Closed Knuckle Dana 44 rebuild

[Harry Dawg]

What's going on y'all.
Happy Monday. I've been working on a Closed Knuckle Dana 44 recently and figured I would share some pics for anyone interested. The axle came out fairly easily. I had to cut the drive shaft straps from the yoke and cut the axle U-Bolts out, but nothing I wouldn't expect from a 50 year old truck.
I put the axle on jack stands and started with the brake drums. I had to beat these off with a hand sledge, so I figured I would do a disk brake conversion while I was at it. I'll make a separate post about this.
Next came the Warn Lock-O-Matic hubs. For anyone working on these, see attached assembly diagram. Still a mystery to me as to how these work, even with the diagram. I'm wanting to ditch these for manually locking hubs (10 Spline Outer) so if anyone has a recommendation let me know. I'm hoping I don't have to get the Warn hubs that are +$300
Hub and wheel bearings, brake drum, spindle, steering knuckle and axle shafts came next. This part was pretty straight forward.
The carrier was a PITA to get out, but the bearing cage was bent and it left a heat spot on the race so it needed to come out.
New oil seals and carrier bearings were installed.

Notes on experience with the inner axle.
A National 5131 is a good replacement for the two piece inner axle seal.
There were two "breather holes" in the sides of the carrier bearing and race portion of the axle casting housing. I am still unsure about the function of these, but the Facebook experts said they were supposed to be there.
I didn't replace the pinion bearing as it felt solid and I detect any play. I will be replacing the pinion seals.

Moving outward, the axle shafts were reinstalled, new wiper seal and kingpin bearings and races were installed.
Note: you may have to install the king pin and knuckle several times, adding and subtracting shims to get the proper bearing preload. I shot for 22 LBS on both knuckles because I will have a lift on this truck. Might be way off here but we'll see.

At this point, I have installed the spindle and am working on the brake conversion.





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[Stuka]

Wonder how that bearing cage got bent on the carrier. Not sure how that would have happened normally. I would if somebody pulled it at some point to service something and it got damaged then.

Have you had any issues finding parts for that axle? They are certainly becoming less common.

[Harry Dawg]

Well, the king pin bearing race did fragment pretty badly at some point, so it is possible that a metal fragment made its way into the carrier, however unlikely.
A more probable cause is just as you said. Someone stuck a pry bar into the bearing cage to do the pinion, as there was a service date carved on the pinion gear. Either way, I think this is a great example of how a seemingly insignificant error can cause larger issues, as evidenced by the burn mark in the bearing race.
The parts search is a whole different story. I would estimate I have about 20-30 hours devoted to searching Dana/Spicer interchange logs to find the modern day cross over parts, finding parts diagrams, etc. The carrier bearings I actually ordered twice, as the alleged replacement Koyo bearings use the same numerical race, but have a different tapered bearing. I ended up replacing the carrier bearings with National parts of the same number.
Oil seals were selected based on caliper measurements, and the ID for the new oil seals is 1/8" smaller than the factory 2 piece.
The steering knuckle rebuild kit (kingpin bearings & races, ball wiper, seals and retainers) where purchased from BJ's.
They have some other small parts as well if anyone is on the hunt for something.
Moving outwards, the locking washers and nuts for the wheel bearings are becoming tough to track down.
I would imagine that the Lock-O-Matic hub parts would be virtually impossible to find, but I haven't looked into this.

[Harry Dawg]

King pin bearing race

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[Yeller]

I do know of a local place that has a complete set of the standard warn premium hubs if that would help, they are not selectromatics, but are complete.

[Harry Dawg]

Hey Yeller.
Thanks for the offer. Depending on the price I may be interested. Are they new or used? I'm guessing they're externally locking? I've been looking at these from Mile Marker because they fit my budget better, but a set of Warn hubs would be ideal.

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[Yeller]

Give Harmon 4x4 in Tulsa a call, (918) 585-5674. I had them and traded them for some other used parts that I could use. He has hubs and spindles too. That is if he hasn’t sold them. The parts were in great shape but used, came off of my 70’ J2000.

[Harry Dawg]

Give Harmon 4x4 in Tulsa a call, (918) 585-5674. I had them and traded them for some other used parts that I could use. He has hubs and spindles too. That is if he hasn’t sold them. The parts were in great shape but used, came off of my 70’ J2000.

Thanks for the hubs Yeller. I called up there and purchased your old set. Great guys to work with at Harmon 4x4, and it was cool to get a part with some history.

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[Harry Dawg]

Update***
I just finished reassembly of the axle.
You might notice this closed knuckle now has disk brakes. I used a conversion kit from Brennan's Garage to adapt a Geo Tracker brake system to it. Fits like it was from the factory and no grinding of the axle like the Chevy swap. I am concerned with the small piston and rotor size relative to a modern day truck with disk brakes, but I figure it's gotta be better than drums.
Still need a new proportioning valve and the jury is still out on whether or not this master cylinder will put out enough PSI for disk brakes. It isn't factory and is a dual reservoir. Thoughts anyone?

