I have to opportunity to acquire a Dana 44 front axle out of a '79 Bronco for $75 (it looks like there are some rough looking D44 axle cores, just the housing and knuckles, are going for $400, so I'd say the price is pretty good. .

The seller says the axle tubes and housing is in great shape, but the gears need replacing. Im just waiting on some pics. Not sure what exactly needs replacing.

I would be interested in this for some time in the future when I would SFA the blaze , but thats not for a while. This just seems like a great price, and would give me lots of time to rebuild the axle.

So my questions would be 1) does this sound like as good of a price as im thinking? and 2) can anyone confirm that the '79 D44 is high pinion?!


I'll post pics when I get em.


Still waiting on pics..but doing some more reading on pirate4x4.com, it looks like some 79 bronco D44s have coil setups and radius arms, but no welded perches for leaf springs... Apparently the preferred setup on blazers is leaf or coils with trailing arms..? Everything I'm reading says stay away from 79 bronocs with the coils...hrm..guess I'll have to wait and see

 

You will likely have to get it narrowed. If you get a D44 out of a Jeep, you would likely be able to use it as is. Just need to measure the rim mounting face to face width to see how much wider it is than your current setup.

If I can find a D60/14FF setup for my K5, I would have a matched D44/12bolt set laying around. I thought I already had the D60/14ff setup, but my dad scrapped them out from under me a year or so ago...[:@]

 

I was reading up on narrowing..doesnt seem toooo bad..custom shafts could get interesting though. This might be too much trouble for me...but I wonder if its worth buying, rebuilding, then selling again?


And theres a 14-bolt for $100 about 15 min from me. Thats what got me looking Thought I was going for that bad girl..but apparently those axles need quite the large tire to cover that beheometh of a housing.

 

Yeah, a 14ff (full floating) is a hell of an axle with VERY large brake drums!!

Another thing to watch out for is which side the differential is on. I am not sure where it is on the Bronco, but I know that Ford used a number of passenger drop transfer cases in the past. Dodge used the driver drop like most other current trucks.

 

Finding the deal on it last night is what prompted me to finally figure out what full float vs semi float actually meant And thats a good point..I didnt even think about the diff..thanks!

Now Im busy trying to figure out what a slip yoke/fixed yoke/slip yoke eliminator is and what that even effects...hah. After that its steering. Woo!

 

The only slip yoke you have on your truck is at the back of the transfer case for the rear driveshaft. I do not know if they make a SYE for those transfer cases though.

 

Yea I know the 233 has the fixed front output, but theres alot of stuff about finding a 1st gen with a 231 and swapping the internals to the 233 so you can keep the fixed yoke as opposed to go with a jeep case and a slip yoke eliminator, with either route beefing up the 233. I think thats what Im reading anyway

 

Alright..got the pics. Front D44 from a 79 bronco. Drivers side drop, and that looks like spring perches?










So Im a little disappointed in the condition of the gears. I was hoping it just had some destroyed spiders or something. The question is, is this worth the $75. If those are spring perches, it is definitely usable on the blazer (if I were to get a full width rear end). I would be tooling with it in the garage and rebuilding and refinishing it, practice setting a diff, etc....then either reselling or using.

Im afraid those shafts are going to be trashed too..

 

Those are not leaf spring perches, but rather the cast ends that were used to bolt the coil spring perch and the swing arm. Those big cast sections on the end may get in the way and make it difficult to properly locating your leaf spring perches. Not to mention that with those large cast sections, the axle is very difficult to narrow.

I would pass on it.

And, that is a passenger side drop.

Also, have a look at some of the pictures on this site:
http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana44.htm

 

Thanks kyle