Was wanting to hear the pro's con's of runnin a dana 44 vs. a toy front axle for when I do the sas, cause you know as well as I do it's inevitable.

Is the dana 44 just too heavy to consider??
I know my 22 RE and 35's won't tear up the 44 (5.29 gearing)

Toyota advantages:
- Matching gears is one advantage, no 5.29 gear ratio in the D44.
- Easier installation, spring perches and widths are the right size, many vendors of steering kits for Toyota axles, etc.

D44:
- Probably a lower initial cost for the bare axle. But the figure in getting it shortened, moving perches, fabbing steering, etc.
- U-joints are probably stronger than the birfields in stock form, both have heavy duty upgrades.

Ring gears about the same strength on both axles as are the axle shafts.

Another option is to run a hybrid axle, Toyota inners and Dana outers.

That might be the ticket then, (Toyota inners and Dana outers) the hybrid. Crawler, or others, have ya seen one or priced out the making of it?? It does seem like I either read an article out of 4wheeler or another rag on the making of one (maybe it was another axle), but I do remenber they had put outers on some axle with 44 U joints on the outers.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Sent you a pm about your 4.56 gears. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I replied! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

i believe a guy that goes by "welderboy" on the PBB builds them. the cheap way would be to go get a bent rear 8" housing off a toyota, and the inner Cs off a 44 and send them to him

i think there isn't as much reason to run a hybrid now that bobby long's new chromoly birfield and shaft set is out though...

why would you want to shorten it? wouldnt you idealy want more of a wider stance for more stability?

Typically, you need to shorten one side to get the axle centered under the truck, depends on which vehicle the axle was from. Here's an example:

http://home.4x4wire.com/erik/4runner/sas/#Axle

While wider is generally nice, having one wheel sticking out 4" wider than the other side doesn't work too well. Also, you need to figure in covering the tire for street legality, too.

I think it's really a $$ issue. Compare the cost of the purchase, ost of gears/locker, cost of shortening, cost of axles/ujoints/birfields, cost of brakes, etc. I do think the D44 housing is stronger than the toyota.

I don't like the hybrids, personally. I think they are too much $$ for what you get. I had a HP D44 with warn shafts and cut down to the perfect width in my shop for a long time. I ended up selling it rather than using it. But, had I had to do it over again, (and if I actually wheeled more than 1x annually) I'd run the D44.

With the advent of all the "super Birfs" (30 spline Longs <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) what advantage could there be to swapping in a D44?