Narrowed a 78/79 D44 today

Bronco73 · Mar 15, 2008

I got to narrow the 78 D44 axle today and I must say it was so easy that any one can do it. I have pics if some one wants to post them for me.

I cut the weld between the tube and cast iron wedge and used a hammer to tap the cast iron wedge piece from the axle tube. Cut the axle tube down by 6 inches and tapped the cast iron wedge back on the tube. set the cambe/caster and tack welded it and had it finished wedled by a welding shop. It was pretty much that easy. In my case my axle tube was rusty so it did not take much effort to tap the cast iron wedge back on the tube.

I will try to right something up matching the pictures in a step by step procedure explaining what i did and how i did it. i had maybe two hours involed in narrowing the axle. Again it was very easy.

fordtrucks4ever · Mar 16, 2008

I think a lot of work takes less time when people are not online telling you how hard it is or how much time its going to take, and its too expensive that way, or why do it that way when you could just buy this instead...I like to make things work and work well. I am glad to know its a lot easier than what replies on the other post made it out to be.

Tito · Mar 16, 2008

Shoot me the pics, I'll post em
admin@nwbroncos.com

Bronco73 · Mar 16, 2008

i will get pics out later today. it was so easy to narrow the axle that i want to narrow the other axle i have but i have to start packing for the move to FL first.

mr.n · Mar 16, 2008

Bronco73 said:
I got to narrow the 78 D44 axle today and I must say it was so easy that any one can do it.

Bet you've more time into take it apart to get to the housing...

Bronco73 · Mar 16, 2008

mr.n said:
Bet you've more time into take it apart to get to the housing...

you couldn't be more right mr.n and thanks for the help and guidance. thanks to every who had replied to my posts.

greatguy57078 · Mar 16, 2008

Here are the pics from Bronco73. I hope I post them in the right order to go along with his description.

HERE IS BRONCO73'S DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE PICS:

in the first pics i used a piece of angle iron to layout a straight line (pic 1). it's my feeling that this line can or could be used to reset the camber/caster angle but i checked mine to make sure i was right on with the other side. i also took the cut off wheel and made a few small cut marks along the line on the wedge and tube, just in case me handling the axle wiped off the sharpie line. the other two pics just show how i cut the weld. i cut the weld right against the edge of the wedge and cut into the axle tube part way to make sure i got past the wedge ID. i cut at the weld inward until i could see the seperation line between the tube and wedge (pic 4). i used a hammer to tap on the wedge to make sure the seperation line would show up. once i got a good view of the wedge ID/seperation line all the way around the axle tube i just beat the wedge off with a hammer.

greatguy57078 · Mar 16, 2008

Here are a few more...3 more yet to come...

PART II:
the second set of three pics shows the weld cut and the wedge off of the axle tube and me laying out the 6 inch line to shorten the axle tube. I used the sharpie to mark a line all the way around the axle tube. the reason i marked the line all the way around the axle tube is to make sure I cut the tube square if i was to use a sawsall (spelling). I had use of a nice chop saw.

greatguy57078 · Mar 16, 2008

Here are the last three. Please let me know if you want me to add your explanations to each pic...

PART III:

the last three pics shows how i checked the camber/caster angle. now i was going to turn a piece of stock down to fit in the BJ holes with a slip fit but when i tried the 3/4 dia. bar stock i checked to see how much the .020 difference would be when i moved the rod around in the BJ hole. it wasn't even worth worring about. i did make sure i pulled the bar stock tight in the same direction on each side when i measured the camber caster. I did try to level the axle as best as i could and i used the angle finder to check the for any tilt in the wedge. my axle tube was rusty so the wedge went back on the axle tube with very little effort. if you have a clean tube then you will need to put a little more work into it than i had to. as for welding it i was concerned about that as there was a cert. welded renting part of my buddies shop and he said that welding that wasn't a problem and he used a 300amp mig welder to weld it.

bax · Mar 16, 2008

I know where a 78 high pinion is, I am going to go get it.

greatguy57078 · Mar 16, 2008

I know where there is a whole truck cheap. I am going to have to check on it again now...Hehe;D

Bronco717274 · Mar 16, 2008

79 Axle

Thank's for the pic's and letting me know how easy it was. I've gotten an axle I've wanting to do this on. I've been following along as you've talking about it, now I've got one question. When you had it welded up what type rod or welder to weld cast to steel?? Thank's again for doing all the hard work for me! Just kidding hope mine goes as easy.-Barry

mr.n · Mar 16, 2008

Bronco73 said:
you couldn't be more right mr.n and thanks for the help and guidance. thanks to every who had replied to my posts.

