[Dirtpan]

I've got a pair of Dana 44's out of a 79 J10. My question is what is the easiest way to convert the front to flat top knuckles and five lugs. What about 6 lug flat top?

Thanks

 

[Tippy]

Bear with me this may be a litttle long winded. Fullsize jeeps and chevy pickups and blazers both used two types of spindles for their 44 (and 10-bolt GM) fronts with disc brakes in the 70's. The only notable difference was the size of the inner wheel bearings used, hence the the spindles varied by the diameters of the inner wheel bearing spindle races. Most of the early ones used a spindle with a 1.7812 ID inner wheel bearing, Timken part # LM603049. This is the spindle you need, chances are good you have this spindle on your '76. If the inner wheel bearing diameter is larger than that you will have to get a hold of the earlier spindles to work right with the ford hubs. The spicer # for the correct spindles is 706528X. You will use the same rotors and wheel studs as the fullsize Bronco and F150 would, you can tell the parts store they are for a 1980 application if they must know, but they should be all the same all the way up through the 90's. Fullsize Jeeps and chevys also shared the same GM style caliper and caliper bracket arrangements and these should work fine with the Ford set-up. I use GM caliper mounting brackets with the chevy part #s 14023429 for the left one and 14023430 for the right one, but Jeep brackets should be the same but may carry Jeep #s instead of GM ones. Here's a final tip, GM calipers are available in 2 piston sizes and are interchangeable on GM caliper brackets, a 2 5/8" piston is the normal size and what you'll find on the front of the fullsize Jeep axles, but a 3" piston model is available if you ask the parts houses for the front calipers off a '80 or so Chevy Suburban with the large rear brakes option. This will net you some larger pistoned calipers that will stop bigger tires a little better, albeit at a little more of a cost. The correct FSJ year for the right spindle to adapt ford rotors is '74 - '76

 

[BlueCJeep]

This should work for ya...http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/flatop_knucles.html