Dana 44 Axle and u-joint help

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by BrianG

????No one????

Most folks are at work during the day, so response time is a little slower.

The stock axles from the early 70s, and i am not sure when this change over happened, had 260x u joints and necked down. the bigger ones happened at some point, i want to say mid 70s. they are 297x u-joints and non neck down. you can use them interchangeably. i would use the bigger ones for the sake of manliness, but if you are using the truck more as a driver and not as a wheeler, the smaller joints will probably serve you flawlessly.

the change in the size of the wheel bearings happened in the same time frame i believe. if you want to use the larger bearing hub, you need to use the spindle and hub from the axle that it comes from. it will interchange with the smaller hub/spindle set up as well.

i am mildly curious about the difference in axle tubes. as far as i knew, the OD was consistent. the wall thickness changed between 3/4 and 1/2 ton but as we are speaking of the differences in wheel bearing assemblies i will assume we are working on 1/2 ton(6lug) axles.