I have a 1970 bronco with a 9"/d30 combo and I was thinking that I was going to put in some full widths front and rear. I was thinking of just going to a pick-n-pull and searching for a d60 and a d44 but I was wondering if it might be better and easier to do a 9"/d44 combo from a fullsize bronco. My guess is that the axles on a fullsize are bigger:confused: Any info helps

Thanks
Lure:D

The axles will be very wide. The rear will be big bearing 31 spline axles. The 44 front will be much better than your 30 and have 297 U-joints. All of that is good. Installing the rear axle will be easy, just move the purches. The front will be more difficult. Unless its a 78/79 big Bronco it's got the C-bush 'wedges' cast into the knuckle end. You can't grind them off and move them. That means your going to have to do some thinking on how you install the front. Some one will correct me if I'm wrong on this one :D but the easiest HP44 to install are the pre 1979 ones. They have the welded on C-bush 'wedges' that you can grind off and re-place for proper width and castor. Not sure if there is enough room to just weld the 'wedges' on the later ones or not. Might work, might not. If you check the dimensions on your Bronco and hit the wrecking yards with a tape you can find out.

early 77 and back, have the weld on bushings. However since you are working on an EB. You can use a F-250 44 like you said you wanted. Cut the bushing off your D30 and weld them onto your new 44.

are all 9" rears on a full size bronco a big bearing housing, if not, how can you tell? also since im pretty much new to the 4wheeling world, could someone tell me the difference between an hp44 and a dana 44? :confused: Also, did all fullsizes come with a 44 front and 9" rear?

Thanks a lot
Lure:D

A high pinion (HP) dana 44 has a pinion that is cast higher on the pumpkin. This is so it can use a Reverse cut ring gear. Why? Because a standard pinion d44 is simply a axle that was designed for the rear, with knuckles slapped on it. So, in essence, the axle will be providing power like your rear axle would as you back up. The problem with this is the fact that all drivetrain components on your truck are 30% weaker as you go in reverse. Most of the gears in your tranny are cut to be the strongest while you are going foward. You go in reverce, and they are no longer as strong.
So a standard pinion d44 with the standard rotation ring gear in the front, would be 30% weaker than a hp d44, as the hp is designed just for the front end.

Oh, and DO NOT rotate the the pinion upward on your front axle like you would in the rear. This will f-up your steering. The front axle is engenered with castor/camber built into the knuckle assembly. If you rotate up or down, even a little bit, your rig will be very hard to steer. It will wander alot on the street. But if your rig is off road only, then rotate away. You wont notice it when your crawlin.

All fullsize bronco's and f150s came with the d44/9" combo untill about 86 *i think* when they went to the d44/8.8" axle. Also, the ever popular twin traction beam came into being. :rolleyes:

Now the f150, post 98 comes with a 9 1/4 axle and *sorta* d44 indipendant suspenstion

F-150/Broncos from '78-'96 all have a hi-pinion Dana44 frontend.
'80-'96 have the TTB axle.
Low-pinion D44s were used before '78.
The 9" was always found until '83, when they started to use the 8.8".
Some models continued to use the 9 thru '86. After that they all had 8.8s.
'97 (the year the Bronco was slaughtered and the F-150 got bloated out (redesigned)) they went to a hi-pinion 8.8 front and what i think is a 9.75" rear on 4x4s (2WDs still got the 8.8).
These have conventional IFS (CV joints, A-arms & torsion bars:barf: )

H/P 44's came as early as 74 in coil sprung trucks the low pinion 44's came in the leaf sprung trucks


78-79 bronco's have cast on knuckles and c buching's that cant be moved pre 77 had welded on c buchings that are moveable.

all this info is availible in the search section :eek:

So when did ball joints start on the dana 44?
When did disc brakes start?
All of my knowledge of fords has been in the EB field. I know EB disc didn't start until 76 and all EB dana 44 were ball joint's. Dana 30's were king pin's.

I guess in my dana 44 search I'm looking for a 76/77 P/U. Which should be a HP, Disc, Ball joint set-up?
Thanks, Jake

thanks a lot for the info, all of it was very helpful!!:)


Lure:D

F150's started HP44 in 68-69.
Got balljoints in 71ish

F250 got HP44 in 77