I found a dana 44 front, HP out of a coil sprung ford, I understand the brackets are cast in. Is it worth swapping into a TJ?

Has anyone done it? What if I do coilovers to reduce the amount of grinding necessary?

The only ones I've heard or read of being used were re-tubed.

What year 44? The 78/79 ones use 2.875 tubing and the left side is all cast in so the coil over idea would be the simplest way to go because you would just weld on the tabs and go. If it is an early RC44 up till 77.5 then the cast parts arte pretty easy to torch off and then clean up with a grinder. RE sells the brackets to weld on if you want to put coils back on from there.

Get the BOM or post a pic of it.
Disk or Drum?

I'm waiting on a pic from the owner, its from a 79 and has disk brakes.

79s were usually much weaker than the earlier models.
Look for something 77 or earlier, with drum brakes.
I used a 76 Ford HP44 in my YJ. The width is good for stability, with out being way wide. They seem to be a little narrower than most full size housings.
I torched and ground the arm mounts off.

Originally posted by Robert
79s were usually much weaker than the earlier models.
Look for something 77 or earlier, with drum brakes.
I used a 76 Ford HP44 in my YJ. The width is good for stability, with out being way wide. They seem to be a little narrower than most full size housings.
I torched and ground the arm mounts off.
Are you sure the 76 is more narrow? What is the ball joint to ball joint measurement? Or Wheel mounting area to wheel mounting area?

The 78 up if I remember right have the radius arm mounts as a cast tube, so the long side of the housing is actually a 2 piece deal. I used a 76ish bronco standard rotation housing in my YJ. Just grind off the radius arm mounts and go from there. I have seen a later model with the 2 piece long side swapped into a commanche, but I'm not a big fan of mounting all that coil spring crap to that little cast tube. One note of caution with the early bronco front ends is that the pumpkin is set a lil bit closer to center than most, and the drive shaft wants to share space with the exhaust down pipe. I had to route mine in front of the oil pan instead of crossing over under the bell housing.

Or you could just put the radius arms on yer jeep

The EB D44's from 77 down have the same coil perch width as XJ's and TJ's, and with that, I second the swap to radius arms. I think only 76-77 or maybe just 77 has HP and disks though with the 297's. 78 and 79 were the first full width axles and full size broncos, so some relocatin of the braketry would be necessary.

I think my reverse dana 44 is very similar to the ones were speaking of here. its supposed to be out of a 77 ford f-100. it has open knuckle kingpins and a 6 lug pattern with disks. it was set up for radius arms and I believe was 67 inches wide. its only sitting under my jeep right now until I get the rest of my jeep ready. I think the disks were an upgrade that someone made since I hear ford never used a 6 lug pattern.

im just curious if anyone elses were kingpins and open knuckle. also wondering if the 60 kingpin steering arms would fit on the 44 kingpin? :confused:

Hmmm...Early Bronco Dana 44, about 60 inches wide from WMS to WMS, low pinion, only the last couple years ('76-'77) with disks, uses the same short side inner axle as the F-150, F-150 Dana 44, about 67 inches wide from WMS to WMS, high pinion. F-100 king pin Dana 44, well now that's an odd bird and I would bet parts will be a bitch. Six lug disks tell me that the axle is no virgin, it's been molested and most likely has Chevy or full size Jeep disks on it. Any interchangeability with the Dana 60 kingpin stuff is doubtfull.

As for the swap into a TJ, and Early Bronco (pre '78) 44 would be a cool swap, either use the radius arms or grind off the brackets and weld up TJ stuff, or, cut down a pre '76 F-150 high pinion Dana 44 to Early Bronco width.