HP D44/9"

[nate]

My brother is building a truggy (based of a late 70s F-150, 351W, NP435, 205/203 doubled T Cases, HP D60/D70).

Anyhow, he's got a few axles that he won't need.

1 set being a HpD44 and a 9"

Now the D44 is from a 78 F-150, with the radius arms. Does it make sense to make the radius arms work? I didn't think to ask him how wide I need to mount the arms correctly... so I'm not sure where that would end up on the ZJ "frame" I'm not sure if I could setup the coil buckets on the axle. I guess I could retube the axle, but that's a decent amount of $$ and time for a fairly cheap/easy to find axle.


The rear is from an 84 Ford Econoline van. 31 spline and big bearing. It's ~69" wide though, compared to ~66" for the D44.

Axles are free, just need to haul them here or have him hang on to them. Worth it? I know the 76-77 D44 is the ideal swap and I like to see the rear axle the same width as the front. I know at that width the tires will be hitting the shit out of the body since they won't be able to fit in the wheel wells.

[8WR_ZJ]

i am keeping my radius arm for my jeep. i sleeved my "frame with 4x4x1/4 and my frame is 5/8 inch narrower off of a full size frame. inside to inside. i bought some cage offroad arms for like $650 and they will be basically welding one bracket (for each side) and be done with the front end no messing with the caster you can buy bushings that adjust it. heres the link.

http://www.cageoffroad.com/product_d...d=48&itemid=71

looks like the price might have gone up i got em for 650 shipped to my door about a month ago. they are uber nice. we did this to a dakota with ifs and it came out really nice. i know it is way easier than fabbing up brackets and stuff we put a 44 under a tj and we had to build all the brackets for it it was do able but this is going to be way easier. hope my rambling helped.

[KansasCrawlin]

nate
i will be trying something like this soon. have my axles set up with 4.88s OX locker in front and mini spool in the 9inch. the axles are out of a 79 bronco. like a dumbass, i bought a claytons longarm kit and didn't put muck thought into what to do about the cast radius mounts. retube cost to much for me and i know that people have modded the radius arms to work. i just feel fucked cause i spent my chesse on the damn claytons kit. i'll probably figue out a way to make it all work.... just takes alot of time i don't have.

8WR_ZJ
post some pics of your setup if you've got any. very interested what it will end up like. did you not want to modify stock radius arms? i was thinking of doing that but then again i really want to utilize my claytons longarms

[8WR_ZJ]

i dont have any pics. all i have is pics of the arms, brackets, and hardware. i was just goin to cut 1 upper side off each bracket and weld it straight to the sleeve with some gussets; and the front is done. well i have track bar mount and sway bar mount to make but those are cake. just waitning on the steering to come in and the front will go in.

i have thought about just modding the stock radius arms but i got those others instead. it would be pretty easy though i might do it for fun i need practice on the lathe anyways. i was kinda worried about getting the right caster/camber angle on the axle though. i know there are different degree bushing you can buy i was just kinda thinking about it.

[KevinF]

There are quite a few ZJs running the radius arms, but my complaint is that they are tall (less ground clearance), they are long (more than a long arm kit, if memory serves), and they won't tuck as well during compression because they are tall, so the mounts need to be a bit lower than say Clayton's mounts if you're going to the bottom of the frame rails.

If you're mounting them inboard of the frame rails, then so long as you can get the right swing (you may need to fold the frame side inward to clear), you're much better off. Cody's rig was set up that way...with a kink to the arms, but I can't recall where they mounted...seems like the front of the x-member.

Kevin

[MUDDTRACKS]

Here is what i did when i put the 9"/44 hp

The axle's came from a 79 bronco




I welded 3x3x.5 sqaure to the cast wedge for the lower arms.
Then for the upper control arm on the diff I cut the cast mount off the 30 and welded that to the top of the 44 diff.

I have had this setup for almost a year now and no problem's

[J B]

I'd be worried about welding to the cast, which is why the 44s with the cast in wedges are largely considered useless, unless you want to keep the stock Ford radius arm setup.

You can extend the Ford radius arms and have a very good flexing setup that way. Wrist the passenger arm, and you're good to go.