Ford Dana 44 Front Axle

[Impact]

Hi,

I am just wondering if anybody knows what year Ford made a Solid Dana 44 front axle with a leaf spring setup?

[hps4evr]

tough call. i think in the eighties there were some heavy duty 3/4 tonne trucks that had heavy duty dana 44 in front with leaf springs and not the TTB. in the seventies they used coil springs on the dana 44. either on the small bronco, big bronco, or f150. i think if you go back to the early seventies and in the sixties there would be some closed knuckle dana 44's with leaf springs. your best bet would be to look for the front dana 44 from a seventies small bronco, i think the coil mounts were removable from the axle. then you could mount your own leaf spring mounts. or you use a coil front suspension with radius arms and trakc bar like the ford was set-up. or, you order a built dana 44 from aftermarket, dynatrac, currie, mopar.

[Impact]

tough call. i think in the eighties there were some heavy duty 3/4 tonne trucks that had heavy duty dana 44 in front with leaf springs and not the TTB. in the seventies they used coil springs on the dana 44. either on the small bronco, big bronco, or f150. i think if you go back to the early seventies and in the sixties there would be some closed knuckle dana 44's with leaf springs. your best bet would be to look for the front dana 44 from a seventies small bronco, i think the coil mounts were removable from the axle. then you could mount your own leaf spring mounts. or you use a coil front suspension with radius arms and trakc bar like the ford was set-up. or, you order a built dana 44 from aftermarket, dynatrac, currie, mopar.

The reason Im looking for a leaf spring setup Ford dana 44 is because I found a company that has a full weld on truss/coil mounts/control arm mounts/steering setup as a compete welded package that then just has to be welded to the axle. What type of axle was put into the 70's F250 and f350's? Eight bolt... but what type? Im looking to upgrade to 38's and run a Dana 44/9 combo...

[hps4evr]

i think you're looking for dana 60's then. the heavy duty f-250's and f350's came with the dana 60 front and rear. and possibly a rear dana 70. if it had leaf springs then it was probably a dana 60.  and what company has this bolt-in/weld-in kit?

[cLAY]

I'd be interested to know what company as well. I have Ford HP D44 with leaf springs waiting to go in. Jst have to get around to putting mounts on it.

I believe it came from a '76 or '78 F250 camper special

[GiS]

Solid 60's and 44's go back to the early to mid 70's. You can find HD 44's with thicker diameter axle tubes and the 8 bolt pattern.

The 60's are typically found in F250 Snowfighters, or in F350's.

If you are using leaf springs and mounting it into a Jeep, 1979 is a desirable year, otherwise into the 80's the spring perch width changed. Make sure to measure your spring width and find something suitable.

[Mikes off road]

Are you referring to the truss made by TNT? I thought that one was made for the Ford 44 with the weld on control arm wedges.

[Impact]

I'd be interested to know what company as well. I have Ford HP D44 with leaf springs waiting to go in. Jst have to get around to putting mounts on it.

I believe it came from a '76 or '78 F250 camper special

Here is the link.

http://www.tntcustoms.com/treks_home.asp

I was looking for a leaf spring setup because TNT has 2 different packages for the 44, one with previous leaf spring setup and one with previous coil/radius arm setup.

[Mikes off road]

Thats great now that will open up some more front end options. It was starting to look bad for finding a 44 with weld on wedges.

[Impact]

Thats great now that will open up some more front end options. It was starting to look bad for finding a 44 with weld on wedges.

What years came with the weld on wedges?

[raf2379]

you can get A HP D44 out of a 78 Ford F250 which has the leafspring perches on there, the drivers side perch is cast in with the diff and the passanger perch is welded on, now if you get the HP D44 out of a 1973-1975 F100, it has welded on wedges that can be cut off easy, and TNT has both truses to weld on. either way the coil spring perches will need to be welded on seperately i think, i dont know if they come welded to the truss itself or not.

adding two good links one has the D44 with spring perches and the other with the wedges, i think u have to be registered to see the pics

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=747194

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=397243

[cLAY]

Here is another link, but ignore the Dodge stuff, he doesn't know what he is talking about in that respect.

http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana44.htm

[raf2379]

I also forgot to mention gearing, depending on what gears you will use, I wonder if you can get a maching set of gears for the front and the rear using the D44/9" combo

i think the 9" comes in these Gear Ratios

3.00
3.25
3.50
3.70
3.89
4.10
4.30
4.57
4.86
5.14
5.29
5.43
5.67
5.83
6.00
6.20
6.33
6.50
6.83
7.00

and the D44 i think has these options.

3.54
3.73
4.10
4.56
4.88
5.13
5.38

these are superior axle and gear ring and pinion selections

[cLAY]

Yep they are close enough. Lots of guys doing it.

4.86/4.88
5.13/5.14
5.38/5.29

[Impact]

I contacted TNT and they told me that they sell a kit (truss with all brackets/coil buckets/etc) with everything welded to truss that works with stock 44 with leaf springs from the factory .