dana 44 help

[keelue]

is everything from the steering knuckles out interchangeable on dana's?

basically i have a dana 44 housing and gears sitting in my garage that needs to go under the truck. rig is a 77 with original dana 44. the axle in the garage has the passenger flat top knuckle which mine doesn't. would like to use my knuckles, brakes, hubs, and steering linkage. is this possible?

gonna throw an aussie in there too, along with tackling the ball joints. haven't done either before if anyone has any pointers!

have learned a ton from you guys on here so thanks! i always learn the most tho by just getting in there and doing it

 

[dremu]

Two things come to mind, and you'll be fine as long you swap the whole setup from one axle to the other.

The knuckles may be different, i.e. the tie rod may go from the top down or from the bottom up, and the hole in the knuckle is tapered so they're not interchangeable. Swap both knuckles so they match, no problem.

There are two sizes of spindles, so as long as you swap the entire set of matching outers, you'll be fine. (Yours may or may not be the same size anyway.)

-- A

 

[keelue]

that's awesome, thanks! exactly what i needed to know...

think it's roughly beer thirty here...might go start taking this thing apart

 

[dremu]

Oh, and w.r.t. balljoints, you'll need some specialty tools. Some folks have broken the HF press

http://www.harborfreight.com/four-wheel-drive-ball-joint-service-kit-4065.html

but it worked for me. You'll also need the spanner; I got the OTC 7080 at NAPA, for instance.

http://www.otctools.com/products/ball_joint_spanner_wrench

For the process, search, it's been covered lots of times.

-- A

 

[KansasTwister]

The hardest part for me was getting the knuckles off the housing to swap the joints. I used a big piece of brass to knock the top loose, then loosened the set nut then knocked the bottom loose.

 

[keelue]

Oh, and w.r.t. balljoints, you'll need some specialty tools. Some folks have broken the HF press

http://www.harborfreight.com/four-wheel-drive-ball-joint-service-kit-4065.html

but it worked for me. You'll also need the spanner; I got the OTC 7080 at NAPA, for instance.

http://www.otctools.com/products/ball_joint_spanner_wrench

For the process, search, it's been covered lots of times.

-- A

yeah i've read a bunch on here, and a few other things on the web about the whole process. heard some mixed reviews about the harbor freight press. i'm thinking i can rent one from a local store. pickup the spanner at napa. any recommendations on ball joints? by next year at this time i should be on track with a d60 swap so...this is really only a one year axle