from what ive been reading here and on pirate, the only advantage a d44 has over a toy axle other than width is the tighter turning radius. strengthwise they seem to be a wash except that when a u-joint fails in a d44 it can (often?) damage the ball joints in the knuckle, making the vehicle unsteerable. would it be possible to modify a d44 knuckles to kingpin style using stock toyota or d60 (or any other kingpin knuckles?) hardware? thx.

Why not just use D60 kingpin knuckles?

there are kingpin 44s, i believe some are even open knuckle(i'm thinking early 70s f150s?)

expense mostly. its ~$1000 for just the bare knuckles. i figure i could pick up a 44 and modify the knuckles for half that. almost every part ive looked at for 60s costs more than 44s and i dont think ill need the extra strength running 33s or 35s. im looking into running a toy/d44 hybrid but itll be on my dd so the balljoints possibly fubaring my frontend worries me a little. a toy/d60 would be nice <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />but thats a little out of my price range <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />.

doesn't AllPro have a nice hybrid axle?

Yes a very nice one. Welder Bilt in Rancho Cordova, CA will also build you one to your specs.

A-P

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back to my original question:

While I do not have an answer for you to your question I must ask one of my own.

Why do you want to do this? What do you find wrong with a regular Toyota 8" axle? If you want to go Dana why not just get a waggy axle like everyone else and be done with it? I just don't see the point of the hybrid you want to build.

You state you are only going to run 33s or 35s, either a regular dana 44 or toyota 8 will be plenty strong for your purpose.

Sure, anything is possible. Either look for an existing king pin D44 (as noted above), see if there are kits available (search with Google or other web search engine). If not, design your own kit, assuming you have a milling machine and tooling, should be no problem knocking one out <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If you've got to pay a machinist to do the work, you may find the existing solutions are quite reasonable priced. Maybe call up Currie Enterprises and see what they have to offer.