[tribaltalon]

so one of my friend's dads has offered to trade me his 70s powerwagon for my chevy 2wd and one of my mustangs. i'm not sure exactly what year it is, but it has the circle headlights. its got a 6 inch suspension lift, and a 6 inch body lift ( I KNOW I KNOW) with 42 inch iroks. its got a 318/727 and d44 and not sure about the rear.. i think its a 8.75? if the trade goes though, i am having him remove the body lift, i may put like a 2 inch body lift in though. i am going to go with some 38s.. my question is, how strong are the d44/8.75 combo? i know the d44 wouldnt ever hold up in the rocks, but around here its mostly just mud and a couple cool trails. i'm not really too worried about the front axle, i dont ever put a whole lot of stress on the front end anyway with my driving style. i'm just wondering how well that 8.75 is going to hold up in the rear? i'm probably going to weld the spider gears up, since this wont be a daily driver, just something to play around with. The body and frame are extremely clean, no rust anywhere. (it has been garaged most of its life) is there anything i should watch for? what i have noticed is that the 318 is GUTLESS trying to push that big ole truck with 42s and 4.56s down the road. lol. barely got up to about 50 going downhill.

 

[OldGoat]

big question?

Is it a W100 or W200?
If it is a W200 it probably has a Dana 60 or Dana 70 rearend and probably an 8 lug dana 44 front end. I do not see the dana 44 holding up to very much rough wheeling especially if it is a W100 because that means it has the small 5 on 4.75 lug pattern and the spindles and wheel bearings are very weak.

 

[tribaltalon]

it is a w100 with the 5x4.75 lugs.. i'd like to stick with the d44 for a while, until i can actually afford to build a dana 60 the right way.. i hate building stuff half ass.. can i just change out the spindles and stuff, and put hubs in the d44?? will the rear end hold up to 38s? i'm not gonna be doing anything insane for now, mostly just trail riding and mud.

 

[OldGoat]

ax;es

As I understand it the whole knuckle has to be changed out, the area where the spindle bolts to the knuckle is different have different bolt pattrerns and even a different amount of bolts I think, it has been awhile. If you do go with a 1980 to 1984 model knuckle you will have the 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern and lockout hubs. In 85 they went to the CAD axle so you are still at 5 on 5.5 lugs but have the flange style hub no way to put lockout hubs on it cheaply. I am really surprised you are getting away with 42" IROKS on those weak spindles and hubs. That rear axle could be a 8 3/4 if the year model is 68-71 or it could be a D60 which came in some w100 in 68 -71 from 72 to 78 it would be a 8 3/4 for w100 pickups and a 9 1/4 for ramchargers and for 79 it would be 8 3/8 or 9 1/4 one way to tell the 9 1/4 is the axle tube necks down and the 8 3/8 and 8 3/4 do not so far as I know.

 

[OldGoat]

Also

BTW both the 8 3/4 and 9 1/4 rear axles are "c" clip types so you know how well those take a side load, NOT I did run a welded 9 1/4 on my Ramcharger for awhile but never ran over 36" tires. I think you will be very happy going with Dana 60 axles. Bruiser could tell you more but I think the 1991 to 1993 front dodge Dana 60 is the popular axle. And a 74 to 79 rear dana 60 from a ford f250 or a 67 to 78 full floating rear dana 60 from a dodge w200 or d200 or w300 or d300. There are others I am sure but get the full floating dana 60 for the rear. Good Luck

 

[Bruiser]

For the rear you can also get a 14FF out of a early model GM 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck. They are plentiful and cheap.

OldGoat is correct on the front Dodge 60s. You would want to find a 91-93 front 60 from a 1 ton to get the internal style hubs. The older ones used external type and the newer ones have CAD type axles and have coil spring mounts you would have to cut off and weld on leaf spring mounts.

 

[tribaltalon]

hmm very interesting info. yeah, i dunno how the front is holding up, but the 42s are brand new.. the guy JUST put em on there.. i'm going to be putting the 42s up for sale/trade, and get some 38s.. i want to go with a 14 bolt in the rear and weld it up, and a front dana 60.. should be a pretty good setup.. it looks sick with the 42s but i'd be scared to actually wheel it. WAY too tall. so i'm gettin rid of the body lift and trimming the fenders. should work pretty nice.