Dana 44HP Problems

[trberger]

So I have been a long time lurker and gotten a lot of info over the years.

I have had my current 77 Bronco since 2010 and have over the years done upgrades as needed. This year I got to do one I wanted. I added a 5.5" duff lift and 37" tires.

During my costing out of re-gearing I got a quote from a local Ring & Pinon Shop for $2300 to install an e-locker and 5.13 gears. I also found a company in Nebraska that would build me a Dana 44HP housing with the e-locker, gears and all the brackets for $2900 shipped to my door.

I opted for the HP and made my order back in May. Since then It has been shipped back and forth 3 times. I just received it back and the axle housing seems short to me. Here are my reasons.

1. The top ball joint bolt to top ball joint spread on my old axle is 46 3/8" my new one is only 45 5/8.

2. The passenger axle shaft floats side to side about 1/4" the driver side does not float at all. I am used to the shafts being able to float.

I think the drivers side is too short and causing the axle shaft to have a side load against the spindle and the locker.

Is this an ok situation? I would think not but looking for input.

Anyone know of a shop in Michigan that can help me get this fixed if needed?

Any and all ideas will be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[DirtDonk]

Back to the top for you. No answer myself, but as always, am interested to hear what others say. I agree that a non-moving axle shaft sounds suspicious.
Regarding the ball joint measurement, did you give them a size to match, or did they just build it to EB specs they had? I wonder if different years of EB's might have had slightly different spacing there. Not likely, but not unheard of for variations in things like that either.
What about the lower ball joints? Consistent with the upper, or different? If different, then it might be a different yoke giving you more or less (sounds like more) SAI (or steering axis inclination) angle. Not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the knuckles are matching so your camber is correct.
Again, never heard of that variation on 44's before, but since they're still used to this day in Jeeps and such, and even the Jeep 44's don't use the same gear sets as the old Bronco ones did, there is the possibility of a variation.

Good luck. Hopefully someone has the answer for you here.
And welcome too by the way! Sorry you had to join up under cloudy circumstances.

paul

 

[Whoaa]

One option when using 5"+ of suspension lift is to change to a high pinion housing. Another option is to cut the [inner] outter C structure from your stock Bronco low-pinion housing, rotate them about 10 degree's and then weld them back in place.
Another option for using a stock-style low pinion is to cut the rosette welds holding the center pumkin and rotate both axle tubes equally -setting the Caster on the outter C structure ...this is very difficult/imposible, most of the time the axle tubes will get damaged and require new tubes to be welded to the pumkin -if the pumkin didn't get too damaged to hold a square/plumb alignment again

When changing to a HP housing, BOTH axle tubes needs to be cut, BOTH outter C structure needs to be cut off and then rewelded back in place, plus the wedges needs to be cut off and new ones welded back in place at the correct orientation so you can use standard 4 degree C bushing's to achieve a net 6 or 7 degree's of Caster for good driveability. This work requires a jig set to factory Bronco spec's...and I'm aware that a jig can be made -but my experience has been that often times smaller welding/fab shops that take on this job don't fully understand the totality of what their doing.
A properly setup high pinion housing is a really sweet way to go! However it takes forethought, experience, and considerable precision fab work with little room for error for the machine to ultimately drive perfect, and have great articulation and no driveshaft binding issues.

I believe 1977 F-150 was the only year that had the Dana HP housing with weld-on wedges, this is the most desirable. The HP housing was made many other years, and for different applications (Jeeps, leaf springs, ect), but the others ones had cast-on wedges. Of course I'm sure you already know the gear direction is reversed on the HP models.

The "short" side of these housing are the drivers side, and the "long" side of these housing is the passenger side.

To make a high pinion housing fit classic Bronco width it needs to be cut down. The "short" side of a stock Dana 44 Bronco housing and the short side of a full size F-150 Dana 44 housing are very similar, but still different lengths by about 5/8", maybe 3/4". **My measurement difference's are from memory and I don't have an axle length and housing length spec's in front of me at the moment.

Often times people making the conversion to a HP housing, will only cut down the one side, the long side -because the other side is pretty close. Often times the short side will remain the factory stock length from the full-size truck. This creates a couple of problems.

The first and most obvious problem is what you describe. One side of the axle shaft seems to have adequate play, and the other side has no play and feels bound up. I can only speculate in this case based on your comments, it may even be possible they somehow shoe-horned both short and long "Bronco" axle shafts into this housing. But more likey than not, you have 1 Bronco spec axle shaft and 1 full-size truck axle shaft....unless this housing came from something else. BTW....what did this HP housing come from?

Second is the issue of having different axles the housing. When only the long side of the housing is shorten, now you have one axle shaft that is for a full-size pickup, and the other axle shaft is for Bronco housing. This prolly isn't a big deal if you're the only owner/driver/ and mechanic of this Bronco..because you know you have some custom parts in there. That said, taking into consideration that you had someone else do this work, I would verify w/ the folks who did this work exactly what axles are in the housing....then in the future when you work on it again you'll know you have one full-size F-150 "short" axle shaft, and one "long" Bronco axle shaft, and don't forget you also now have reverse cut gears in this housing.

Third, and to a lesser degree of an issue is exhaust clearance. If you're running stock-style a 2 into 1 Y pipe and/or long tube headers now you have *more* clearance, using a low pinion housing and 5 1/2" lift the front driveshaft just barley clears or rubs a little on the exhaust when the suspension is unloaded.

And on a side note, the price doesn't seem correct. I have researched this issues pretty thoroughly. Through my research I have talked to several different companies. One company in California that specializes in customs differential housing, Currie, quoted me $3,700 for the custom housing, and about $6,600 total set up w/ the goodies inside I wanted; gears, carrier, chromeoly axles, ARB locker, and cover

 

[broncnaz]

Not real sure on your axle shaft float. I would say that the outer shaft may be the issue and the hub spring is not putting enough pressure on it. Typically you shouldnt be able to float the axle to easily as the outer axle shaft is meant to ride against the spindle to keep the seal in contact with the spindle. You may have a incorect stub shaft for your hub/spindle combo on that side. Wouldnt hurt to check and make sure the inner axle on the side that is not floating is not binding on the locker. You can try prying the axle towards the diff with a pry bar see if it moves or just pull the hub and spring so the shaft is more or less free. Overall I wouldnt consider it a show stopper. As if it does bind up you could trim the end of the axle shaft. Not ideal for a custom axle but easier than sending it back again.

I would definetly try and find out what parts were used in this custom axle. If you gave them specs that you wanted then I would double check them and see how close you are. Might want to check your WMS to WMS measurements between the axles. AS that tends to be the key factor. If I remember right 77's may be slightly different due to different steering knuckles. So that could account for the ball joint measurement differance.

 

[garberz]

I'm building a HP44 from a 79' F-150. These have the cast wedges and knuckles that are one piece. I shortened the short side .600" and the long side .597" (6"). That's the axle length difference between EB axles and F-150/ 78'-79' Bronco axles. My housing length measuring upper ball joint, center to center, is 46 1/4". What style/year is your HP housing?
Is it shortened on both sides to accommodate EB length axles? How did you determine what the pinion angle needs to be? The pinion angle on mine was the biggest issue. I rotated it up two degrees to accommodate Duff long arms and 7* "C" bushings. I'm running 3.5" coil springs.

Mark