Dana 44 condition opinions

[rockingm82]

I decided to tear into my Dana 44 today. Just a quick note. This is a frame up restoration and I never drove this Bronco before I bought it.

The axle was completely dry. Not a drip of gear oil in the thing. Lots of rust and corrosion on everything. Of course it took a lot of effort to get it apart. I'm guessing not much is salvageable.

I'm running 4.56 in the rear with a True Trac. I ordered 4.55 for the Dana from Bronco Graveyard. I'm wondering what I should do about axles and should I go open carrier, limited slip, or locker in the front.

 

[Bferrari]

Inspect the axles closely, if any doubts then replace them. As for the carrier, I would go as far as your budget allows. I would avoid a full time locker as it will affect the steering and the only work around in 4 wheel drive is with your hubs. If you can swing the ARB I would go that direction.

 

[DuctTape]

Carrier up front depends on what you want to do with it.

Off-road only? Locker.

95% pavement? Open.

Snow and ice? Opinions vary but I like my true trac. Some argue open front is better for snowy/icy roads. Clutch type limited slip is also an option.

 

[70_Steve]

I decided to tear into my Dana 44 today. Just a quick note. This is a frame up restoration and I never drove this Bronco before I bought it.

The axle was completely dry. Not a drip of gear oil in the thing. Lots of rust and corrosion on everything. Of course it took a lot of effort to get it apart. I'm guessing not much is salvageable.

I'm running 4.56 in the rear with a True Trac. I ordered 4.55 for the Dana from Bronco Graveyard. I'm wondering what I should do about axles and should I go open carrier, limited slip, or locker in the front.

The choice of axles and carrier up front will be dependent on a couple things. How you intend to use your Bronco, and how deep your pockets are. Maybe also what size tires you're running.

The Yukon Chromo axles aren't terribly expensive and are a nice upgrade. I've been running them for several years. Snapped an outer shaft once doing something stupid, but they have a lifetime warranty. If the Bronco never sees the dirt and you're only running 31s 0r 33s, then stay with the stock axles.

My personal opinion would be to install some type of limited slip (clutch type) carrier in the front regardless. If you intend to go in the dirt occasionally, that may mean that your driving skills may not be up to what someone else's are, who off-roads regularly. And in that case you will appreciate the extra tire moving you along! The limited slips are very easy to drive off-road, and if you need 4WD on the hiway, you are going to be carefull anyway!

 

[xcntrk]

I have a similar setup with a trutrac in the rear as well. You want to put some serious consideration into what you match it with in the front, based on your intended use and vehicle configuration. For example, is your rig manual or automatic and how much wheeling do you intend to do?

I love the TruTrac in the rear of my rig for the street, snow, and general use but honestly it's mismatched with my front locker, drivetrain, and off road use. What I mean by that is that I like to take my EB off road and in the mid-atlantic it's all rocks so you get into situations where it's common to have an open wheel up in the air. This is where the trutrac fails; after all it's still a limited slip diff. One way to help manage LSD's when they full slip is to apply a little brake pressure, in addition to throttle, when overcoming an obstacle. Obviously this works best with an AT transmission and two foot driving. This helps reduce open wheel spin and allows the LSD to shift some percentage of power to the wheel with traction. Where this approach fails me however is that I have a fully selectable locker in the front to match the LSD in the rear, and have a manual transmission. So adding that little bit of brake pressure to manage the rear LSD actually interferes with forward momentum and traction in the full-locked front. Not to mention it requires some quick foot-work to try and manage 3 pedals simultaneously. This combination proves to be a mismatch and actual hinderance.

IMHO, ideally you want to match traction devices front and rear. So either TruTrac LSD's front and rear, or have full lockers front and rear. In my case full lockers would be more preferred, but depending on use I can see where matched front & rear LSD's would be sweet as well. I've seen a couple EB's on here with trutrac's front/rear. Maybe those owners can comment on how they like them.

 

[gravylakeseb]

I bought a 73 Bronco brand new that came with factory limited slip in the rear; and if my fading memory serves me right it had limited slip in the front also. I recall that while driving in the snow in the Sierra NF it seemed one front locking hub was defective and I could smell clutches burning. Diagnosed the problem and took it to the dealer for repair under waranty.

Most roads I travel in the forest vary from dry, mud, snow, and mild 4wd trails with small granite scree mixed with the listed conditions (these forest roads go up and down quite a bit). With the factory set up I found myself high centered too frequently and neither axle was giving me traction with one front wheel in the air and one rear wheel in the air. So I finally threw a detroit locker in the rear and wheeling was much improved -- but I had to stop towing my heavy bass boat because of torque steer from the locker. After the mild 4wd trails started to become a bit more serious with tight, narrow turns, I felt an absolute need for a locker up front so I put in an air locker and aux air pump and air tank. Heaven!

I'm running 4.11 gears with 33" tires, and the inside rear tire chirps on paved residential streets just a bit since I put in the locker. I've driven it from CA to CO for hunting for many years with no problems, and in town as my backup vehicle; but I have other daily drivers and tow capable vehicles. And it does not get parked on the street because it would likely disappear by the morning.