Swapped out the Lock-O-Matics for standard lock out hubs.


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[Stuka]

Cool that it fits up so easily. My concern would be with the non-vented rotors. But like you say, the stock drums are really bad.

[Yeller]

Glad to see them go to a good home. I’ve been dealing with the Harmon family for over 25 years, great people and more stuff than you could imagine but David knows where it all is lol.

Interesting brake swap, I’m with Stuka, got to be better than drums.

[Herk]

If you are willing to let the old Lock-O's go, I'd be happy to give them a new home. I have some "parts hubs" and am looking for some others in hope that someday end up with enough good parts to assemble a set that somewhat works.

[Harry Dawg]

PM sent

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[Harry Dawg]

Update on the disk brake conversion.
I had a few folks inquire about this swap, so I figured this forum would be a good place for this info to live versus a Facebook thread.
Here are the parts you will need, along with current pricing.
CENTRIC 10304180 Brake Pads
CENTRIC 12148004 Rotors
RAYBESTOS FRC1032 Caliper
RAYBESTOS FRC1031 Caliper
https://brennans-garage.com/collections ... on-bracket

As you can see this swap can be done for under $200. All parts were purchased from Rock Auto.
A couple things to note. You will have to bore out the wheel stud holes in the rotors to make room for the larger studs.
You will need a wheel spacer or different rims if you are running factory steel wheels (Smoothies with Dog Dish hubcaps)
I swapped out the wheel studs for 1/2" ones while I was in there, but this isn't a must.
You will retain factory hubs and knuckles.
You will need to purchase different brake lines as well. These are the ones I used, as this truck has a 4" lift on it. https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Shop-Univer ... Z9R3W?th=1
Otherwise, you can use Honda Accord or S10 brake lines.

Here is the video that turned me onto this conversion. This is not my channel, but is a great resource.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQn53RyPbl8&t=316s

[sirtimtim]

Update***
I just finished reassembly of the axle.
You might notice this closed knuckle now has disk brakes. I used a conversion kit from Brennan's Garage to adapt a Geo Tracker brake system to it. Fits like it was from the factory and no grinding of the axle like the Chevy swap. I am concerned with the small piston and rotor size relative to a modern day truck with disk brakes, but I figure it's gotta be better than drums.
Still need a new proportioning valve and the jury is still out on whether or not this master cylinder will put out enough PSI for disk brakes. It isn't factory and is a dual reservoir. Thoughts anyone?

Swapped out the Lock-O-Matics for standard lock out hubs.


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How do the disc brakes feel in the truck? I’m wanting to do this conversion as well, I’ll be using a manual disc/drum master cylinder. I’m wondering if the vented rotors and 4 door tracker calipers are worth the extra money, plus they are less common than 2 door calipers.

[Harry Dawg]

@Sirtimtim
Unfortunatley I haven't gotten to test them out yet.
I will give an update when I get her running. Do you forsee any problems with using a manual MC?
Any idea on how much PSI one of these puts out?

On the subject rotors and calipers, I would imagine that the 4 door equipment would be better for a couple of reasons.
First would obviously be heat dispersion, but more importantly I would think the equipment would be larger to account for the extra weight of the 4 doors.
The max curb weight on one of these is only 2,980 LBS, so they are a little light for a truck of this size.
However, I still believe they will preform better than drums, and they are much easier to mantience.

The only reason I didn't go with this version is because the write up wasn't very clear on fitment, and it sounded like there may be some fiddling invloved to get them to work right. Could be wrong, so I might try it when these brakes are shot.

[Harry Dawg]

She's back on the ground.
Got some new Rancho XL5000 shocks installed.
Anyone running this axle have input on tire size? Want to run 12.50 wide tires, but I think I might have issues with clearing the steering knuckle/ pitman arm.

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[Yeller]

I ran 33x12.50-15's on 15x8 wheels with 4" of back spacing, no issues. They did rub the springs at full lock, but your lift may resolve that issue. They also cleared the body with no lift. You could probably fit 35's but the tires would rub the springs more at full lock.

[Harry Dawg]

I ran 33x12.50-15's on 15x8 wheels with 4" of back spacing, no issues. They did rub the springs at full lock, but your lift may resolve that issue. They also cleared the body with no lift. You could probably fit 35's but the tires would rub the springs more at full lock.

Currently running 15x8 wheels off a CJ7 (standard steel wagon wheels) Not sure what backspacing they have.
I think 33x10.5R15 would be ideal, but I came across a set of brand new 35" Patagonia MT'S for $500. Seems like too good of a deal to pass up.


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[Yeller]

They will fit, your lift has created more than enough clearance. I’m sure the wheels would work just fine. For $500 if you don’t like them on there you can easily get your money back.

I think 33-10.50’s will look lost in the wheel opening.