I have a Dana 44 in a mustang?

[igotaneed4speed]

I have been searching to try and figured out what rear end I have in my car and well the only thing that even resembles it is a dana 44. Which is baffling me becuase I didn't think you could get one set-up with a fox style upper and lower control arm suspension set-up?


It is not a ford rear end and I'm posative of that, it doesn't use shims between the race and housing like a 8.8. It has the pressed on wheel bearings with retainer plates like a dana and the cover gasket I found to fit it is a dana 44... is this possible?>

Pics to come when I get home

 

[Sean124]

Sounds like a jeep rear.

 

[Fryguy302]

Yes it is possible, but they're very very rare. Only old guys like me would remember, but they could be found here and there back in the day. I think when people first started trying to modify the FOX cars (think 1978 Fairmont and 1979 Mustang), this was something you'd see. The 8.8 didn't come out until 86, and the 7.5 is a joke. I actually almost bought a 78 Fairmont way back in the day (early 90's) that had a dana 44 in it. I don't even know if they were all aftermarket or what, there was a rumor that they were factory in something, but nobody ever knew what.

What year car is this?

 

[wheelz357]

Yes it is possible, but they're very very rare. Only old guys like me would remember, but they could be found here and there back in the day. I think when people first started trying to modify the FOX cars (think 1978 Fairmont and 1979 Mustang), this was something you'd see. The 8.8 didn't come out until 86, and the 7.5 is a joke. I actually almost bought a 78 Fairmont way back in the day (early 90's) that had a dana 44 in it. I don't even know if they were all aftermarket or what, there was a rumor that they were factory in something, but nobody ever knew what.

What year car is this?

lideos old black 79 hatch back in the day had a dana 44 i think. danas are real strong.

 

[igotaneed4speed]

Yes it is possible, but they're very very rare. Only old guys like me would remember, but they could be found here and there back in the day. I think when people first started trying to modify the FOX cars (think 1978 Fairmont and 1979 Mustang), this was something you'd see. The 8.8 didn't come out until 86, and the 7.5 is a joke. I actually almost bought a 78 Fairmont way back in the day (early 90's) that had a dana 44 in it. I don't even know if they were all aftermarket or what, there was a rumor that they were factory in something, but nobody ever knew what.

What year car is this?

I bought the rear end a few years ago for 50 bucks and never really messed withit till now.

Some guy had a listing posted for various ford rear ends and this was one of the three he had, one was a 8.8 one was a 7.5 and then this one. He said he didnt know what it was but it had a 3.73 spicer gear in it, locker, and big 9" ends with the large 9" drum brakes on it (11x2.5) he said it came out of a roller he bought off some guy from dts. It has 30 spline alxes which I'm told is common of the dana 44


Its gotta be a dana cuz its def not a 7.5 or 8.8 and i dont know what else it could be other than that.

 

[Sean124]

i'd take a 8.8 over a 44 any day. The only real benefit to the dana would be the bigger carrier bearings. They also shim preload just like everything else on the carrier.

 

[igotaneed4speed]

i'd take a 8.8 over a 44 any day. The only real benefit to the dana would be the bigger carrier bearings. They also shim preload just like everything else on the carrier.

Yeah it has way bigger bearings over the 8.8 on the carrier i laid it next to a trac loc last night. Its about .025 wider than the trac lock end to end and has a way bigger bearing Its in the ball park (i used a tape measure) of 8.25 to 8.5 for the ring gear. Has no shims between the housing and bearing race like a 8.8 would as well.

 

[Sean124]

that is a nice Dana plus. you can shim the rear pinion bearing for pinion depth vs removing the bearing and changing shims. I would still prefer the 8.8. Its a proven rear end with the right parts. If you wanna know what the hot ticket setups are just drop me a line I can give you all the detials.

Sean

Yeah it has way bigger bearings over the 8.8 on the carrier i laid it next to a trac loc last night. Its about .025 wider than the trac lock end to end and has a way bigger bearing Its in the ball park (i used a tape measure) of 8.25 to 8.5 for the ring gear. Has no shims between the housing and bearing race like a 8.8 would as well.