ATTN: Dana 44 axle chart infor needed!

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

ATTN: Dana 44 axle chart info needed!

As some of you are aware, there's been talk of assembling an axle chart with as much info as possible from the collective PBB brain on any given axle. Such a task needs to be taken on piece by piece, so I think we should start with the most popular front axle, swap and stock application wise. Okay, that being said, I've come up with a little Excell spread sheet listing all the Dana 44 info I can think of, in a format I feel is understandable, check it out and let me know what you think.

http://thunderbayoffroaders.rockcrawler.com/axles.htm

Savage is also working on a similar chart, so check his out too.

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/king.savage/

Lets decide on a format that will work for this and all other axles, with the eventual result being the whole 4x4 world looking to the PBB for info on any axle out there, and getting reliable info from experts in each particular axles specific features and nuances.
I would also like to include all bearing, seal, and steering component part numbers (common brand) and the BOM number for all the housings and knuckles at a later date, but let's start with what we have here. Please post any suggestions and information sources in this thread.

morpheus · Sep 24, 2002

some info for your chart:

1978 J-20 D44
Pass. side drop

8 lug
Flat top knuckles
297x
9.94" outers

short inner - 16.75
long inner - 35.5

fyi .... you can't lump all the j-series trucks together, the J-10's
are 1/2 ton and the J-20's 3/4 ton ... can't speak for any of
the other J-models ...

- jack

Lloyd · Sep 24, 2002

Need a note that GM's transition from the D44 to 10-bolt front axle was gradual; I have a stock front axle in my yard from a '78 GMC Jimmy that IS a 44 and has two flattop knuckles. Some stock front 44's have been seen as late as 1980 model year.

GloNDark · Sep 24, 2002

Lloyd said:
Need a note that GM's transition from the D44 to 10-bolt front axle was gradual; I have a stock front axle in my yard from a '78 GMC Jimmy that IS a 44 and has two flattop knuckles. Some stock front 44's have been seen as late as 1980 model year.

I just parted out an 80 blazer with a 12 bolt rear and dana 44 front. All parts were stock. Flat tops on both sides.

I will take some measurements tonight when I get home.

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

Morpheus:

Thanks for the info, I added it to the chart. I will keep the J-truck housings lumped together until I can confirm any difference between them, same as the GM K5, K10, K20, the differences seem to only be in the hubs and knukles used, MAYBE the tube thickness. Once the charts gets filled out more and I start including BOM numbers, they years and models will get separated more. Keep those measurements coming, and if you've got more than one axle, check them all, the more confirmation the better.

Lloyd:

GM trucks are so popular and so many of them have been swapped around and switched back and forth that it's hard to tell what's stock and what's not, for the most part from what I've seen, Dana 44 up to mid '77, GM 10 after mid '77, but I added your note in the comments. Actually, I think 1980 was a big 'ol garage sale for the GM truck line, lots of quirky things on the ugliest truck GM ever built

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

Glo:

Thanks for offering up the measurements.

Lloyd · Sep 24, 2002

4Bangler said:
GM trucks are so popular and so many of them have been swapped around and switched back and forth that it's hard to tell what's stock and what's not, for the most part from what I've seen, Dana 44 up to mid '77, GM 10 after mid '77, but I added your note in the comments.

Thanks man. You're absolutely right, but in this particular case the guy I knew bought that truck new from the dealership, and that's what came under it.

I've also seen 38's on a pair of 10-bolts under a '70, but never ever thought the factory might've put that combination together.

drunkmarine · Sep 24, 2002

i have a 76 1/2ton with stock dana 44. the measurement from upperball joint to upperball joint was about 57 and 3/4 and lower balljoint to lower ball joint was about 54.5"

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

Ummm.....how drunk? Did you measure you truck while it (or you) was upside down? The upper ball joint measurement should be less than the lower, by 4" on the axles I've measured, you may have the measurements reversed, in which case you're at 3.25" could your axle be bent? Or does one of us have sloppy measuring skills? I'll take your numbers under advisement, I'm hoping to get duplicate measurements from several sources before I publish the chart.

Grim Reaper · Sep 24, 2002

Go to www.WARN.com and they have a PDF file in there with a ton of shaft demensions.

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

Yup, I've already included that stuff, except for the mistakes, but the main reason I'm doing this is to list all the stuff that Warn DOESN'T list, like the Jeep J-trucks, IH pickups, Ford F-250's, and anything made by Dodge.

4Bangler · Sep 24, 2002

I'm looking at some of the BOM# info from Patooyee's site, and some from Mr. N, but I'm already finding some discrepancies so I'm not sure about including BOM#'s.

