Dana 44 rear axle.

I was given a Dana 44 rear axle and I was wondering if anyone had any input on modifying it to fit in my 75 mercury comet. I know this car is too new to be on the forum but I figured if anyone knew modification, it was the hamb community. The rear axle came out of an 88 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. My comet has the stock rear end and a c-4 transmission. I do realize that I would have to change the Dana rear axle hub to a 5 lug hub. How does someone go about doing this?

 

what bolt pattern is it now?

and why do you want to change it?

 

The dana 44 is the 6 lug version out of an 88 grand cherokee I just found out. I am planning on building a strong motor and thought that one of these would be up to anything I threw at it. That is why I was seeking some input, has anyone done it? Is it worth it?

 

you'll have to narrow it a bunch.no pro with redrilling the axles.find a good shop and have them narrow and respline or even better get new axle shafts made.

 

sounds like a lot of trouble to go to to use the wrong rearend just because it's available. I'd try to hunt up a 9"

 

Now this is Tradition!!!!

 

A 1964-66 Rustang rearend should bolt into that no problem, have correct leaf spring spacing, and the 5 x 4.5" bolt pattern you want. 8" rear ends are cheap, as all the girls want a big fat 9".

 

Yeah, I know I could find a 9" but I was just wanting to do something different. Has anyone ever attempted this? I knew that I would have to have it shortened and all of that but what I don't know is what to do to put my 5 lug hub on the axle. Can somebody fill me in?

 

get a dana rearend out of a 55 tbird

 

Wow, I'm all into different and everything, but this sounds like alot of work just to be different. Anyway, to swap from 6-lug to 5-lug on your D44, you can:

Find a 1960s-up-to-1974 Wagoneer (they came w/ 5-lug D44s) in a scrapyard, then take its axles and install them in your '88 D44 and narrow it to fit your Comet. A '73 or '74 is best because they have 1-piece axles rather than the weaker flanged 2-piece axles used on earlier Wags. Just make sure the pumpkin offset is the same since they changed from a centered pumpkin to an offset pumpkin at some point I think. But if you narrow your tubes then I guess you wouldn't need to worry about the offset.

Or, find a '72-'75 Jeep CJ and take its axles, then narrow your Wagoneer D44 tubes to match the CJ axles.

Or, just take the CJ's D44, axles and all, and you'll have a D44 that is lots narrower than the Wag D44 and might be a better fit for your Comet, and you can sell your Wag D44 to an off-roader.

Or, get a D44 out of a Jeepster Commando or even a DJ postal Jeep. The DJ has an overall width or approx 47" so it might be too narrow. But it works well in an older rod!

Or, I think some mid-60s Ford trucks had D44s. I had a junker '64 F100 with one, and it had the standard 5x5.5" pattern.

off-road.com has some good info on D44s. It's a nice axle; I have one in my altered, a couple in my '68 Wagoneer and another one just sitting on the floor of my shop. Have fun!

Hank

 

Hey, thank you for all of the good information. I sure appreciate it. I will probably end up selling the front and rear axles and just build the 347 stroker that I have been dreaming about, lol.

 

Good info for sure. But from experience in building custom Jeeps, The narrow trac dana 44 out of cj's from 72 to 75 are weak. and the postal jeeps(dj) use 2 piece axles on the dana 44 in most cases. I have an offset 44 out of a waggy I ahve been thinkign about tossin into the Model A, They are a nice n strong axle in most cases thats for sure. Some waggy's and Cherokees used a centered diff dana 44 that had one piece axles. They are fairly rare though. I also know many people who have had the shafts redrilled to fit their 5 lug pattern. I believe Curry and moser both have replacemnt axles that are 5 or 6 lug pattern.

It is nice to see that I am not the only one who goes away from the norm I also have a Ford 10.25 rearend from an expedition with disk brakes, that im thinkign abut using in the Model A instead of the lincoln 9 inch I am fixing to pick up. Thanks for being differnt and posting up on it

 

Oh yeah, I love those Ford Mod Engines you guys are doing, taht is AEWSOME. I thought about slipping one in a hot rod, but I'll wait an put in one for the wife. that way i'll add all the A/c and other stuff to it for her. Im going to surpise her and build one up for her hopefully starting in the summer. Keep up the great work.

 

From what I have been told, the dana 44 that I have is the one peice shaft and centered pumpkin. If so, then that could be worth some money so I may even get my 2V cleveland heads too. I'm thinking a 347 stroker street boss sounds like fun.

 

Thanks, man, yeah, we're finally making progress on our conversion kits. I gotta post new pics of the SOHC headers in the shoebox. Keep me posted on your project.

Hank