Solid Axle Swap

[BigBlueChevy]

Been so caught up with a few projects, the axle itself and work that I realized I hadn't kept you guys up to date on this! The "Place" knows about this but you guys are alot better with projects than they are so I want to show off my latest project. Projects and "the place" really don't seem to go together well anymore. Oh well. Here she is!

Started off as a 79 Ford F-250 with what I thought to be a Dana 60 in it. turned out to be a dana 44 instead but this is the 3/4 ton HD Dana 44.
The unfortunate donor truck

Big Blue in the background after I towed it home

The axle, full dressed and armored. Just... not a good idea to drive on...:nonod:

6" Deaver leaf springs. One with 30 years of rust, the other with 5 minutes of the wire wheel:thumbsup:

Before/after

What they look like right now in my garage ready to be mounted, just waiting on U-Bolts

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Inside all cleaned out. Had stock 3.42 gears with an open carrier. Only damage was one of the inner carrier gears had a chipped tooth.

About 2 months later, alot of hammering, smashing, bashing, PB Blaster and sore fingers, the base was ready for rebuilding.

My favorite-dednbear steering knuckles

Ball joints pressed in, knuckles mounted.

Carrier and gears back in place with new bearing cap bolts. Didn't bind up so i guess I was doing something right!

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Hubs and rotors mounted with Warn Lockouts to boot. I had bought the lockouts earlier on with the intention to power the axle, no I'll just wait for a dana 60 instead of blowing up the 44... HD or not.

Otherside assembled, steering tie rods installed. Cover gridned, primed and repainted to match axle.

Axle is essentially ready to go right here. Not to shabby looking eh?

Ford dual Piston Calipers are used with semi-metalic brake pads. These things are fawkin huge compared to the stuff on my 1 ton IFS!!!

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Steering is fully custom. And for a good reason, check out these numbers:

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Not bad for an 18 year old with no background or knowledge in suspension what-so-ever eh? I started this thing off not knowing the difference between a solid axle and the CV joint setup. Now I look back at that and am glad I dove into this project, there really is so much to learn. The axle is litterally ready to go in right now after three months of hard work. I've got my shock mounts and rear leaf spring mounts coming in this week which really just leaves the greased bushings to get started.

Actually I'm waiting till after thanksgiving for one of two reasons. Time being the most important. And I'm getting a killer deal on an engine(top secret) that will set me back a little on buying the last few parts to finish the axle. But only a little Gotta love working full time:thumbsup:

GMCtrk:

 

[merlin5577]

Wow, great job. Looks like you'll be up and running in no time.

 

[DEERE3594]

Thanks for all the pictures! good luck on getting it all bolted up, we are here to help! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Unit453]

This is an awesome thread...! Pictures are great!!! Keep us updated. That's gonna be one bad sumbitch...!

 

[07HDClassic]

Im liking where this thread is going...

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Thanks for all the comments guys! There always appreciated:thumbsup:

I'll have more pictures to come as things progress a little more. Its really just waiting on the small stuff. A few specs on the axle itself, for those unfamiliar(like I was) with this stuff.

-1979 Ford F-250 Dana 44HD (3/4 ton)
-3" diameter axle tubes with 1/2" wall thickness (same as Dana 60):h I got lucky here)
-34" spring perch width running 6" Deavers( donor truck was already lifted so I reaped the benefits.)
-Crossover steering will be used running a 1.25" CNC machined steering arm mounted with 4 chrome moly studs, 7/8" heim joints(tie rods), and a massive 1.5" drag link to connect to a custom made drop Pitman Arm.
-Bearings all replaced with Timken Bearings(pirate4x4 approved so they have to be worth something lol) Then packed/greased with marine grade 4wd grease.
-Chrome Moly wheel(hub) studs. Ford uses 1/2" X 20 acorn nuts to mount wheel. Chevy uses... I forget, but its a different size...
-Our style truck uses an 8 X 6.5" bolt pattern. 30 Year old FORD hub bolt pattern---> 8 X 6.5"


Did a "test drive" last week. Essentially, with the axle "driveable" we took the tires off the front of my truck and bolted them to the axle. Then rolled it out of my garage, down the driveway and back. No binding, no seizing, no locking up. I was very pleased. Obviously the real test is when the weight of my truck is then pressing down on it as well. Best part of that day was trying to steer it since the axle wanted to go one way and we wanted it to go the other(steering knuckles moved a little to easily without control over them). Neighbors thought it was pretty damn funny):h

 

[88gmctruck]

I'm very interested to see how this turns out, I love the SAS OBS chevy trucks. I converted mine over a year ago and couldn't be happier: It performs flawlessly in almost every situation I put it through, and still manages to be a great everyday truck.

Whats the intended use when your done? What size lift/tires will you be running?

 

[BigBlueChevy]

I'm very interested to see how this turns out, I love the SAS OBS chevy trucks. I converted mine over a year ago and couldn't be happier: It performs flawlessly in almost every situation I put it through, and still manages to be a great everyday truck.

Whats the intended use when your done? What size lift/tires will you be running?

Forgot that part. Well the reason was really straight forward for me. My truck is a 'C" series. Therefore, I only have 2wd and was cursed with an IFS. The front suspension on my truck has been getting progessivly worse over the past few months and it requires a full rebuild. We are talking shocks, coil springs, steering componants and ball joints. Then you factor in the fact that I want to lift the truck. It costs around $1000 for a 3" lift on an IFS truck(just 3", any more and your looking into alot of money) Then you factor in another $1000 for the entire front end to be rebuilt, using the new parts of course. Right there, I was easily looking at About $2000 up front to get where I wanted, give or take of course. And it also leaves the front of the truck open to accept a driveline at some point or another. I simply get a T-case and driveshaft and bam, I have the only C series in the World thats 4wd capable.

