dana44 closed knuckle trunnion bearings, tips for noob?

[MrSmokey]

i am going to tackle the trunnion bearings on the closed knuckle dana 44 standard duty axle in my 72 f250 4x4.

anyone who has done this have any words of wisdom, tips, warnings?

what i have so far is just a touch of common sense and this from my ford manual. i want to get this right so i dont have to do it again any time soon.

this is what my factory ford truck shop manual says.

install upper and lower king pin bearing cups in axle housing yoke with T53-L-200-A and driver T57P-4625-A. (jaw spreader puller and slide hammer)
place king pin bearing cones in cups.
retain lower bearing in place with grease.
place the steering knuckle over the yoke, and then install the lower and upper bearing caps. install the old shims for a trial build up. torque the bearing cap bolts or stud nuts to 25 ft lbs.
check steering knuckle preload. should be between 60 and 120 in lbs. adjust shim thickness at bearing caps, as required to obtain proper preload.
install oil seal rings in order shown..

i am still just a bit confused on how to check the actual preload on the bearings. seems i can use a pull scale. is that what folks usually use? not sure what kind of scale is accurate to the inch lbs the manual asks for? is a regular hanging scale correct?

thanks folks!

[averagef250]

I always tossed the early axles in the scrap hopper and bought a balljoint 44 or KP60 axle for less than a rebuild, but if you have to do it.....

Use a pull scale hooked onto the drum or hub. Do the math to convert the numbers and it will get you good enough.

If it's a light duty axle I would seriously consider sh!tcanning it though. Those things are crap.

[averagef250]

double post

[MrSmokey]

I always tossed the early axles in the scrap hopper and bought a balljoint 44 or KP60 axle for less than a rebuild, but if you have to do it.....

Use a pull scale hooked onto the drum or hub. Do the math to convert the numbers and it will get you good enough.

If it's a light duty axle I would seriously consider sh!tcanning it though. Those things are crap.

it is a light duty, aside from the trunnions going (and im not sure how often they go, the old toyotas run a setup like this and people seem to like them) what else is bad about the axle. im not mud racing or rock crawling. truck gets used for equipment and materials pickup for the farm, it will be used for towing stock... and it goes in the woods and i use it to skid logs etc..

im not against changing it other than i have new pads on these brakes, good bearings, and i already have the wiper seal set. this may get a 6bt in it, though it seems the closed knuckle 44 has held up to those.
and im not sure what i am going to get into with brakes on another axle, is there a drum balljoint 44 that will just pretty much plug and play. or a kp60?

what donor vehicles should i look for, and what modification to the axle will i need to do? any advice is appreciated.

i am totally new to 4x4 stuff.

[HighboyHugger]

Did you ever go through and get them gone through? averagef250 does not give much credit to the old light duty closed knuckle, where some is deserved. They are most certainly undesirable, and not the strongest dana 44 for sure. But these were in the vast majority of F250 4x4s from when they started to build them in house in 1959 up to the last year of the closed knuckle in 1975. You would think if they were crap, none would be left, yet still, the majority of these early 4x4 fords that are left out there still have the light dana 44 in them. All of mine do, the old boy that used to be my neighbor still runs them. While they may be prehistoric dinosaurs in the 4x4 world, these are the axles that brought four wheel drive pickups into the public's reach, Ford Chevy and Dodge all used the closed knuckle dana 44 for some time, its one of the founders! Better axles have most certainly come along, but to call them crap, and just throw it out like its garbage, please, have a little respect.

So, Now off my rant.

Axles that will bolt directly into your truck, anything from 67-79, 76-77.5 starting the first year of Dana 44 open knuckle low pinion ball joint disc brake(desirable for 67-75 highboys as an upgrade). And in 1977.5-79 you can get the very desirable Dana 44 open knuckle HIGH pinion ball joint disc brake axle, desirable for early f250 upgrades and many offroad enthusiast of all makes are after these to retrofit into jeeps, 90's chevys, etc. The absolute most desirable would be the 78-79 dana 60 high pinion king pin open knuckle disc brake axle. There are other variants of the dana 60 used in the 74-77.5 f250 4x4 crew cabs, 74-75 being low pinion drum, 76-77.5 low pinion open knuckle king pin disc axles. The years in this info may not be perfectly exact, but maybe, or very close, this info I have gathered from both being around many of these trucks and internet sources aswell

[cstoyer]

Did you ever go through and get them gone through? averagef250 does not give much credit to the old light duty closed knuckle, where some is deserved. They are most certainly undesirable, and not the strongest dana 44 for sure. But these were in the vast majority of F250 4x4s from when they started to build them in house in 1959 up to the last year of the closed knuckle in 1975. You would think if they were crap, none would be left, yet still, the majority of these early 4x4 fords that are left out there still have the light dana 44 in them. All of mine do, the old boy that used to be my neighbor still runs them. While they may be prehistoric dinosaurs in the 4x4 world, these are the axles that brought four wheel drive pickups into the public's reach, Ford Chevy and Dodge all used the closed knuckle dana 44 for some time, its one of the founders! Better axles have most certainly come along, but to call them crap, and just throw it out like its garbage, please, have a little respect.

