Well a few days ago I busted my front Dana 30 on a pretty nasty fourwheel drive trail, and sheered all the bolts on my steering box. so that leads me to some questions.

1.) What type of bolts do I need for the steering box? I know I can order them but I can't find a hint on the manual or online so If possible I wanna run down to ace or home depot and pick them up.

2.) What front axle should I be looking for?
3.) Should I get the rear replaced with the front?
4.) Get air/electric lockers?
5.) Higher gear ratio?

I am putting the paint job on hold.

What is your budget.

1. Not sure on size, you'll want Grade 8. You'll have better luck at Ace, HD's selection of big bolts sucks.
2. Depends on what you're doing with it. Definitely go with at least a Dana 44. It isn't that hard to find one from another EB and it'd bolt right in. Depending on what you have to spend you could have a really easy time installing gears, locker, new bearings/seals and disc brakes before you get it into the truck.
3. Again, depends on what you're doing with it. If you'd going to run big tires and do crazy tough trails, a 1 ton swap front and rear might not be a bad idea. It also depends on your fab skills. Going full width with a 44 and a 9" is a decent sized project and doing 1 ton gear is an even bigger one. Unless you're building a pretty dedicated trail rig I'd stick with upgraded stock parts.
4. I've got a strong bias towards selectable lockers. If you're going to drive on slippery surfaces in 4wd it can make a big difference. A Detroit or LSD would save you some money and be simpler, but may have other compromises. Depends on the priorities.
5. Depends on tire size. The short answer is probably. What size tires you run now, and what size do you realistically think you'll run in the future? What gearing is in the rear?

If we're talking about the hardware that fastens the steering box to the frame you'll want to use lock nuts like these, http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/de ... 268&ucst=t. I'm with Justin and running improved stock parts for the D44 & 9in, and if you can afford selectable lockers they are the way to go. I'm running drop in lockers (Aussie locker up front, soon to put a PowerTrax in the rear) on my rig and they work great, but I don't expect them to last forever. If you've got 3.50 gears you'll probably want to go up to a minimum 4.09 - 4.11 for 33 to 35 inch tires, depending on the rpm and hiway speed that you want to drive. Crawler runs stock (D44, BB 9in) housings in his rig, he's upgraded the axles and runs spools front & rear, his Bronco is one of the Big Dogs and he hasn't moved to 1 tons so I think the stock axle housings hold up pretty well.

Well my eb is my dad and i's project but I drive it daily and take it camping and hunting occassionally, I went on this trail not knowing itd be practically hanging off a cliff with boulders and running up a river, and the other guy I was with said itd be mild. I know a guy who lives up in north Dakota that has a ford 9 inch rear and he said its good for off road but it can give you trouble when driving street.

Right now I am running 32s and the biggest I can ever imagine is 35s and I have stock gears and was thinking of going higher I just want something that is a little bit better on the trail but without sacraficing performance on the street so I am leaning towards something like dana 44, dana 60 is too big imo I will never need it for anything I do.

My budget is 2000-3000 and will be the last bit of money that is sunk into the bronco for a good while til I get out of college so I want to make it count.

I've got a D44 I just took out of my 74:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2234
Has disk brakes & tie rod/drag link. 4.10 gears.

Chad

I got a dana 44 with drums and a ford 9 inch rear out of my donor bronco Id probly part with for $500..

Thanks everyone for the offers, I am going to mull it over and figure out if anything is up with the rear end too and then I will go from there and I will be letting you all know shortly. Can you tell me more about your d44 and the ford 9 inch rear please?

For starters, what would a 9" cause trouble on the street with unless you have either a spool or a detroit in the rear? And even at that, all it is going to do is eat tires on a regular basis. All EBs came with the 9", it just depended on whether it was a small bearing or a big bearing. Anyway you cut the cookie, it's better than what has ever come in a Jeep product, before or ever since. There is no argument from that crowd either. Most hot rodders swap a 9" into their rigs and NASCAR runs (or used to) a modified 9" on almost all of their cars. The 9" is one of the most copied and modified (to fit) axles on the planet. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

As to the D44, I would swap that in right away. It too is tried and true. Unless you plan on running something ungodly like a 40+ inch tire, you really don't need anything bigger. Like Kinder said, run the 4.11 combo for the front & rear and you will be doing fine up to a 35" tire. The gear sets are fairly reasonable to buy and that is the time to install a locker. If you buy and install new gears now and don't put a locker in until a later time, you are basically paying for setup 2x. If you have to run around without putting it into 4wd for a while until you have the money, then do that rather than spending the cash twice on tear down & setup.

If I were you, I would buy a 44 with 4.09 gears in it and a locker of some sort. Preferably a selectable in the front. ARB & OX are expensive, but the electric ones have come a long way and are a lot easier to swallow price wise. As for the rear, I'd just put a new gear set in and another selectable locker if this is a daily driver rig. If it is a weekend only, trail rig, go with something like a Detroit.

