Im wanting to put a hp44 in my 98xj but there is alot of them out there hp44's were only offered in a ford truck or bronco and they come in different variations. 5 lug coil sprung with cast wedges, 5 lug coil sprung with weld on wedges ,8 lug leaf sprung , 5 lug leaf sprung, what would be the best to get. Im going to keep my 8.25 in the rear.

 

5 lug leaf sprung if you can get one would be the easiest to deal with for all your hardware issues. However they will be wider than your 8.25. However, the later coil sprung axles had finer splines on the axle shafts and are stronger. Unless you can find a early Bronco axle, they too will be wider

 

which well be the best out of what a bronco if so what year

 

69-75 i think. It is the early ones. I don't think the D44 was an option until 69 though.

 

Look into a waggy D44

 

x2...this will be very close to being the correct width. the late 70's ford d44s are good also, but will be quite a bit wider. You can always buy the brackets and weld them on at the correct width, so you can retain using your coils upfront.

 

Go with a late 70's F-150 coil sprung with weld on wedges if your going to go with a Ford D44. Just for the ease you could pretty simply throw a 9" out of the same truck in the rear to replace the 8.25...just to be matching width and bolt pattern among other things. I don't know about down by you but around here you can get a good condition matching 44/9" for $150-$250.

If you are just interested in replacing the front and want something a little narrower to match the 8.25, this would be a good axle...

 

You would be happier if you just spent the time and effort on a D60

 

Not necessarily. It all depends on the MAX tire size a person will ever run. Parts also start to get really expensive with 1-tons and you start to lose ground clearance. Yes, you can shave the 3rd member but depending on what size tires your running it may not give you as much clearance back as you would like. If your only planning on running a 35-37" tire, a D44 will be fine most of the time, depending on the terrain you wheel, the amount of strength you have put into the axle, any lockers you have, and most importantly the way you as the driver will drive it.

Personally I am going to have a fairly blinged out D44 when all said and done, but will more then likely never break anything based upon the way I wheel...smartly. I already know I will never put a tire bigger than a 37" on my XJ and it will be built to handle that. If I ever want to go bigger, I will buy another rig.

The added weight, cost, and work to put a D60 in may not necessarily fit perfectly in the plans someone has for their rig.

 

What you say is all good I have been wheelin with quite a few guys that keep saying they wish they wouldn't have wasted there time on the 44...

They all say just go to the 60 and be done with it!

And if you are locked no matter how big you and how much you spend on your parts you will BREAK something that is part of wheelin. Wheel smartly... Okay stay on green trails with 37's. If you wheel 37's you will eventually break something becuase you are always gonna want to try and climb that rock face or what not. Unless yours is a show rig/mall crawler. I see more Big rigs break than small rigs.

 

IMO with any tire smaller than a 38, I would not run a D60. You can successfully run a 37" tire on a dana 44, wheel hard, and not break anything, while retaining your ground clearance and saving alot of weight. However you are right when you say if you wheel you will break. I have had a dana 60 shaft break with 38" tsl sx's. Does this mean I should upgrade to rockwells because I broke a shaft? Stick to your 31's and offer an opinion when you have run both a dana 44 and dana 60(which i have).


OP, I would look for a Dana 44 out of a earlier 70s fullsize bronco or f150 with the weld on wedges and match it with a ford 9". If you are worried about going full width, dont, because with the correct wheel you can be very close to a cherokee on 31s.

 

I was talking about a D60 upfront instead of a Dana 44 upfront. They run there D30 till they get to about 35's then instead of wasting the time and money on the 44 they said just go 60.

I have no exp in it Post up on NAXJA they will tell you the same thing I just did.

 

I was too.

 

Maybe your "friends" ended up building their rigs up more then first expected or don't have the common sense of when to stop.

Back to the "just go to the D60"...like I said before, IT MIGHT be too much axle for someone. It's that SIMPLE.

Wheel smartly means if you aren't moving forward and just spinning the tires...STOP and try again or a different route even. It DOESN'T mean go the easy way. Obviously that is too difficult to understand that it basically means use something known as common sense.

While I actually gave some good information that could help someone determine what to pick, you just decide to somewhat ridicule what I said and then just say you have heard others say to just go with the D60 and don't actually post any information or "personal experience" worth reading.

Agreed!

Huh?

What do you think he was talking about...

 

it really depends on what size tire you are running just because the dana 60 is bigger and stronger doesnt meen its better you are looking at extra weight and a significant difference in price for not only the axle but parts also if you arent planning on going over 35s the dana 44 is hard to beat they will take a hell of alot of abuse and have tons of aftermarket support if you plan on going bigger then 35s though you may want to look into a D60