d44 disc brake swap

[fordman]

i have a high pinion d44 with a D4 tag on the outer cover. it is a open knuckle. can i do a disc brake swap on it. and or what parts would i need to get off of a junked truck? i mean could i just get the caliper bracket caliper and disc rotor and be done. or would i have to do more than that?

[speed bump]

You probably will need the proportioning valve and master cylinder for sure. If it wasn't much more or you already have complete access I would probably take the whole knuckle just in case.

[cep62]

If you're talking 1/2 ton, the '76-'79 have a different spindle bolt pattern than the early ones.
If yours has ball joints and not kingpins you should be able to switch spindles.
If you have the kingpin style you can adapt early chevy caliper mounts so I'm told.

[Wes]

Try this link some good info here. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana44_2.htm .If you are dealing w/ a f100 axle looks like the chevy brake set up is the most common choice. I have an EB d44 that has had the chev disc brake swap done but haven't used it or torn into it yet.

[71F100-390]

You'd have to do more than that.

We converted a '74 D44 (high pinion) over to '78 D44 disk brakes. This was a ball joint set up. Not sure if that's what you have, but if it is you'll need everything from the knuckles out (knuckles, spindles, hubs, calipers etc), plus the master cylinder, proportioning valve, and new tie rods and ends depending on the year. Earlier D44's have a different diameter and taper on the tie rod ends, they also switch the "short" and "long" tie rod ends from side to side from the later D44's.

We ended up using EVERYTHING off of a '78 Ford D44. Knuckles, spindles, hubs, axle stubs, tie rods, prop valve and master cylinder. The axle stubs and hubs don't have to change, but you may need to retain the hubs from the old set up. Early and later D44's have different c-clip locations on the axle stub, so you need to keep the hubs matched to the stubs if the c-clip location is different from your current set up to the disk set up.

[averagef250]

It's pretty easy really. Buy a 1980 through 1997 TTB 44 from an F-150 4x4 for under $100, more like free or get paid to haul it away. Put everything from the knuckles-out onto the old solid axle. I've done this several times, it works fine.

Also, if you'd like to get rid of the weeny 5 lug disc brakes get a 3/4 ton TTB 44 and swap all that stuff on there. It all fits the same and the 3/4 brakes are way better. Of coarse you'll need to go to 8 lug in the rear too though so not for the faint of heart.

[mr_josh]

I did a Chevy disc swap on my F-100.

Early '70s Chevy caliper brackets, calipers, spindles, and hoses. Early '80s F-150 rotors / hubs and wheel bearings. I used a master cylinder out of a late '70s F-250 Camper Special because it mounted perfectly on the F-100 booster and has a very large bore diameter (I'd heard that half-ton Ford master cylinders could run out of stroke before applying full clamping pressure). I've got 35"x12.50s and the truck stops nice and straight, the brakes are easy to modulate. You do have to grind a little off of the caliper and knuckle to get them to clear one another, but not too much.

There are easier ways of doing it, like averagef250 said, you could just scavenge the knuckles/spindles/brakes from a newer Ford and call it a day, but I had most of the parts available to me already, so I just went the Chevy route. As always, your mileage may vary.