I would like to include Federal Mogul (or another common brand if anyone can suggest a better one) part numbers for all the seals, and bearings for the different applications, and Moog (might as well list the good stuff) part numbers for all the steering components.

4Bangler · Sep 25, 2002

I know some of you have done the reasearch, look at the chart and see what you can add. I'll try to update it on a daily basis.

CJ-Jeeper · Sep 25, 2002

My front Dodge housing has 3" tubes. They appear to be ~0.375" thick. Passenger drop w/ SOA. Don't know if it was 1/2 ton or what & it was cut down when I got it.

WillisXJ · Sep 25, 2002

75ish D44 from F-150 (Drum Brake) .5" tube thickness (Can't tell if they are 3" or 2.75" diameter):

Coil sprung,
UBJ = 52.75"
LBJ = 55.5"
Long tube from housing to 'C' = 24.125"
Short tube from housing to 'C' = 9.25"
Long shaft looked to be 34"
Short shaft looked to be 19", but Warn's measurments of 33.91 and 18.91 are probably closer.

**Disclaimer: All measurments were taken a few minutes ago after a few beers, and all by myself. So measurments may not be exact, like center of ball joint to center of ball joint, it's not like I could be at both ends at once to tell where center was (but it's close).**

Once other fact: I will be using knuckles from a 83ish Dodge diconnect D44. They are both flat top, and have 5x5.5 pattern. When installed on this axle gives a WMS to WMS measurment of 66". It may be one of the best Disc Brake swaps available for EBs and Old Fords running drum brake D44s.

I have this axle on the bench, so if you need any more measurments, let me know.

Willis

DieselYJ · Sep 25, 2002

IH pickup

The front Dana 44 in the 1/2 ton IH pick-up is SOA.

4Bangler · Sep 25, 2002

If you've got the axle on the bench, some sober measurements with a buddy would be very helpful, almost all the Ford Coil sprung Dana 44's I have access to seem to be smiling. Double check your UBJ and LBJ measurements, your measurements show a difference of 2.75", indicating 1.375" positve camber at the balljoint. All of the other Dana 44's I've measured (leaf sprung Jeep and Ford models) indicate 4" difference between the UBJ and LBJ, for 2" positive camber per side at the ball joints. If in fact the coil front axles use less camber at the ball joints, this may be an inportant fact for people cutting down axles.

Also, is the axle disassembled?

Measurements of the hub offset and spindle pattern (bolt cirlce), would be very helpful, as well as knuckle offset (LBJ to SMS and UBJ to SMS)

Hub offset is best measured with the hub and spindle off the vehicle. Seat the hub on the spindle, maybe even tighten down the adjusting nuts, and place a straight edge on the spindle mountnig surface, not the indexing bore. A second straight edge (a carpenter's square works perfect) on the wheel mounting surface, with the distance bewteen being the hub offset.

Knuckle offset is best measured with the knuckle off and the balljoints out, a carpenters square across the SMS measureing to the center of the balljoint bore works well.

I could also use some measurements from the center of the coil bucket to the center of the coil bucket.

Thanks for you help, I'll be measuring my parts pile this weekend, as it is 250 miles away from me at the moment.

arndog · Sep 25, 2002

I know its not as useful but will you be added rear axle information as well.

arndog

4Bangler · Sep 25, 2002

Yup, once I get more front axle info, the rear axle stuff will be on another page of the same document ie: Dana 44 fronts, page 1-3, Dana 44 rears, page 4-5. Dana 60 fronts, page 1-2, Dana 60 rears, page 3-6, etc. Each popular axle will have it's own chart, with some of the odd ball stuff lumped together in a seperate chart. I'm starting off consentrating on common 4wd stuff, but once the format gets nailed down, I'd like to pass it on and allow people to add to it, creating an ever evolving document of reference. Of course I'll have to come up with some sort of information verification plan, right now I'm just looking to get the same measurements from at least three sources, and at least two verifications of the measurements I take on my own junk pile.

4Bangler · Sep 25, 2002

I'm not padding, just trying to keep this in full view of potential information sources. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

ATTN: Dana 44 axle chart infor needed!

4Bangler

morpheus

Lloyd

GloNDark

4Bangler

4Bangler

Lloyd

drunkmarine

4Bangler

Grim Reaper

4Bangler

4Bangler

4Bangler

CJ-Jeeper

WillisXJ

DieselYJ

4Bangler

arndog

4Bangler

4Bangler

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