If he could fly with one foot he'd be doing that now, I'm very sure!
This a bit divergent, but let's say, hypothetically of course, that you wanted a full float D44 rear axle. Use, weight, tire size, etc. really don't need a D60 or heavier and keeping the unsprung weight down is a priority. Where would you buy a tubed bare D44 housing? Can that even be done? If not, known full width donors?
The FF parts would either be 14bff spindles/hubs/etc., possibly D44 front parts using Brennan's housing ends, or might be a Unit Bearing system. 5X5.5 BC. Brakes will be an Explorer kit, which might bias the FF decision in the 14bff parts direction.
Oops,
@Yeller posted while I was typing...
Interesting question. But your assumptions pre-determine your outcome. So I will challenge the assumption.
Why in the world would anyone want a full float 44? First, you have to define what YOU mean by a Dana 44. And you need to explain exactly what it is you intend to do with it. The figure of merit for an axle is tire diameter. It's actually that simple. How big of a tire do you intend to spin, and will you have a locker?
If the answer is 33 inch, and a locker...then the axle shaft diameter requirement is MINIMUM of 1-3/8 diameter. Without a locker, the answer is 1-5/16 diameter. Even the Jeep Wrangler evolved to a 1-3/8, 32 spline axle shaft, and every JT Gladiator comes with 32 spline shafts...even though the front Dana 44 has a smaller ring gear than the rear Dana 44. The garbage 31 spline 9 inch shaft is 1-11/32. So just barely adequate for 35's and a locker.
But as you well know, there are several ways to design and engineer components. The traditional engineering methodology is to determine the requirements, and design a solution based on the requirements. The alternative methodology is to determine the weakest component, and ensure that adjacent components are superior. Electrical Engineers do this all the time, by calculating the minimum required current, and installing a fuse that will fail before the components fail. On the farm, we call this "barely engineering" short for: "I don't need to out-run a bear...I just need to out-run YOU."
With that in mind, you need to establish the failure mode of your Full Float Axle system. Given all of the input parameters, and torque multiplication, and coefficients of friction, and brake torque, and impact, and what do you expect to fail? Guys like
@nvrstuk expect traction to be the limiting factor in all cases. He expects the tires to slip before the differential grenades. Or the axle shaft twists, or the driveshaft wrings off, or the transfer case blows up, or the transmission slips, or the engine stalls. But that type of QFD is not realistic if you don't know the traction, load, and terrain parameters. This is why the Dana 60 (and the Corporate 14 bolt) became legendary in the first place. At the end of the day, it's the 1.5 inch, 35 spline axle shaft in the 1969 Mopar that set the standard. Then later, the 1-9/16 inch, 30 spline Corporate 14 bolt. And that's the answer.
Superior axle invented the Super44 way back in the 1990's as an upgrade to get 1.5 inch shafts into a Dana 44, so that they would hold up to 35 inch tires on the rocks. Similar to your use case, they wanted light weight, low carrying capacity, but high torque capacity. Even today, 30 years later, ARB is selling a 35 spline upgrade for the Dana M220 (you call it a Dana 44) Back to the point of Bearly Engineering...once the axle shafts are upgraded, then next failure point is the carrier, which is upgraded, then the ring gear explodes. Nobody wants their ring gear crunching on the trail.
So why all this talk about the axle shaft when you mentioned floater? Because in order to get the power to the wheel, you have to have a shaft that will carry the torque. And then you have to figure out a way to couple the shaft to the wheel hub. And here is the problem. How exactly are you going to couple your axle shaft to the wheel? And what was the original point again? Did you want floating axles because you wanted to be able to unlock them? Or are you OK with a bolted, flanged, or fixed connection? And if you are OK with a fixed connection, why do you want floating? The ONLY advantage to floating axles is the ability to carry a load. If you aren't carrying anything, then what's the point? Jeep figured this out back in 1944, when they abandoned the Full Float Dana 25 rear axle in the MB. It got replaced by the short-lived Dana 41 with tapered hubs.
But back to the hub and drive flange problem. I admit that I havent tried The Corporate 14 bolt with the double splined shafts, and the drive slug and the little metal plate from the Kodiak but no way to fit that on 5x5.5, So there are exactly ZERO disconnecting hubs that can withstand the cyclical loading of a rear axle application. I bought the Warn small hub floater kit, The Dana 25 external hub kit, and the 9 inch full float big hub kit. I've put Dana 50 front hubs on Dana 61 rear spindles. I've tried internal, and external hubs. 30 and 35 spline. I have bought the Warn big hub lockouts with the set screw. And replaced the inner spring wavy washer with a billet spacer. NONE of that crap would hold up to a single full throttle launch on the street running BFG 33's. I have literally had locking hubs shoot off the side of the car, hit the curb and fly 20-30 feet in the air. The ONLY good thing about an exploding hub is that it coincides with a total loss of movement. So you don't have to walk very far to find your broken parts.
You don't want a full float 44. I have owned every kind of full float 44 that I could find. But if you need a donor housing, the JK / JL /JT Dana Advantek 44 is a good choice. Lop off the ends, and weld on some outers.
I would not intentionally install a unit bearing on any vehicle that I own, or have to ride in. I have deleted the unit bearings in my Cummins. Worst idea anyone ever put on an axle. Please, please, go 8 lug with a 6.5 bolt circle.
