I am going to full width axles and if anyone has any info to impart so far as placement / spacing of the wedges / castor and cares to impart some wisdom on full width install it would be appreciated.

The donor is a 76' HD Dana 44, yukon axles, 3.54 yukon gears and eaton truetrak (disc brake, low pinion). I know there are 44's with wedges on them already. I prefer the heavier tube and hubs w/ reinforced casing.

Will be installing duff offset coil buckets for full width axles w/ extended radius arms.

Rear diff is a 89' Sterling 10.25, eaton truetrac, 3.55 yukon gears.

Thanks

With extended arms, the wedges could be placed where the factory put them on the F100s & F150. I have a bare full width housing and could measure after work today.

I don't know if there are advantages to narrow or wider mounting spacing.

I used a 78/79 full width HP44 in my build. I left the axle 100% stock, moved the upper buckets 2" outboard and re-drilled the lower cups 1" inboard to make up the 3" difference per side. I'm using 7° C-bushings with extended radius arms and no drop brackets. Caster is 4.5°, Camber is 0.25°, toe is 0.25° The truck is very stable, even at 80 mph.

The frames on these trucks are really narrow, so getting the coils further outboard has advantages.

How set are you on using the stock arms? There are some cheap-ish ways to make extended radius arms that will flex better than using C-bushings. As long as you're cutting off the wedges....

Open to all idea's, this project has been awhile in the making still has awhile to go - Hunting Season is on "Got need of it", not tearing into this project until that's over sometime after January 2016. Have the engine and the major drive train components, have to upgrade reservoir (camper special I'm thinking) for big disc brakes on front and monster drums on the back, move coil buckets, install shock hoops, brake lines, drive shafts, lose / relocate some sheet metal off the inside of the front fender wells to accommodate engine. Plan for now is to use extended radius arms, handling, articulation, kicked in to accommodate 315/75x16 and still have turning radius. Not cutting off wedges - doesn't have any. HD Dana 44, 3" dia. axle tubes 1/2" thick, reinforced (extra ribbing) center housing, leaf spring 3/4 ton, 8 on 6.5. Gonna put the wedges on it though - after some massaging.

Like I said open to ideas, have yet to purchase suspension upgrades, arms, shocks etc...

Ballistic fab makes these: http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Fla ... _1184.html. They allow you to build arms similar to mine (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3159), but using coil springs. The easy ones to build are straight, but don't cost much, if any turning radius. Another member (Trei) is using the exact setup I'm talking about with 40's.

That said, if I had it to over again I'd probably have 3 linked the front.

Yeash, finished reading on all three builds lots and lots and lots of information - 3 different approaches. I do appreciate you guys taking time to respond and when the time comes I'll take some initial measurements - had not considered that basic step, Thanks - strip off the front clip yank the engine, pull up a chair w/ a cold six pack and contemplate. Thanks again

Dave

We've had internet outages here, I was attempting to link to my axle swap last night, but Time Warner prevented me from doing so. This tread is older and I'm not sure if you saw it.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1178

Mine was somewhat more straight forward than Digger & Justin's swaps.

I'll take measurements tonight, or at lunch if I have time.

I did read it, yes just a little bit more straight forward. Some of these folk have some serious fabrication skills, very impressive.

Ok here are the measurements I took. My housing is a 76 or 77, can't remember. I'm not fully functional with my photo editing skills. I took 3 measurements.

The wedges are welded on with a significant angle to them.
Measured from the middle of the c-wedges, front of the axle is 42-3/4", rear of the axle is 40".

From the center of the upper ball joint to the middle of the wedges on top of the axle is 6".

P1030036.JPG

Perhaps you've ran across pics of my front setup. It's a y-link radius arm similar to what Justin did and I think it's far superior to stock. Adjusting caster is super easy compared to swapping out bushings. If you've got a clean slate, my preference would be to build my own arms to the length I wanted them and ditch the stock setup. The only real draw-back is since it'll flex better, you may gain some body roll.

Ride quality? No...Mine is bushings at the axle and a Johnny Joint at the frame. I didn't note any harsher of a ride. Ride characteristics...as I mentioned early will change when you give your suspension some freedom.

Heims have no give in them, so I believe there are better options out there for suspension joints.

Digger is the expert on this subject. But he's recommended using a rod end with a rubber bushing at the frame end of the arm. Myself and a few members have Metal Cloak rod ends purchased and ready to install, but no one is actually on the road with them yet.

I love the way my truck rides with the Bloody Knuckle arms (even with the solid heims at the frame). Dramatic on & offroad improvement. I can't wait to see what adding the Metal Cloak rod ends does.

Thanks again guys. When huntin' season is done and the little dog has done it' job I'll start and try to throw up some pics - I really suck at that whole documentation thing, Once started I tend to just go without sidetracking.

Once again thanks again far all the info!

Dave

My thoughts:

1. Why go to all that work to add full widths and/or 3/4 ton axles to run stock sized tires? With 3.50 gears you aren't gonna be running enough tire to need to put that much axle under a Bronco.

A low pinion front is no upgrade, except for the disk brakes. Still driving on the coast side of the gears. I would do a HP if doing all this work.

If you still feel the need:
2. Ditch the drum brakes on the Sterling. Ruffstuff makes a great disk caliper bracket and is having a 7% off sale this weekend. Go with the right Caddy calipers if you want the e-brake, or Chevy fronts if not. This will drop 100# from the back end.

3. You will want to upgrade the front 8 lug hub/rotor setup to use the same 9/16" wheel studs as the Sterling. I can tell you the wheel stud and drill bit sizes to go with if you decide to go this route.
HTH, Joe

pm sent

Dave, basically you will want to order a 39/64" drill bit and use it to open up the holes for the wheel studs. Use Dorman 610-278 wheel studs and press them into the new holes.

Disc brake brackets: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/cat ... -DISC.html (Ruffstuff has 17% off sale this weekend)

Lug nut set: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-755896ST/

These are the parts I used to do mine and I just completed it a couple weeks ago. There are a couple threads on Pirate about doing this if you want more background. One of them says you can use the Dorman 610-218 studs, but they don't work well with the Ford hub/rotor setup.
HTH, Joe

Cool Man, Thanks Again!