Glad I could help.

It turned out nice. Good job.
Make sure to tell people grinding away the tube is better then the cast wedge, as your cutting that part of the tube off.
SO you went stock EB length inner axle shaft, to make ordering custom 297x axle shaft easier?

fordtrucks4ever · Mar 16, 2008

Bronco717274 said:
Thank's for the pic's and letting me know how easy it was. I've gotten an axle I've wanting to do this on. I've been following along as you've talking about it, now I've got one question. When you had it welded up what type rod or welder to weld cast to steel?? Thank's again for doing all the hard work for me! Just kidding hope mine goes as easy.-Barry

The parts are cast steel not cast iron. You can use a standard 6010/6011 for good penetration and cap with 7014/7018 rods.

Bronco73 · Mar 17, 2008

greatguy57078 said:
Here are the pics from Bronco73. I hope I post them in the right order to go along with his description.

in the first three pics i used a piece of angle iron to layout a straight line. it's my feeling that this line can or could be used to reset the camber/caster angle but i checked mine to make sure i was right on with the other side. i also took the cut off wheel and made a few small cut marks along the line on the wedge and tube, just in case me handling the axle wiped off the sharpie line. the other two pics just show how i cut the weld. i cut the weld right against the edge of the wedge and cut into the axle tube part way to make sure i got past the wedge ID. i cut at the weld inward until i could see the seperation line between the tube and wedge. i used a hammer to tap on the wedge to make sure the seperation line would show up. once i got a good view of the wedge ID/seperation line all the way around the axle tube i just beat the wedge off with a hammer.

Bronco73 · Mar 17, 2008

greatguy57078 said:
Here are a few more...3 more yet to come...

the second set of three pics shows the weld cut and the wedge off of the axle tube and me laying out the 6 inch line to shorten the axle tube. I used the sharpie to mark a line all the way around the axle tube. the reason i marked the line all the way around the axle tube is to make sure I cut the tube square if i was to use a sawsall (spelling). I had use of a nice chop saw.

Bronco73 · Mar 17, 2008

greatguy57078 said:
Here are the last three. Please let me know if you want me to add your explanations to each pic...

the last three pics shows how i checked the camber/caster angle. now i was going to turn a piece of stock down to fit in the BJ holes with a slip fit but when i tried the 3/4 dia. bar stock i checked to see how much the .020 difference would be when i moved the rod around in the BJ hole. it wasn't even worth worring about. i did make sure i pulled the bar stock tight in the same direction on each side when i measured the camber caster. I did try to level the axle as best as i could and i used the angle finder to check the for any tilt in the wedge. my axle tube was rusty so the wedge went back on the axle tube with very little effort. if you have a clean tube then you will need to put a little more work into it than i had to. as for welding it i was concerned about that as there was a cert. welded renting part of my buddies shop and he said that welding that wasn't a problem and he used a 300amp mig welder to weld it.

i will try to work on a nice write after i move to FL. right now i don't have the time to work on it. i'm already late picking up the rental truck.

greatguy57078 · Jan 4, 2009

I went back and updated to add Bronco73's explanation to the pics in the proper order. (posts #7-#8-#9) It helps to better understand how to do this (and so Bronco73 doesn't have to do a tech article!). It is good info to know. The more work we can do or understand ourselves, the better it is. Whether you are doing yourself, or having someone else do it for you. Thank you Bronco73!

Bronco73 · Jan 4, 2009

No need to thank me. Plenty of others helped me along the way. It was a fun project and it turned out to be one of the easiest things I've ever done.

OX1 · Jan 4, 2009

Bronco73 said:
No need to thank me. Plenty of others helped me along the way. It was a fun project and it turned out to be one of the easiest things I've ever done.

Any pics of it in the rig?? I'm wondering about header clearance with only 3.5" lift (what I have)

Narrowed a 78/79 D44 today

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