66 4x4 disk brake upgrade questions

[lnevill]

Found a Dana 44 front end with disk brakes out of a 72 F-100 on craigslist.

Haven't seen it yet, but this should be an open knuckle ball joint type hub. Will this hub work on my stock 66 Dana 44 with the open knuckle king pin hub?

thanks
Lee

[HiBoy63]

There are places on the net that sell aftermarket front disc brake setups for the closed knuckle danas. Cant find the links just now try google but keep in mind they are spendy.

[ICEMAN6166]

i think he has the 66 f100 which is an open knuckle and wants to put the later style f100 hub/rotor in its place.

i do not think it will work but the whole front end could be swapped out

66 f100 4x4 is the same as the 73-79 f100 4x4 and 78/79 bronco front suspension

i did not think discs were offered on the 72 f100 4x4s so unless theres pics of the c/l ad i would not speculate further and fordification has no exploded diagrams of 72 f100 4x4 disc brake 44s
the front end on c/l may be from a 73 up and mislabeled which is fairly common in c/l adds

[lnevill]

Yes, looking to just swap out the hubs onto my 66 4x4 which has the OPEN knuckle front end. I'm not opposed to swapping out the entire front end as the truck is completely disassembled and I will be putting bearing/seal kits in the differentials anyway. Knowing that the 73-79 are all the same helps! I'll wait for pictures and hopefully be able to have front disks for a fraction of the cost of the aftermarket stuff!

Thanks
Lee

[HiBoy63]

Yes, looking to just swap out the hubs onto my 66 4x4 which has the OPEN knuckle front end. I'm not opposed to swapping out the entire front end as the truck is completely disassembled and I will be putting bearing/seal kits in the differentials anyway. Knowing that the 73-79 are all the same helps! I'll wait for pictures and hopefully be able to have front disks for a fraction of the cost of the aftermarket stuff!

Thanks
Lee

Sorry about that got you confused with NG Elliot.

[qwertyd10n]

Hey Lee,

I believe Brian is correct... to my knowledge the Dana 44 front ends only starting coming with discs in '76. The '72 unit you're looking at would have come stock with drums.

Both of these sites have some good info on them about D44s:

• http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html

• http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Dana44.htm

I've got a D44 out of a '79 Bronco that I'm hoping to swap into my '66 this winter. I've been told it should be a simple. straight swap... but my experience is it's never quite that easy!

Cheers,
Dion

[ICEMAN6166]

Dion
worst part is these 8 bolts and yours look like they have been out before

[bunchoftrucks]

Did that swap on my 66 F-100, I used a 79 front end. Just a note for your front end alignment, the 79's had a 2"lower radius arm mounting point under the cab which really messed with me until I used a radius arm lowering kit from superlift. I had to do this because I have 2"over Rancho springs and the caster was still negative even with 7 degree bushings. It seems that when Ford lowered the radius arm mounts they changed the angle/degree of the wedge shaped pieces welded to the front axle. I found later that I could have used the spindles out from the 79 on 66 axle for the disc brake conversion and saved myself some serious head scratching and cash. 72's still had drums I think ,but don't quote me. I know that 72 2x4's had disc's but 4x4's.... not so sure.

[lnevill]

Bunch,

You state:

I found later that I could have used the spindles out from the 79 on 66 axle for the disc brake conversion and saved myself some serious head scratching and cash

Can you elaborate on this? Can the 79 ball joint spindles be used with the 66 king pin axle housing?

thx
lee

[bunchoftrucks]

Thats what I found out after I did my swap. Look at Toms Bronco or Wild Horses websites and see what their disc kits look like and see if that looks like what you want to do. Then check and see if the ball joints share the same part # at your favorite parts store. Chances are you'd need to replace the ball joints like I did on the donor axle I used.