Help making a dodge dana 44 work without narrowing

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pjd2n

New member
I am building a 1976 Scout and have gotten a set of xd addict wheels and I do not want to cut my center caps so I got a Dana 44 out of a dodge with the vacuum lock so it doesnt have the lock at the hubs and will fit inside my center caps. My problem is I do not want to narrow the axle because I like the width but the center pin holes are 1 1/8 to wide on each side. The easiest I think would to mill down the leaf sping 3/4" but I'm not sure of the safty of this, but I could mill the housing and removed the studs and replace it with a u bolt but not sure if there is enough room for this before getting to far in the housing.
 
Get new wheels.
Anytime I hear somebody talk about milling down leaf springs to make something fit:frown2:, it's a sign that they do not need to be doing these kind of mods on there own.

Stay away from the dodge 44's, they are more trouble than they are worth.
 
Yeah I knew milling the leaf springs did sound bad but the most experience I have had with them is taking them out and linking it which I would like to do but I'm trying to put more money into other place. But what I'm going to do now is just pull the axle tubes move the chunk farther in and put the perches on the tube so I can add just for the pinon and the caster angle cause the pinon is pretty steep now.
Also could you tell me what's bad about the dodges Dana 44's because I've bought 3 to put in projects and I'm just wondering if I should try to get rid of them or not?
 
So you have linked a front axle but cannot figure out how to move your springs out a bit on each side? If you want to use that axle for some bling wheels for a street rig it might last a while, but in an off-road wheeling rig I would not put it in.
You can buy spring mounts from Jeff and outboard them to match your center pin width, that would be the easiest way to do what you want.
 
I wish I did that to start with but I have already did a rs and I really don't want to cut it all off. And the new axle I got is not a unibearing. It has all the same parts as my other 44 but instead of locking hubs it just has drive flages (I think that's what they are called) like a lot of just off road rigs use to have full time locked hubs and the are stronger they the locking hubs. Also this is going to be a "sittin high and lookin pretty" as my Dad says about the trucks that come out of the city limits.
 
I still think re-doing your spring mounts would be an easier and cheaper option then to do all the milling to the housing.
 
That would be easy but more cutting and grinding than I like. So I'm still going to move the chunk over and mount the perchs on the axle tube so I can adjust for the pinion. This May sound like to much work but I've done it so many times I can replace the tubes and put it back together in a day. I do have to give thanks to my Dad for supplying the shop with everything I have ever needed
 
Have you thought about front drive shaft clearance? It sounds to me that the way you are thinking about doing it, is going to put your front shaft into the bellhousing or oil pan
 
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