[jason m]

Originally Posted by tellicojeeper

well maybe guys in the next 2-3 months i will be in the 1 ton club.

Focus on the front, from the sounds of it you have plenty of rears to chose from. Its the front that make's the difference with one ton's. They can take a sh*t load of force to break one even in stock form.
You will really be suprised as to what they can handle and how far you can push them, i was. And its a axle that can grow with you and your wheeling needs.

Jason.

[tellicojeeper]

i have a 79 f250 hpd44. i wish i had a hp 60 but hard to come by. will a hp44 last with 37s. i think it will be ok, not overkill like the rear,but just ok. what do you think

[tellicojeeper]

got my 44 home today. it has 4.10s, so i might run factory gearing for a bit, so i can spend $ money on new ball joints and bearings. to get a crossover steering setup, i just swap the passenger side knuckle with a chevy one, correct? does it matter that its a 8 lug and the chevy knuckle i got is a 6 lug. sorry guys but im new to big gear game.

[tellicojeeper]

it has drive flanges instead of lockouts. which should i use?

[jason m]

Originally Posted by tellicojeeper

got my 44 home today. it has 4.10s, so i might run factory gearing for a bit, so i can spend $ money on new ball joints and bearings. to get a crossover steering setup, i just swap the passenger side knuckle with a chevy one, correct? does it matter that its a 8 lug and the chevy knuckle i got is a 6 lug. sorry guys but im new to big gear game.

The 8-lug 3/4 ton and the 6 lug 1/2 ton axle's use the same knuckle. Its the tubes that are thicker on the 3/4 ton, i want to say there 3/8's and the 1/2 is 1/4". So swapping knuckle's around to each axle will be easy.
Its the same part number for the balljoints.

I would use the drive flange's, there stronger than hubs. Are they internal or external flange's.

Jason.

[tellicojeeper]

they dont use the bolt on caps like aftermarket ones. has just a clip that holds them on. they look like lockouts with something missing. i can try to post apic of them tomorrow.

[tellicojeeper]

i am thinking about the rockcrusher ones, look beefy. have any thoughts

[tellicojeeper]

my front wheels arent hub centric. like a 1/4" gap all the way around the hub centric part of the wheel. is this common with the older 8 lug d44?

[tellicojeeper]

what brackets should i get. i was thinking about the tnt truss, can get it with everthing set already

[tellicojeeper]

jason, i checked some pics on pirate4x4. looks like mine are internal flanges being held in by a clip. time to upgrade. do you think the heavy duty dana 44 will last with 37s.

[jason m]

Originally Posted by tellicojeeper

jason, i checked some pics on pirate4x4. looks like mine are internal flanges being held in by a clip. time to upgrade. do you think the heavy duty dana 44 will last with 37s.

A 44 and 37's, Hmmm with a light foot and decent shafts yes. But theres no upgrade for the ball joints so normall inspection of them and greesing is needed.
Unlike king pins all i do is greese them, in fact over the 4 years theve been on my jeep ive never touched them.
They came straight out of the 88 F-350, pulled the knuckle off checked them out and re-assemabled them, done.

Keep searching I'm sure theres 60 someware in the area. You were saying your Dad gets alot of chevy trucks. Grab one of them, even if you need to run a pass side drop T-case its worth the extra work. Ive seen alot of peaple try to build a 44 to handle there needs only to let down after the first breakage.

I would run a 60 even if i had 35's there stupid strong and for what i do ( and alot of peaple that run them ) they really are hard to break. I have the same stock axle for 4 hard years now with all stock parts and i never broke. Trust me i try, ive put myself in spots were i was sure i was going to break it, but no it doesn't let me down.

Keep searching for a 60 and dont get to carried away with that 44, spend your money once.

Jason.

[tellicojeeper]

thats the financial plan or goal. i will try to look for a 60. might just go ahead and put some brackets on the 44 for temp. then sell once a 60 comes along. always someone lookin for a 44

[bradentaala]

Originally Posted by flatlander757

Considering 5.38 gears aren't available for the D70 go for the 14 bolt

FWIW the 14 bolt is easier to get spare parts for in general, they are super easy to set up the gears, and they have a pinion support which is stronger and can make a great spot for tying a truss into.

I got my D70HD because it was already built to match a D60 that I got with it. I THOUGHT I had 5.38s but some research and I found out they don't exist for a D70. Turns out I have 5.86s which is fine by me as it moves fine and RPMs are about perfect with 40s.

Sounds like there's no reason for you to go with the D70.

How do you like the 5.86's? Would you go any lower and still be OK on the road? I see that 6.17's are available... What Transmission/transfercase are you running?

(Sorry about all the questions, i'm about to build my rig similar to yours...40's, D70 rear, etc...)

[flatlander757]

Originally Posted by bradentaala

How do you like the 5.86's? Would you go any lower and still be OK on the road? I see that 6.17's are available... What Transmission/transfercase are you running?

(Sorry about all the questions, i'm about to build my rig similar to yours...40's, D70 rear, etc...)

Love them.. it's all in my build thread.

4.0L/NV3550/D300.

I've put about 3000 miles on it like this, it works.

[Lamont_24]

14 bolt. Cheap parts cause everybody has them and you can make them super badass. Xtreme 4x4 did a steering shaved one. A lot of buggy guys run front and rear. Check out Madram11 on YouTube for the buggies