Another thing to remember....the full time or limited slip options are a helluva lot cheaper than the selectable lockers, but you also have to take into consideration one simple aspect. Tire purchases. When I bought my lockers, I went with ARBs because mine is a daily driver. I talked to people who had full lockers & LS in their rigs and figured they ran a set of tires out in about 1/2 to 2/3 the time that it did me. I figure that in the amount of time it took them to go through 2-3 sets of tires, I was going through 1. Take that into consideration on the price of a selectable and it looks like this:

2 sets of 35" tires = $1,840 (4 tires @ $230 = $920)
2 full or LS locker = $1,200 (2 lockers @ $600 each)
Total cost for 2 sets of tires & lockers = $3,040

1 set of 35" tires = $920
2 selectable lockers = $1,900 (2 ARBs @ $950 each)
Total cost for 1 set of tires & lockers = $2,820

The upfront cost of a selectable locker is what steers most people away from them, but the long term investment on them in just tire costs alone is what sold me on them. I don't wheel a ton, by any means, but had I installed a Detroit & used it as my daily driver, I would not have been able to make my tires last me until I had the money to buy a new set. I also should mention that I have a full sized spare & rotate that into the mix, so I also get added life out of my tires that guys who don't rotate that spare in don't get.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I don't like to see folks throw money away and make rash decisions just because they need to get something fixed "yesterday".

Alright - I found the right place for my post:

I have a rear spool and it needs ta go. It is eating tires and is obnoxious to drive with the chirping tires. I am going a Limited Slip in the rear to replace the spool since I will do mostly street (95%), snow and trail (5%). However, in the front, I haven't decided what is the best option for my D44.

I am curious if you have a front Detroit/Eaton/Yukon/Grizzly Locker, wouldn't it drive like a regular open differential when the hubs are open, then have the full locker when hubs are locked? If that is true, then that would be a great solution and save a ton of money over a selectable ARB style locker up front in the D44.

Also, I think Kinder has an Aussie Locker up front and his truck seems to go anywhere. Here is a link to their D44:

http://www.aussielocker.com/index.php/a ... 14430.html

I do have a Aussie up front, installed it last Spring in my garage, it is considered a automatic locker since it disengages (teeth slide past each other) if needed. It is what most people call a drop-in or lunchbox locker since it goes into the open carrier, no need to reset the gears in most cases. It's impact on handling depends on what is locked (hubs and/or transfer case). With everything unlocked there is no engagement, hubs spin free and frt driveshaft doesn't turn. With hubs locked and transfer case only in 2 hi/lo (rear, since I run a twin stick), the locker is engaged but very little torque is applied/felt in the frontend since the locker disengages easily w/no power being supplied. With hubs locked and transfer case in 4 hi/lo you know something is going on, the steering wheel will self center and there is a pulling feeling when turning, yet the locker will still disengage if needed to let the front tires rotate at a different rate, like in a tight turn. I wouldn't recommend this locker w/out power steering or tires beyond 33-35 and I believe Aussie will only warranty up to 33 inch tires.

For the front I would go with Detroit, or Grizz, Yukon since you can completely disconnect the front with hubs and t-case shifter. Then a ARB or a electric locker in the rear. So you can run on the road without shifting and jump in the next lane or deal with noises, and I've heard they can make some mean noises on the street in the rear, the Detroit style that is.
I couldn't imagine a full locker in front would wear tires since you can completely disengage it. It drives like you have no 4x4 at all.
That's how I plan to set mine up. I already have the Yukon Grizzly up front, yet still needs real testing. For what I have done, it has performed good.

My only thing with running a Detroit or similar up front is that it can make turning really hard without power steering (which we don't know he has). My truck was virtually unturnable without PS with the front ARB locked in. It also puts a lot of load on the axle u-joints when you're attempting to turn, especially on really high traction surfaces such as slickrock.

Yup. I have no idea how the PO wheeled it without PS for so long. I wound up with a cracked thumb nail the first time I took it out wheeling and my arms hurt the next day from the workout. I'm really looking forward to wheeling it with power steering here in the near future.

1. I believe they are 1/2". Big R is also a great source for bolts. You'll have to measure the length and you might consider welding a plate in there to stiffen up the frame as that is a common problem as well.

2. I'll echo what a lot of folks are saying. Find a good D44 for the front. Something with a locker, 4.09, and disc brakes would be ideal, but get as many of those options as you can. I have a lunchbox locker (Lock Right) and run 35's and have broken several u-joints and this locker keeps on tickin'. Sure I'd like a full locker, but if it ain't broke...

3. The 9" is a good axle, leave it alone.

4. If it were me, I'd go with an electric locker. I know too many people who continuously have trouble with their ARB's, be it the seal inside the diff or the air lines or...

5. 4.10's are just about right for what you're doing and what you might have in the future.

Just a question for those running a locker in the front end.

Do you drive at all on the road in 4x4, obviously in the snow? I heard that locking the front end makes the truck "undriveable" on the road in 4x4. I drive a lot around town in the winter and thought I needed to go Ox, ARB or electric locker.

Chad

I had my front locker (Aussie, 4.09) in for all of this last winter and it performed great. I just left the hubs locked if there was any hint of snow (forecast or recently fallen) and it handled normal, then dropped it into or out off 4x depending on the conditions. I never really ran it too fast setup like this, say 50 mph or below, usually less than 20 miles.

Kinda getting off-topic a bit here, but Chad - I am sure you've done a donut in some rig that had a posi or something in the rear. Then try to do it in another rig that had an open diff? Much easier with the posi since both tires are spinning and tractionless. The same principle applies to the front. The reason people say they are no good on a slick road is because if they go to spinning, both are spinning and you lose traction. But if you have an open diff, supposedly only one will spin while the other holds you on the road. The way around that in our bronco's is just leave one hub unlocked and let it free-wheel and now you've got the same setup as 90% of all 4x4's out there. Turning on a snow-packed road with the front locked in could be tricky, but as Kinder said, just lock your hubs in leaving your t-case in 2WD until you need it. For around town, I wouldn't sweat it much, using that method. Then if you end up in the ditch, at least ALL your tires are spinning instead of one front and one rear.

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the hijack.

Chad