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Its Conversion Time!

T

Tony Alecci

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Hey guys,

I am over from the Jeep forum and I just wanted to intoduce myself and hopfully get a few questions answered. I drive an 88 K5 and my wife has an 04 wrangler. I have owned the K5 for a little over a year now and just used it as a dd(for now). I just blew out the spider gears in the rear which took out the r&p too. Well, you know how things go. Either fix a weak unit or upgrade, and upgrade always wins! So I find myself driving to pick up my new 14bff this weekend. I also find myself reading up on the tech articles here about the front 6 to 8 lug conversion. I have started to locate some of the parts that I'll need but I'm not quite sure on some of them.

Is dana 44 off of a ford the same dana 44/10 bolt under my k5? The 8 lugh hub and rotor assembly I found is off of a f-250. Is it the same unit?

Is there any difference between a ford 8 lug and a gm 8 lug?

While I have the axles droped I was thinking about replacing my worn out factory springs with a 4" lift. I see rough country advertised alot, but I'm not totaly sold on 'em. What do you guys see being a nice smooth riding spring/shock combo for a decent price? (front and rear springs)

So, once again it is nice to meet you all and I look forward to seeing some of you on the trail. Thanks for your help.

Tony
 
I wish I could answer the D44 hub question, but I'm just not up to speed on them. BTW, is it a 44 for sure? You should have a corp 10b up front being as it's an 88, unless someone swapped in a D44. I'm guessing that the Ford stuff won't work, but that's just a guess. There are plenty of folks here who could answer better than I.

As for the springs, a lot of folks like the Tuff Country EZ rides. The front 4", 48" springs have a nice spring rate of 325. The rear 4", 52's have a rate of 405. Of course there is also the option to use a flip in the rear etc.

http://www.tuffcountry.com/leafsprings.html

Oh, and welcome :waytogo:
 
Tuff Country = good flex, nice quality ride. Rough Country = lumber wagon ride.
 
Rough country's are called that for a reason. I put them on my 'yota and they are HARSH. Lots of folks here reccommend Tuff Country or BDS. I just put 4" BDS springs on the front of my K5, but I have yet to have it rolling yet, so I can't comment on the ride quality, yet. Doetsch Tech 8000 series shocks are reputed to be a great ~$35 shock.. Some on here run ~$20 long travel Monroes, avaiable at your local parts store. Searching this site will turn up a TON of good info. A shackle flip for 4-5" of lift in the rear comes to mind. Welcome to the site!
 
As far as I'm aware the Furd D44 has the pumpkin on the wrong side. :)
 
But he only needs to worry about the hubs, spndles, rotors and caliper brackets/backing plates. But, I don't know if tose are different from a gm d44
 
Matt's right, the only part of the ford d44 I am concerned about is outside of the steering knuckle and weather the 8 lug ford is the same as an 8 lug chevy?
It sounds like tough country is the way to go, they don't seam too pricey either. A shackle flip is a good idea but by rear springs are not in the best shape as is and the bushings are hard as rocks. Its time to replace them, so I thought its also time for a lift. Thanks again for your help.

Tony
 
there is a ton of info on swappability of ford to chevy hubs over at pirate if you want to search there. As far as I can remember, it doesn't work because of a bearing or seal diameter. I think that there is a odd size seal/bearing that fixes it, but I am not sure on this again either. wish I was more help. I run 60's ;)
 
TCs are great springs, but last time I checked BDS are cheaper (jdsoffroad.com) and BDS has the no questions asked lifetime you-break-it-we-replace it guarentee. Not bad.

j
 
Tony Alecci said:
Is dana 44 off of a ford the same dana 44/10 bolt under my k5? The 8 lugh hub and rotor assembly I found is off of a f-250. Is it the same unit?
Click to expand...

No, everything past the C-knuckle is different. The knuckles are slightly different (designed for dual piston brakes instead of large single piston), the backing plates are different (see dual piston comment), the spindles are "shorter" and have smaller bearings, the hubs are offset a bit different and have different bearings, and the stub axles are shorter (or more appropriately, use different snap ring locations). Other than that, they're identical. This is what I gathered from my friend having his 8 lug Furd D44 apart when I had a 6 lug 10 bolt apart.

Tony Alecci said:
While I have the axles droped I was thinking about replacing my worn out factory springs with a 4" lift. I see rough country advertised alot, but I'm not totaly sold on 'em. What do you guys see being a nice smooth riding spring/shock combo for a decent price? (front and rear springs)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't buy Rough Country, Hecketthorn, or Pro-comp unless they were given to me. If you're going to buy an "off the shelf" suspension kit I'd go with Tuff Country or BDS. If you wait patiently you should be able to find a pair of lift springs for $100. That's what I paid for my 4" BDS ones.
 
Wow, Thats good to know! Its too bad that I had just bought some ford hub/rotors off of ebay earlier today. Know anybody with a ford in the market for some? My own fault for rushing and not getting all the facts.

Thanks for the heads up on the lifts guys, its been a huge help. Back to the searching for the conversion parts.

Tony
 
Still working on that conversion to 8 lug! I just got off of the phone with a local shop with a few questions, but I don't know how much of it to believe or not.
Caliper bracket, can you retain the orig or do you have to swap it out too? I have read the article on here about the conversion, but I read another off of 4 wheeler saying the opposite.
Did the 3/4 ton come stock with 16.5 inch wheels or was it just the one ton with the d60 up front? I was told that 15 inchers wouldn't work but read in the same article above that with a little shaving of the calipers that they'd fit. Could you use 16 inch rims with out shaving 'em?


Thanks a lot.

Tony
 
Yes you have to swap out the caliper brackets too. You need the 3/4 ton stuff from the backing plates out. Locking hubs will interchange as long as they are both internal style hubs. 15" wheels will fit with some moderate grinding. The less backspacing you run the less grinding you have to do, but the harder it is on balljoints. 16" wheels should clear fine, but tire selection is a bit more scarce.
 
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