which front axle should i use?

[Joshua8336]

alright guys, my truck is an 85 c10, i'm doing a lq9, 4L60E, and transfer case swap. the front shaft is on the driver side, which axle should i get to go under it and still mount up with leaf springs? i was thinking on snaggin one from a ford of the same year model but i wasn't sure if the front differential was on the driver side, or the passenger side, any help would be great

 

[smurph20]

Yup F*@D or Dodge id shoot for the Dodge since you can find 3/4 pretty easy just have to have the spring pads welded on.

 

[Joshua8336]

Yup F*@D or Dodge id shoot for the Dodge since you can find 3/4 pretty easy just have to have the spring pads welded on.

i can get a ford axle for next to nothing. how hard would it be to put a ford axle under it?

 

[smurph20]

Just have to make sure the spring pads line up with the springs once you have them hung under the truck and youll have to do cross over steering which will be easy since your starting with a 2 wheel drive

 

[crazy4offroad]

Depends on if you're going to lift it, and if so how much. Also depends on the size tires. More than 6" I would go with a high-pinion Dana 44 from a F*rd if you plan on 6" or more of lift and up to 36" tires, or a high-pinion Dana 60 from a F*rd if you plan on 38" and bigger tires. You can get both of those in 8-lug, but if you plan on 6-lug you could run into complications getting front hub assemblies to make your driver drop front axle work. Extreme Axle Sales sells conversion hub asseblies I think.

 

[Joshua8336]

Depends on if you're going to lift it, and if so how much. Also depends on the size tires. More than 6" I would go with a high-pinion Dana 44 from a F*rd if you plan on 6" or more of lift and up to 36" tires, or a high-pinion Dana 60 from a F*rd if you plan on 38" and bigger tires. You can get both of those in 8-lug, but if you plan on 6-lug you could run into complications getting front hub assemblies to make your driver drop front axle work. Extreme Axle Sales sells conversion hub asseblies I think.

nothing too major, maybe a 3 inch body lift and 33's. i plan on using 6 lugs, with 10 inch wheels, 12.5 inch wide tires, and 2 inch spacers, to make them stick out of the wheel well more. can't stand a 4x4 that has tires flush with the body, just not my style lol

 

[crazy4offroad]

You would be fine with a non- high-pinion front axle with that setup but you should be sure to build it future-proof. Meaning, if you think down the road you wont be happy with 3" lift and/or bigger tires you should build for that now. It gets expensive redoing everything twice (or more).

 

[Joshua8336]

You would be fine with a non- high-pinion front axle with that setup but you should be sure to build it future-proof. Meaning, if you think down the road you wont be happy with 3" lift and/or bigger tires you should build for that now. It gets expensive redoing everything twice (or more).

so just get a dana 44 out of a ford? sorry, 4x4's are a totally different thing to me, always wanted one, but always had a 2 wheel drive. i don't understand what you mean by "a non high pinion front axle"

 

[crazy4offroad]

I'm not sure man, I looked up the D44 conversion hubs and it says for large bearing GM/Jeep spindles.
http://www.extremeaxlesales.com/44wheelhub6on55patternpair.aspx
I'm not sure about the swap-ability of the GM spindle onto the F*rd D44. You should either call extreme axle sales or give this thread a week or so for more people to chime in. It would suck to have 5 lug front wheels and 6 lug rears. You might be able to convert the rear to 5 lug to match, just depending if the F*rd and GM 5 lug bolt pattern is the same.

 

[Joshua8336]

I'm not sure man, I looked up the D44 conversion hubs and it says for large bearing GM/Jeep spindles.
http://www.extremeaxlesales.com/44wheelhub6on55patternpair.aspx
I'm not sure about the swap-ability of the GM spindle onto the F*rd D44. You should either call extreme axle sales or give this thread a week or so for more people to chime in. It would suck to have 5 lug front wheels and 6 lug rears. You might be able to convert the rear to 5 lug to match, just depending if the F*rd and GM 5 lug bolt pattern is the same.

well i'm looking at hanging the front axle, i'm pretty sure i'm goin to be changing the rear exle as well, might just snag a dana 44, and a dana 60 from a ford and stick them under it

Edit: what about this?
http://www.extremeaxlesales.com/44frontend6on55patternconversionkit.aspx

 

[crazy4offroad]

Might not be a bad idea to do it that way but I have no idea what you'll run into as far as spring perch width. So you may need to relocate them so they match your springs.

 

[Joshua8336]

I'm not sure man, I looked up the D44 conversion hubs and it says for large bearing GM/Jeep spindles.
http://www.extremeaxlesales.com/44wheelhub6on55patternpair.aspx
I'm not sure about the swap-ability of the GM spindle onto the F*rd D44. You should either call extreme axle sales or give this thread a week or so for more people to chime in. It would suck to have 5 lug front wheels and 6 lug rears. You might be able to convert the rear to 5 lug to match, just depending if the F*rd and GM 5 lug bolt pattern is the same.

what about the 6 on 5.5 pattern conversion kit on their site?
http://www.extremeaxlesales.com/44frontend6on55patternconversionkit.aspx

 

[crazy4offroad]

I dont see F*rd mentioned in the conversion description. It's basically the same hubs that I posted but with EVERYTHING you'd need to do the conversion. Main thing I dont know about is the spindle nut pattern on the knuckle, I know it is different on a F*rd than GM/Dodge for Dana 60s so it is something I would check for sure. Might even have to swap on a pair of GM knuckles to get everything else to work and by then you could use OEM for the rest. Give this thread a few days, I'm betting someone like bucket or a few of the others would be able to tell you the best way to approach this.

 

[Joshua8336]

so what if i get a dana 44 ford axle housing? and put chevy stuff in it?

 

[crazy4offroad]

That's basically what I typed up there^^^ but I dont think you'd be changing internals, just the ends. But like I said I'm NOT sure about the bolt pattern of the F*rd spindle, or any other differences you might run into putting GM knuckles on the F*rd axle. The axleshafts may be different too, just dont know till someone else posts.