My front axle took a crap!!!
 

I have a 1969 K20 with a Dana 44 HD front axle with enclosed knuckles. It has been making a squeaking noise and clunking every once in a while for about a week now. The other night it finally broke. I was going around a right hand curve in the road and it went BANG and started pulling to the left really hard. I got it home but haven't torn it apart yet. I think it was the u-joint on the left side that broke. Has anyone ever had this happen? How hard are they to fix? What special tools are required? I'm hoping nothing major is screwed up in there.

I know that they do break. I assume you had the hubs locked in and maybe the t-case in?

They aren't majorly hard to pull and swap. Not much harder than changing out wheel bearings - once you get all the stuff off you would need to change wheel bearings, all that's left is the spindle (6 bolts) and then you can pull out the axle shaft. I don't think there's a c-clip in the diff housing.

I have seen companies that sell beefed up u-joints, but I can't remember if they have them for D44's. Look in Four Wheeler maybe.

It might not be a bad idea to change them both. Do you have large tires? If you do, I'd definately search for beefed up joints.

Sometimes when the U-joint lets go and it was in four wheel drive the ears on the the axle shafts can take a beating and now are useless. I am not familiar with closed knuckle trucks but I replaced the shafts in my 70 open knuckle 44 with new shaft from a 78 because the used u-joints with larger caps, and I assume larger ujoint overall. I cannot remeber when they started using the larger ones I think it may have been in 71. but getting the old shafts is not usually hard, sometimes the spindle is hard to get loose, but there is no c-clips like on a rear end. Good Luck

happem to me......kinda
 

well i drove on the fron taxle for a while, i drove alot too so i dont doudt the beating a dana44 can take well i found out it was the spider gears. i thought it was the hub but nope it was the spider gears.....

I don't think there's many options for upgrading the u-joint in a closed knuckle 44. If you did tear up the u-joint and ears on the axle shafts probably be better to find a 44 from a 73 or newer and get the larger 297x u-joint and disc brakes. Fairly straight forward to take apart, no special tools needed, no c-clips. If you have Moses Ludel's GM Light Truck Owner's Bible he has a step by step rebuild for a closed knuckle 44 w/ pictures.