Identify This Ford Dana 44 For Me?

[DangerWillRbnsn]

I am considering going full width axles lately... today I Found a dana 44 locally. The seller does not know what year, only that it was a Ford f250.

 

I have a few pics, maybe you can tell what year it is and why?

 

Your swift help is appreciated. He will only hold this until tomorrow for me before settling it off to the next guy... and he has buyers lined up.

[FrankTheDog]

As far as I can tell that's a low pinion passenger side drop axle.

Most 3/4 tons by any manufacturer are spring over. Except J20's

External hubs usually mean Dodge or IH.

Let somebody else have it.

 

Go to www.77cj.littlekeylime.com. That will give you a wealth of Dana 44 knowledge.

[Rockfrog]

I can tell you right now that was never in a Ford F250 stock ... wrong brakes for starters ... Ford 3/4T brakes were massive dual piston units. And they were driverside drop ... and as mentioned setup spring over axle. That axle is upside down (notice the vent) making it anything but a ford axle given passenger side drop.

[ckjeep]

definitely not a ford axle.possibly a jeep 3/4 ton truck.ford never used that style lock out hub design but i know jeep did

[Incommando]

 It looks to be an older Ford but I never paid much attention to the weaker D44's & D60's from the early 70's- back. The drivers drop eliminates a GM or pre-'94 Dodge. And '80-up J20 would have such a driver's drop but I am 90% sure that they use a chevy-style locking hub. Early Fords did use such a lock-out and from my memory that is a replacement hub design that differs from a factory set. Breaking those hubs was not uncommon so a 40 year old axle set could be expected to have aftermarket parts.

 

 A measurement of the axle from WMS-WMS would be the easiest way to ID this axle. Well, into the ballpark anyway. Early D44's have weaker axles, u-joints, and smaller spline counts and aren't worth fooling with. 

 

The info on the brakes appears incorrect. As with most trucks there are different GVWR's within each break-down: half-ton, 3/4-ton. 1-ton. Light-duty F250's appear to have had single piston front calipers while the higher GVWR version got you duals. To prove this randomly select a year, say 1977 F250, on RockAuto and punch in "calipers." 

[Rockfrog]

That's not a driver drop axle ... it's upside down. It's a passenger drop axle ... look at where the vent and the pinion galleries are ... Deffinitely not Ford ... ever. 76 was first time Disks were an option and those are not Ford 4wd brakes. The F250 was an Open Knuckle HPD44 for the 77.5-79 model years. Prior to that the F250 had a closed knuckle Low Pinion axle with drum brakes until 1976 when open knuckles hit the scene. Making the only low pinion Disk brake F250 axle ... a 1976 model (well, technically to 77.5 as it was the crossover year) ... which ran dual piston calipers and a highly webbed HD center casting. For all years the F250 used internal hubs as previously mentioned.

The single piston brakes were found on 2wd trucks and Vans.

[FrankTheDog]

Went to rock auto.

Yes there are single and dual piston calipers.

But as Rockfrog says single for 2wd.

Dual for awd/4wd.

Also all fords were internal lockouts.

All disc braked jeeps except cj's are internal lockouts.

The ones that actually have hubs anyways.

[DangerWillRbnsn]

Thanks fellas. I'll pass. The right set still pop up eventually.

[a4xnut]

GM D44's with disc brakes are all internal locking hub style and Jeep trucks are the same.  IH quit making pickups in 1975 (other than the Scout Based Terra, but that's 1/2T class). I'm not sure if IH went to disc brakes on their trucks before their demise or not, but they did use external hubs on 3/4T trucks.  I don't think Dodge used external style hubs in the disc brake age... and looking at Warn's hub application chart, seems to agree with that.

I thought Ford D44's with that style hub would all be closed knuckle, but Warn's chart shows a 9072 external hub application for '63-'77 HD 3/4T... so if it's an unmolested Ford axle, it'd have to be from the mid '70's to have disc brakes, open knuckles and external hubs.

[FrankTheDog]

I think I have it figured out. That's a GM Dana 44 from 73-76.5.

77 and later has internal lockouts.

[a4xnut]

I think I have it figured out. That's a GM Dana 44 from 73-76.5.

77 and later has internal lockouts.

Nope, 73-76 have internal hubs - so do the 71-72's with disc brakes. (Not sure about the drum brake ones, I haven't seen one of those in a while.)

[FrankTheDog]

The 1/2 tons were internal hubs.

The Dana 44 HD had external hubs until 1976.5.

I have the drum brake version of it and a buddy of mine has the disc brake version.

That's what that axle is. It has warn aftermarket hubs on it.

The ford F250 up to the 1977.5 had the same style lockouts but it was on a low pinion driver side drop. With closed knuckles.

[Incommando]

That's not a driver drop axle ... it's upside down. It's a passenger drop axle ... look at where the vent and the pinion galleries are ... Deffinitely not Ford ... ever. 76 was first time Disks were an option and those are not Ford 4wd brakes. The F250 was an Open Knuckle HPD44 for the 77.5-79 model years. Prior to that the F250 had a closed knuckle Low Pinion axle with drum brakes until 1976 when open knuckles hit the scene. Making the only low pinion Disk brake F250 axle ... a 1976 model (well, technically to 77.5 as it was the crossover year) ... which ran dual piston calipers and a highly webbed HD center casting. For all years the F250 used internal hubs as previously mentioned.

The single piston brakes were found on 2wd trucks and Vans.

Good catch on the flip. I read "Ford" and believe what I thought I saw in the pic.

 

GM D44's with disc brakes are all internal locking hub style and Jeep trucks are the same.  IH quit making pickups in 1975 (other than the Scout Based Terra, but that's 1/2T class). I'm not sure if IH went to disc brakes on their trucks before their demise or not, but they did use external hubs on 3/4T trucks.  I don't think Dodge used external style hubs in the disc brake age... and looking at Warn's hub application chart, seems to agree with that.

I thought Ford D44's with that style hub would all be closed knuckle, but Warn's chart shows a 9072 external hub application for '63-'77 HD 3/4T... so if it's an unmolested Ford axle, it'd have to be from the mid '70's to have disc brakes, open knuckles and external hubs.

just to throw this out if it helps someone later: Dodge D60 & D61 axles used external hubs through 1989

[carnuck]

Looks like he was trying to pass that off as a high pinion Ford diff which it wasn't. Springs are on top of the tube so it's not a J20 axle. It's Chev or Dodge Pass side drop from the '70s.