So, Now off my rant.

Axles that will bolt directly into your truck, anything from 67-79, 76-77.5 starting the first year of Dana 44 open knuckle low pinion ball joint disc brake(desirable for 67-75 highboys as an upgrade). And in 1977.5-79 you can get the very desirable Dana 44 open knuckle HIGH pinion ball joint disc brake axle, desirable for early f250 upgrades and many offroad enthusiast of all makes are after these to retrofit into jeeps, 90's chevys, etc. The absolute most desirable would be the 78-79 dana 60 high pinion king pin open knuckle disc brake axle. There are other variants of the dana 60 used in the 74-77.5 f250 4x4 crew cabs, 74-75 being low pinion drum, 76-77.5 low pinion open knuckle king pin disc axles. The years in this info may not be perfectly exact, but maybe, or very close, this info I have gathered from both being around many of these trucks and internet sources aswell

I like this response. Yes the closed knuckle 44's are not a fan favorite and parts are sometimes hard to get but Torque King 4x4 once know as Quad 4x4 has a few of the parts for the standard closed knuckle D44 and the heavier D44 that big box stores don't carry. I personally have the D44 6CF on my 68 F250 which is the heavier version to what the OP has and sourced the 12 bolt wiper seals, shims, knuckle bearings, seals and u-joints from them. The drums for D44 6CF were another issue and took the longest to source. My local O'Reillys store listed them but every time they came in they had the wrong hat depth. I have always bought parts here so the store manager said "I'll figure this out" and he got me the correct ones by researching catalogs and calling distributors until he found them. Low a behold they are listed under a 69 F250 in their books and not a 68. Yea they were $200 a side but at this time I said to him "just get them" and he being a good guy cut me deal and charged me $120 each for me being a loyal customer. It pays to buy your parts local, at one store, and be understanding when the parts are not always right the first time.

I had the chance to buy a 60 HP for my truck but I wanted the old school look as my truck is more of a original rebuild. Also, as side note on the D60 HP, I was told if you run long tube headers you may or may not have a clearance issue with the drive shaft without a small body lift. I do not have first hand knowledge on this but Stan at Stan's headers in Washington who built my Tri Y long tube headers asked if I had one and said his headers wouldn't fit if I had 60HP without a body lift.

Good Luck with the rebuild and if you take your time, ask for help if needed you should be fine.

CStoyer

[96 jag ranger]

If the wannabe 60 that is in my 72 f250 highboy is so good why is it going to cost me 5.000 to replace it .and why am I going to be forced to convert to power steering and power brake just to drive my highboy.it took me three weeks just to find a used drivers knuckle. I'm not a fabrication person I really don't like the idea of spending 5.0000 on a 3.000 truck.just so I can take my wife who is in a wheelchair to the doctor or the grocery store. I also bought the truck because we moving to the mountains in Washington so we need a real 4x4.if It appears that my only other option is to scrap it when it is paid for.or buy a stupid ugly chevy. After the 72 is paid for.i like the body style but I don't like trying to find 400 year old parts respect is fine but is the price of respect worth it.

[1972hiboy]

If the wannabe 60 that is in my 72 f250 highboy is so good why is it going to cost me 5.000 to replace it .and why am I going to be forced to convert to power steering and power brake just to drive my highboy.it took me three weeks just to find a used drivers knuckle. I'm not a fabrication person I really don't like the idea of spending 5.0000 on a 3.000 truck.just so I can take my wife who is in a wheelchair to the doctor or the grocery store. I also bought the truck because we moving to the mountains in Washington so we need a real 4x4.if It appears that my only other option is to scrap it when it is paid for.or buy a stupid ugly chevy. After the 72 is paid for.i like the body style but I don't like trying to find 400 year old parts respect is fine but is the price of respect worth it.

This thread is two years in the making. it sounds like you are having some kind of problem with your drive train so you may want to start on a new thread with your specific problem and see if you can get some good feedback.