anyone ever done or seen it done?

i have the fork flipped right now, due to the loss of vacuum to the CAD.
Dont even notice a different, just the front axles and drive shaft turn while driving now, but dont actually pull.
Which is fine, its not a daily driver. Drive to trails and thats it.

But i was thinking about installing manual hubs and welding the front diff.
i would just go ahead and weld it right now, but i heard it makes the steering
want to "auto-center" so you gotta keep pressure applied in your turns.
But if you unlock ur hubs so they spin free its all good. What yal think?

 

You want locking hubs before welding the front..... otherwise, you will break stuff when you turn. The tires follow different paths, and travel different distances in turns.... if there isn't any differentiation due to welded gears.... something else has got to give.

There are kits available to do the locking hub conversion, the ain't precisely cheap though..... Don't know about grabbing parts from another D44 from the yard, and putting those on. Seems like it should work, but, I haven't seen any writeups on it. (of course, having a 3/4 ton myself, I haven't looked either.... )

 

As posted there are kits out there to buy. I was so close to having done this myself it hurts but a set of Dana 60's were bought instead. You can use older Ford/Dodge Dana 44 parts to make up a part time kit, there will be drilling involved but no more that what some of the kits do for their parts. Or you can buy a set of Reid racing Dana 44 conversion knuckles and then bolt on the rest of the needed part time parts.

Not the full meal deal but just a good starting point.

http://d44tech.com/5LUG_CONVERSION.html

This was the route I would have taken, it opened up the world for steering opt, hubs and so on. So not just a single upgrade but a few in one upgrade. After lots of looking at spec's and dimensions this should fit and work just fine on the 1500 44.

http://www.reidracing.biz/off-road-p...-jeep-knuckles

 

hey thanks for the replys, yea i know they have different paths when turning, like i said it wants to auto center on you. i wouldnt do it till i had the locking hubs. and its for my ramcharger, so hubs are easy for me, literally pop the end caps off, and swap the parts with the new manual locking hubs.

 

Caught by the good old 1st gen stuff in the 2nd gen area and bad on me for not reading your info.

 

yea i posted here, cuz its my home :P i had a 2nd gen before, so i still post here helpin people(or tryin). plus it seems no one answers in the 1st gen thread.

 

What t-case you have in that?