I'm seriously considering making the move to full width axles as part of my long arm install and am looking for feedback on pros and cons. I've done a decent amount of reading on this, looks like the main benefit is increased stability and the primary down side is decreased clearance on tight obstacles, trees, etc. Anyone have anything to add to that? For those of you that have done it, are you happy with the conversion, and what don't you like about it?

go full width, love it. You'll need 78 or earlier axles so you remove the wedges to work with those arms. Ive backed out of 2 trails that were too narrow. Those involved MAJOR drop offs and certain death if I went off. I probably would have backed out with my stock axles too.


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Mine were both Full width, but narrowed to stock width. There are times I'd like to be wider, but a nice flexible suspension will go a long way to make your rig stable.

I wouldn't mind going full width one day, and just get wheels that have a bunch of offset so I am not wide. But if I go full width, it'll probably be 1 tons.

Pro: a little longer axle shafts can make them live longer as there is more give in longer shafts.

Con: if you ever tow it, or need a tow for some reason, fitting on a lot of car haulers becomes difficult.

For the D44 - get the HP version.

1 tons are in my future, and the narrow versus full width will be a hard decision. I've been on at least 3 trails where full widths would have been troublesome though not dangerous. I like the stance of full width, but will need to drive one by begging & borrowing to see if I like the way it handles.

I'm sure all this sounds funny coming from the guy who just added 2' to his frame.

You know what I think on this already but I'll add it here too...stay narrow axles if you want to hit some of the harder trails. Many trails I've been on are narrow and difficult. I've seen full buggies struggle in areas I was able to walk right up due to my width. Just narrow your Bronco and be done with it :-)

Front driveshaft might hit long tube headers with hi pinion axle. Just something to consider

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Front drive shaft will hit long tubes, you have to run shorties or manifolds, in your case you'll need 76-77' f150 hp44 or 76-79 f250 d44, I think hp 3/4 ton d44's were only offered from 77-79 and 76-77 1/2 will be the big hubs with the long and difficult to find outer stub shafts, I personally love my FW axles and will never go back as it is much safer, drives better and I believe has a better turning radius then any stocker I've ever driven, if you or Kirk wanna drive mine ill get the camber shims before the breakfast so you can

Current arb will work, just need a new gear set and setup kit

Justin

After a lot of research and several conversations with folks about the good and bad - I chose full width. I am not interested in doing trails where an awesome narrow rig is needed - buggies and dedicated rigs can have those. Trails like Holy Cross are my goal as well as being able to drive is safely to and from. They are right, even with standard with EB axles and big tires, it can be a bitch to get it on a normal car trailer. That is why someday I will have a big flat bed trailer to haul it on.

Dan's Yota is to wide for Kinders trailer unless you want to drive it over the fenders. When Dan traded it for the mustang - we had to have the PO deliver it to the house because we did not want to damage his trailer. It is on FW with 37" tires. If it breaks and needs hauled home - we will have to solve that problem at that time.

Couple other things to remember.. if you stay full.width and center the axle unless you run alot of lift the pumkin will most likley contact the frame . Most of the full width frames are significantly wider.. I have seen people notch the frame. Most cut 5" off the long side of the axle to recenter the pumpkin.. I wanted to Justin but 64" is still almost 6" wider than stock. Full width is harder to do in bronco and limits the amount of axles you can use.

That depends on how much up travel you plan for, with 3.5" or more of lift, and a d44 there's no issue, with a d60 I know it can fine with 5.5" lift, not sure about the lower amounts, but with those lifts you will hit coil bind before frame, even when I had 3.5"s of lift I wheeled the hell out of mine and even jumped a few times with no bump stops and its never come close to frame contact, and now with 4.5"s of sl it's great, I plan to go to a custom 6.5" lift spring at some point and raise the buckets up on the frame at that point since I already have the same buckets Justin just bought

To throw another wrinkle into this. If you found a set of 78/79 axles cheap enough (I bought a whole 79 Bronco for $250), you could have the D44 retubed, and lose the cast wedges/knuckles.

Cory's right, when I set my front bumpstops, my 33's hit the inner wheel well long before the pumpkin will hit the frame (about 3.5" susp lift). I'd need a bunch of body lift (and rerouted exhaust) before I'd have to worry about the frame. So the stock 79 axle lengths would work with a retubed housing.

Crawlertech (I'm pretty sure) was recommended. I was told it "isn't that expensive". I never really looked into it because I already have my Bloody Knuckle long arms, and getting my axles to/from Denver isn't really reasonable.

IIRC 6" was taken from my long side to make it EB width. Mine is a '77 F-150. The rear is out of a '77 Lincoln Mark IV, with 3" of out each side.

It's a tough call for sure, but I don't think you are too far behind by welding the brackets to your D44 and seeing how it all goes. You might as well do that and enjoy the new arms while you decide if full width is in your future. As you mentioned, new brackets are pretty cheap. Getting new axles setup are not!

Thanks for the feedback, guys! It's been helpful. Still not sure what I'm going to do, will probably depend on whether I stumble into any stellar deals between now and the time I get a chance to install the long arms.

Full width fitting on a trailer all depends on back spacing on the wheels. My 79 will fit on my trailer without driving over the fenders. It's tight and rubs but it fits. So full width with a 4.5in back space should fit on a trailer.

I suspect FW and 4.5 to 5 inch backspace is the way I'll go in the longer term. Trailering isn't in my future since I lack both truck and trailer. Greg, I'll give you that one on the minivan debate.

Mine is FW with 4.75" bs with 17x9 and 35x12.50

How much lift?

I'm guessing you have to jump to 17" rims to get over 4" of backspacing. I think my 15" rims are 3.75" BS and they would hit the tie rod/knuckle if they had much more backspacing.

edit: I'm wrong it looks like there is another 1" of clearance.

4.5" sl 1" bl

And in my case when I still had 5 lug outers 4" bs was about the max with most 15" rims, 17's are better in my opinion, the truck drives and handles much better as there is much less sidewall roll. I plan to eventually 4 link the rear of mine, raise the front adjustable buckets up to run custom 6.5" coils, but end up with only 2.5-3.5"s of sl, with the 1" bl and 37's

My likely plan is very similar to yours, although I'm hoping to stay with 5 lug parts.

Well, looks like I made a decision.

76-77' f150 d44 w/ welded wedges?

Yup. :-)

Sweet, did ya know those are 1/2" thick axle tubes

Yeah, that was part of why it was such a score. BroncoCrawler saw it in a wrecking yard and called me. Many thanks!