d 44ifs to a d 60

[oktogo]

ok some of you have been helping me in my quest for a bigger axil i and getting rid of the d44hd closed knuckle and buying a d 60 leaf sprung now how do i put it on my truck will still keeping my 6 in suspension lift us old springs???

or get leafs from a lift kit company for a f 350 front end?

 

[Broncobill78]

What exactly are you asking ? Are you trying to keep an existing 6" suspension lift while swapping your TTB front end for a leaf sprung D60 ? If that's the case then yes, the F350 leaf-sprung 6" lift is a good starting point but it's going to be just that, a *starting* point. What you'll actually end up needing to keep the height you have will depend a whole lot on just how you do the swap. Changing over from a factory coil sprung front end to a swapped in leaf spring suspension throws in so many wild cards that anybody trying to tell you what will or won't work before the swap is actually done is going to be lying to you. If you swap in a leaf sprung D60 then the lift you need is going to be based on just where & how you attach the spring hangers to the frame. Attach them at one height and you'll only need a 4" lift to keep your current height, attach them a bit higher and you'll need a 6" lift. There's absolutely *no way* to know until you actually start tacking the hangers and can measure. Straight axle swaps are entirely one-off custom deals and nobody can tell you what you'll need until you actually have the hardware tacked/welded/bolted in place and can take some meaningful measurements.

 

[Justshootme84]

You'l get 4-6" of lift on average just from the SAS to the leaf D60. Actual height will depend on the length of your front hangers. AS BB78 stated, put the front axle in place first, then adjust the rear if you need. you can use the existing lift kit for the rear if it matches close to the front, or you might need to take out/ add a leaf to the pack. All the front stuff from your TTB lift is unusable now, but you can usually sell it along with the TTB axle parts. There's a bit of info in the SAS sticky, and I have a thread on my D60 SAS in the 84 Bronco. Lots of pics at Supermotors, too. JSM84

 

[Yardape]

I attached mine exactly the way its was done on the f350 from factory. Took a ton of measurements and took my time. Came out to the exact measurements from the 350 I stripped the parts from.

 

[Yardape]

Oh ya and I gained 4.5 inches from my swap with stock f350 leaf springs

 

[oktogo]

thx for the info i guess i will w8 to buy springs for now do i have to make my own hanger brackets or us old ones from f350?

 

[Broncobill78]

It'd be *easier* to just use the F-truck hardware but there's no reason you can't make your own if you want. Just make sure anything you fabricate is up to the job, yrs ago I saw one done where the guy had just drilled a hole thru the frame & stuck an 8" grade 5 5/8" bolt thru there & hung the springs off of it. Granted it was a trail-only truck but I'm sure that setup didn't last long.

 

[oktogo]

thx for info, about the crosmember in the front just get a good fabracator to make me a good one and weld it in there?

and my dropdown brackets for my ttb are welded to the frame should i just grind it off or cut it with a welder?

 

[Broncobill78]

Not quite sure what you mean about the crossmember, you don't need to do much of anything with it unless you're interested in pioneering a D50 swap. Use a grinder/torch to remove the TTB bracketry & then leave the crossmember alone.

The first step in doing a straight axle swap is deciding just which axle you're going to use. Ok, you've done that NOW what you have to do is decide how you want it sprung. You can go with either coils which is what you have in there now or you can use leafs like the donor truck will have. If you're paying someone to do the work it's probably going to cost pretty close to the same $$$ either way. Coils have the advantage of having the front end already setup for them so all you have to do is weld some C-bushing horns onto the D60 & you're ready to bolt it in and go abuse it, the *dis*-advantage here is that you have to get the C-bushing horns from *someplace* and that usually means cutting up a donor D44 axle & then grinding down the back of the horns to prepare them for welding then you have to fabricate a jig to ensure the horns are welded on correctly to give you the proper angles. If you use the leaf spring suspension from the donor truck then you don't have to deal with the radius arms at all but you'll spend more time (time that you're paying someone else for) taking a lot of careful measurements from the donor & then removing the spring hangers and carefully transferring them to your Bronco. It's a lot of time and you lose the ride quality that the coils gave you. Each method has it's advantages & disadvantages so you'll have to consider everything very carefully & then decide which way you want to go.

 

[Justshootme84]

If you run the leaf springs for the front D60 with the shackles in the rear (instead of the front like the factory setup), you will need to fab a x-mbr and box the frame horns. i used 2"x4"x1/4" rectangular tubing for the new x-mbr, and 4"x4"x1/4" square tubing for the front spring hangers. Might have a drawing of that, JSM84

http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?sho...#092;&st=40

Look on page 3.

The metal cost me nothing, since it was made from some scrap pieces, but would prolly run about $300 to have a shop make it for you and weld it up.

 

[oktogo]

does anybody sell radius arms for a d 60 ??? or do i fab myself if so any good suggestions?

 

[Yardape]

Check these guys out.

Cage offroad

 

[oktogo]

thx for the site but a little to pricy how about a do it your self drawing ?

 

[Yardape]

How about trying to get pictures from them to see whats all involved then build it. This is a major project you are looking at, if you cant fabricate it is going to cost you. There is no getting around that

 

[Yardape]

I recommend checking out my 60 swap, and check out JSM's and get some ideas from both, decide which way you wanna go and go from there. We both have links in our signature to supermotors with a bunch you pictures that we took along the way. I you are confident in your fab ability then by all means get it done

 

[Broncobill78]

JSM84 & Yardape both have very good points. If you're doing this kind of swap yourself that's one ting, but if you're paying someone else to do it for you then it's a whole different story. To be frank it's usually not cost effective to pay someone to do this sort of thing. Having done both a radius arm *and* a leaf spring D60 swap I can surely tell you that I wouldn't even consider paying someone to do it with all the hours involved. If you *really* want to do a straight axle swap and are looking to pay to have a D60 swap done then maybe take a step back & consider a D44 instead since that's a swap that can be done without a ton of fabrication. It's just a thought but maybe something worth thinking about.