ford axles in a comanche

[buddy208]

what year and vehicle do i need to get full size d44 and ford 9" out of.

[Incommando]

Late '70's. F250s are very popular as they had HP D44 fronts & leaf springs with D60 rears, in many cases. Many find these to be more adaptable than the F150/Bronco axles with cast-in radius arms. Although people have mentioned building a custom front crossmember and using the Ford arms.

[Pete M]

what are you wanting to do?

[buddy208]

put wider and stronger axles in my comanche.

[Pete M]

I mean, what type of suspension are you going with? what tires are you planning on running? What's your budget in all this?

[buddy208]

i want to keep the same suspension the comanche has and i don't want to spend more than about 400 on axles, to run 33 to 35 inch tires

[Pete M]

then you'll want to hunt down the 3/4 ton version with 4.10 gears. They will have full tubes up front that will make it easier to weld on the Jeep suspension mounts. 3.55 gears are common. try to avoid them unless you budget increases to accommodate a gear change.

 

it's not all that hard/expensive to build up Jeep axles to run 33s. late model Jeep axles and the Dana 44 Ford axles run the same U-joints in the front axle.

[buddy208]

actually all i wanted was to go 3.73 gears and would there be front coil on any year of those axles so i don't have to add my own buckets

[Pete M]

the coil buckets from a ford axle won't help if you intend to go with a Jeep 4-link. You'll still be adding your own buckets and control arm mounts and will be doing some significant welding no matter what. the leaf sprung 3/4 ton front axle is more common and easier to wipe clean for the Jeep brackets.

[TNT]

The front HP44 from a 1972-1977 F-150 has weld on mounts with 1/2" thick axle tubes. Cast mounts started in 1978.

 

Only the 1977 F-150 has disc brakes and the good axle tubes.

 

All the above have a 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern.

 

That is the axle of chose IMO.

 

1978-1979 F-150 Camper Specials have F-250 leaf spring housings with the 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern.

 

The F-250's all have the 8 on 6.5". Keep what rims and tire sizes you have in mind when chosing.

 

F-250 and Camper Special axles have a cast leaf spring mount built in that can interfere with the XJ/MJ LCA mounts and XJ/MJ spring mounts pads.

 

Here is a good link for you.

 

http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/technicalfiles/JAfrontD44arb/FrontD44arb.htm

 

[Comanche County]

Check out Mr N's site on D44 info, its fairly exhaustive. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html

[buddy208]

is the front axle steering rods able to bolt right in to the jeep steer or do i have to make new rods

[Pete M]

you have to make new steering rods.

[buddy208]

what about the first gen. cherokee would i need to change steering arms/rods or will they work

[Pete M]

first gen Cherokee? Are you referring to the fullsize Cherokee/grand Waggy? Yes, you will still need custom steering rods.

 

You are swapping in a completely different axle here, everything will need to be custom.

[88pioneer]

Virtually nothing is bolt in when upgrading axles like the ones you want, and the fsj's were leaf sprung in the front, so there steering set up is different