Then someone suggested converting to a solid front axle. Being one to take on a challenege and strive for wanting something "out of the ordinary" and differernt, I did my reasearch. It seemed feasable so after starting my new full time job I got the axle for cheap and started the rebuild right away.

Lift and Tire Size huh? Well I'm gonna keep it a secret for now. Though once the swap is complete I'll be sure to post plenty of pictures):h

 

[Ed HD]

It won't be the only C-series that has 4wd, but you'll be one of a few, that's for sure!

 

[BigBlueChevy]

It won't be the only C-series that has 4wd, but you'll be one of a few, that's for sure!

Ha funny you mention that. I was at the junkyard last week and I took the "Cheyenne" Badges off an older body style(like 93') truck. then saw the front suspension with CV joints and a floor shifter. I was really confused Seeing as the K series was associated with 4wd, and the C series is 2wd. But I'm guessing a select few where built with 4wd as well.

As a little update I got my mounting brackets in last night These are gonna hold the rear of the leaf springs to my frame. Also got the dual shock hoops in. Both of those things are works of art. I'll have pictures up tonite, but as a teaser... the shock hoops are stainless):h

 

[dragogt]

So did you ever find a d60? I hadn't been keeping up w/ it on the "place".

 

[BigBlueChevy]

So did you ever find a d60? I hadn't been keeping up w/ it on the "place".

No unfortunatly I didn't. The Dana 44HD is going in in order to get the IFS out. The IFS is riding like its on its last leg and that don't make me feel to safe. Later on down the road I'm going to find a 77.5-79 Dana 60, beef it up, then throw that under the front end in place of the 44HD.

I'm thinking I'll buy the diff housing, use 3" x 1/2" thick chrome moly tubes, Dedenbear inner "C's" and Steering knuckles. with some Chrome moly axle shafts, warn lockouts, and get dynatrac to machine me a set of hubs and spindles that will allow use of ABS, something that the current Dana 44HD is without.

I haven't logged into "over there" in quite a while now. There just to much drama and knuckle heads over there.

Set your callenders folks As of right now I have the swap set to start next Friday(12/11/2009). It looks like as long as everything goes as planned it will take about 2 weekends. I'll try and put together a DIY if there is interest over here in solid axle conversions.

 

[Anubis]

unless you will be extreme rock crawling or running more power than a Semi you wont need a D60 ...... I don't care what the rejects at pirate tell you. The TTB version of the D44 HD was used with 7.3L powerstrokes and 460s (in the LD 3/4 tons, the HD 250s and 350s got the D50 TTB which is only marginally stronger because of the D60 outers) for a 4wd Daily driver with a hopped up 6.5 or a 5.9L cummins in a Crew Cab that axle will do just fine.

 

[BigBlueChevy]

unless you will be extreme rock crawling or running more power than a Semi you wont need a D60 ...... I don't care what the rejects at pirate tell you. The TTB version of the D44 HD was used with 7.3L powerstrokes and 460s (in the LD 3/4 tons, the HD 250s and 350s got the D50 TTB which is only marginally stronger because of the D60 outers) for a 4wd Daily driver with a hopped up 6.5 or a 5.9L cummins in a Crew Cab that axle will do just fine.

You don't have to tell me that my friend. I've spent the past few months while tearing this thing apart learning everything there is to know about straight axle trucks.

The weakness in the Dana 44HD lies within the axle shafts and U joints. More specifically the U-joints as they are weaker than the axle shafts. But when a U joint goes it can tend to do so rather violantly, usually taking the axle shaft with it. Doing things like bending ears or snapping after the splines because the shaft starts flopping around inside the tubes. However, the aftermarket has almost completly solved this with the Chrome Moly Axle shafts and (I forget the name), set of incredibly strong U joints. Those pieces combine will put the Dana 44HD at a slightly higher strength rating than a Stock Dana 60.

So to add to this "writeup" you can use a Dana 44HD on our trucks for both a daily driver and offroading. Anubis is right that, unless your doing serious offroading(we are talking jumps/air time and rock climbing), a Dana 44HD is alot cheaper than a full on Dana 60. You could easily get ahold of a decent, non damaged, Dana 44HD from your local boneyard for about $200, less if its missing things. A full rebuild on it could cost you about $400 to $500 for everything, and the appopriate gears to match your truck are about $120. If you can weld, you can do this for less than a $1000. Thats about the cost of what Dana 60's are going for these days in pretty bad condition. And that doesn't include the money to rebuild it(Dana 60 is more expensive to rebuild as well.)

 

[Anubis]

I should add that I wheeled my V2500 Burb for years with the factory 10b, 35's, 4.56 locked and only broke 1 U-joint and 1 shaft..... and i wasn't exactly nice to my Burb.

I am thoroughly impressed with the 10b.

 

[BigBlueChevy]

Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present you, an update):h:thumbsup:):h

This past weekend I began tearing into the truck to begin my SFA swap.


stock...ish. missing the drivers tire as i was so excited to finally begin.

I stand by my statement that this is pathetic on a 1 ton. My mothers Malibu has bigger rotors AND calipers than this.

Tires at stock height, minus about 4" due to them being off the ground

it would appear something fell off...

Somethings wrong in this picture... wait don't tell me... I got it, my Chevy emblem is faded!

The infamous PMD on its remote mount. Will have to be shifted back a little to accommodate front spring hangers.

Everything gutted and out of the way.

I'd have more pictures and more done but Saturday wasn't to productive as I misplaced some parts, needed new U bolts and was working alone. And Sunday? It fawkin rained:mad2::mad2::mad2: Damn calipers and rotors have rust on them already:mad2: oh well, first braking and it will go away.