drum brake spindles use six bolts to attach to the knuckle. The disc brake Fords used five attaching bolts. That's why you need the knuckle if you want to keep it all Ford. Chevy's use six.
When you do that on an early Bronco, you will have to shim or replace the tie-rod ends. The holes in the fullsize steering arms are bigger than the EB's.
For a Dana 30, you have to use the Chevy stuff if I'm not mistaken since the knuckles do not interchange like on most 44's. Kinpin bearings vs. ball joints basically.
As for the brake hose, there are a couple from what I understand but I used a mid-seventies 2 wheel drive truck hose and it went on perfectly.
A nice upgrade for the Ford system is to use the calipers off of the big cars like LTD's and T-birds and such. They have a bigger piston but in this case you would need a different hose from what I understand. Never done that one myself though.
I've heard that the Chevy brakes slide better too but I've never had any problem with my Ford brakes on any truck. So if you want to keep it Ford, keep the sliding surfaces clean, smooth and lubed, like on any other type, and you should never have any problems. Knock on wood.
Nice thing about the Chevy swap is not having to change the knuckle for one thing. Keeps your steering stock, which was pretty good to begin with. Not sure just what effect changing the height of the arm has other than tierod end clearance on a wheel, but if the length is different, doesn't it have an effect on turning radius (Ackerman Angle?) or something? Although I didn't notice any loss with mine.
Hope that extra info helped somebody.

...and speaking of kingpins, after all that discussion, isn't that '73 a kingpin closed knuckle type of axle 2manyJPS?
The others here might know but isn't that axle completely different or can he still use the Chevy stuff on it?
Just checkin'

PaulB

I ended up changing the entire axle out to a reverse cut dana 44 open knuckle, but yes the '73 is a closed knuckle axle. When I started this thread I was trying to find the easiest way to convert to disk brakes. The Ford Closed knuckle 44-6CF that came on this vehical I think came with a six bolt patter coming out of the knuckle and I was thinking of just putting the chevy stuff on it, but then there would still be the weak closed knuckle front end. So I went for the open knuckle option with disk brakes.

Sounds like the most reasonable approach to me too.
Glad it worked out.

Originally posted by DaleL


yes if you swap knuckles caliper brkts spindles etc from any disc 44 to a non-disc it will work. .


Can I use/will it work- knuckles out from a 84 full size Bronco w/44 on a EB 44 with drums?
Been told everything will, been told nothing will fit.
Searched every board I can find for this answer, seems like the consensous is out of 15 or so post 7 say no, 7say yes, the post that I read that some girl wrote said she "just don't know, but would like to someday"
So, Dale please shed the light on this for me!?!?