Dana 44 questions

[Toad]

I believe he has done his own machining on the axle. I will chat with him and see.

 

[mbryson]

...

Looks like a D60 and a 9" are gonna be my best bet. Any info about what vehicles to get those out of or what route I should go would be greatly appreciated! I would like to stick to a common bolt patter that isn't 8 lug either if at all possible. Mind as well just bite the bullet and start gathering parts now.

You'll spend about $400-500 (maybe more as you'll need brake rotors with the "custom" pattern ?) to swap the front 60 to a different bolt pattern. Not that it can't be done, but you keep mentioning price consciousness. 8 lug is the CHEAP way to go. Just my observation. (and why my Jeep is 8 lug)

A 9" has it's merits, but I'm curious why you're wanting that over a rear Sterling, Dana 60 or 14 bolt?

You've mentioned ground clearance as your reason to upgrade. I feel like I had more ground clearance with my XJ (D30/D44) on 35" than I did with my current "Jeep" on 38" tires. The 40" tires make it about the same, maybe a little better.

 

[Too Far]

My be a little bit of a hyjack, sorry.
I'm working on my 4400 car and really want to use the 44 in the front. HP f250 version.
Looking at the jana54 ring/pinion and rcv's with slugs. I know that it would be cheaper to buy a 60, but an extra 200 pounds of unsprung weight goes with it. Seems like a horrible thing to do to a car that will run through the woops.
From previous post it sounds like it may work ok for me considering the parlty 200 hp my motor makes. Any thoughts?

 

[mbryson]

My be a little bit of a hyjack, sorry.
I'm working on my 4400 car and really want to use the 44 in the front. HP f250 version.
Looking at the jana54 ring/pinion and rcv's with slugs. I know that it would be cheaper to buy a 60, but an extra 200 pounds of unsprung weight goes with it. Seems like a horrible thing to do to a car that will run through the woops.
From previous post it sounds like it may work ok for me considering the parlty 200 hp my motor makes. Any thoughts?

Your unsprung weight issue is noted. I had a discussion for a few days with a guy that had a LOT of experience desert racing. It would be interesting to hear some other folks' thoughts with similar experience (calling Garth or Neagle here). Basically his view was similar to yours. The penalty of the D60 was NOT worth it to him and he thought I was somewhat sane and wondered why it was worth it to me. We came to no conclusion but I decided the unsprung weight was mostly an ASSET while crawling (traction, weight VERY low in the chassis, etc.) but would become a detriment if I decided to go fast.

Running it through the whoops will punish anything. I'm curious WHAT would hold up to that. I don't think you'll stress the axle joints like you would crawling, but you WILL stress the axle joints with 4 wheel drifts at speed and whatnot. For what it's worth, my friend trussed the HELL out of his D44 fronts and ran them pretty hard with good results.

From what I know about D44, you've got the king version of that with the burly tubes and whatnot. I say I'd run it (you have it) and see what you get. Your weight penalty for the D60 is quite severe. I still think you'd need to truss a D60 for your use. At speed the leverage on that housing will be incredible. I don't think you'll have issues with the ring pinion as much as bending the housing and any associated issues that will create. The reverse D44 should be quite strong. Is the Jana 54 unit reverse?

 

[utah340six]

as for the dana 44 with 5x4.5 there in every rubicon out there.
we built this same set up for my sons jeep.
axle from a dodge ram charger or plymouth ,70's model.
had the tubes swaped for drivers drop put 30 c on it.
made same lenth as rubicon (03 to 06)both sides so no custom drive shafts.
sac running 37 inch tires electric locker up front and dana 300.
44 rear spooled.

 

[grandmaster]

After doing some research and talking to Tyler Andersen....I decided I will do an 8 lug pattern to stay "cheaper". Then I will either convert a 9" to take the same pattern, or use a 14 bolt. If I did the 14 bolt I would want to shave it I think....because like mbryson is saying, I will get caught up on everything. I am not refering to 'ground clearance' just under the axles either, I am also talking about belly height.