fannitti

what years are best to look for in a f150 for the 44/9 swap. local junk yard has a 76 and a 78 f150. what one is better?

RoyalXJ

78-79 is what you want.

Atmos

the only 2 years with cast wedges? are the ones you want to avoid

you want pre-1978. you can also look at f100 and bronco. if you are near the northern CA area my buddy has a fully built D44 for sale with 5.13 gearing

RoyalXJ

I meant 78-79 f250 sorry. 8 lug, big brakes and 1/2" axle tubes. Hp44 and ff60

andrewmp6

Honestly go for 1 ton axles,The 44/9 inch are good tell like 37s and finding a 79 back dana 44 is hard and pricey.If you go 1 tons you can run a ford dana 60 85-96 the rear you can run a sterling from the same ford or a gm 14 bolt full float.Or you can use the 99-04 super duty axles front and rear.

fannitti

i daily drive the thing and i don't want super wide

Atmos

You can run a proper back space wheel and narrow it up pretty well. I ran H2 wheels on my 1 tons and it was pretty narrow, and very manageable on road. And even if you didn't run like 5.5" back space think about it, those axles were under a truck that fit perfectly fine in between the lines on the road and in parking lots

I feel it though. Having light 1/2 ton axles would be even better. But you will probably spend more money building them than you would on the whole 1 ton swap

fannitti

ok so where can i find a lift of what years and what models have what so i can make a decision?

Atmos

Pirate4x4 Dana 60 bible. 76-77 Dana 44 from f100, f150, bronco. RoyalXJ mentioned 3/4 ton years. Wide array of 14 bolt. I dunno google it man

andrewmp6

You see axles from a truck are about the same width 1/2 ton to 1 ton,The early bronco axles are shorter but hard to find and the early years used a dana 30 front.You want jeep width axles you can use 80-91 wagoneer dana 44 front and a isuzu rodeo rear dana 44.Or if you got the money and time you can use jk rubicon 44s front and rear.

IsomRonA

I believe pre 77 D44 were all closed knuckle/drum setups (my f250 was anyway). Makes for a real pain to find replacement axles or convert to disc.

fannitti

I found a guy on Facebook near me that has a EB d44 with drums but has radius arms. I herd these where good but hasn't done a lot of reading on them.

andrewmp6

The early broncos was all low pinion and a lot more of them had a dana 30 then a dana 44.Being its a drum axle its a 1971-1975 but the early bronco used a 260 u joint the same size your stock dana 30 has in it.You will have to buy a disc swap kit and aftermarket axles if you want a good size u joint for it.For all that money you could have 1 ton axles maybe a little cheaper depending what axles you use.And like said depending wheel back spacing you can have a jeep on full widths and not have the wheels sticking way out like some do.

fannitti

It has disc and bigger ujoints already 76/77 I think it is and that's what this guy has with radius arms. Worth it?

andrewmp6

Do you know what gear it is and is it open diff or a locker and how much does he want for it?