[/URL] I searched for awhile and all of the information I found was a little vague. So I jumped right in. this isn't actually a tech article, just exactly how I did it. Parts I used: 1950 or 1951 Ford F1 dana 44 rear end. 1942-1948 Banjo w/ 3.78 gears Differential: 1.Dissassemble Banjo completely. 2.Dissassemble Dana 44 completely. 3. On a belt sander I removed the outer ends of the Dana side gear teeth, so they were the same O.D. as the main casting of the side gear (about 1/4 inch) 4.In a lathe remove the thrust face the side gears ride on of the banjo carrier half/ring gear to the original depth of the oil feed, switch to a 4 jaw, and cut the oil grooves back in.(needed for proper differential action) 5. get the dana side gear you sanded a bit of the teeth off and measure the od and length of the snout (I lost my notepad so you can measure it) 6. machine the carrier half/ring gear accordingly so the side gears drop in 7. slightly ever so slightly open up the rest of the carrier side half/ring gear so the axle can slide through (it was less than .005") 8. assemble the diff without the tapered axles! The Housing, 1. cut the original banjo ends off through the cast original end, face in lathe to the edge of the weld. 2.whack the ends off of the dana housing close to the spring pads 3. with the 50 or 51 axle length I needed 3" from backing plate surface to where it would meet the banjo housing. I left a 3/8" excess and machined it to the I.D. of the the banjo housing. 4.i used the axle with bearing and a spare diff ( I opened it up enough to let the axle slide through) to align the the banjo bell/dana housing end. I used some large cabinet clamps and pieces of steel to hold it all tight. 5. make sure your brakes are orientated and weld the housings together. it really was that easy. a lot easier then trying to source a set of 48 backing plates, hubs and everything else needed that I didn't have. quite pleased with the outcome. 61" axle flange to axle flange.
Well written article. I've done a similar project. I chose to stay closed drive and not split the bones. To keep from welding all the mounts back on I decided Not to cut them off to start with. I took a 53-56 Truck housing and cut the ends off at the spring pad. I then cut off the bearing race and board out the housing to fit a trued up F-100 housing end. I pressed it in and welded it up including 4 plug welds. Now my spring hanger is where it belongs and my Wish bones still mount where they belong. The 53-63 brake backing plate bolts on with stock bolts and no one's the wiser. Stock 57-63 28 spline truck axles fit perfect. The Wizzard
[QUOTE="Pist-n-Broke, post: 10716368, member: 1811 The Wizzard[/QUOTE] if I do another that would be an excellent idea, just clean off the old backing plate mounting upper holes and it would be flawless!
if I do another that would be an excellent idea, just clean off the old backing plate mounting upper holes and it would be flawless![/QUOTE] That is an option for sure. For me I'll actually be using 3 of the 4 early mount ears. That was the driving force behind doing the up grade as I did. For my A-V8 I won't be splitting the front or rear bones.The 2 lower holes of course are for the Bones and the top rear one is used with the lower rear for the Bolt on factory Ford tube shock brackets. The Wizzard
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