LeadHander
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2018
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0L
- Transmission
- Automatic
I’ve been hanging around this forum for a few years now. Such an incredible source of information. I currently own a 1994 Ranger extended cab that I swapped in an Explorer rear axle and did all the front axle strength modifications to in preparation for a lift and 35” tires. Unfortunately for my Ranger my growing family doesn’t really fit and I’m thinking of building a 1st Gen Explorer so I can keep my rebuilt and modified 4.0L/A4LD combination. Not sure if I’m into a SAS. My plan would be to use the Skyjacker 6” coils and build the rest of the front suspension components. I’m used to fabricating and it doesn’t intimidate me at all. I’ve read the Dana 44 knuckle swap article and the Dana 44 TTB swap article(and most others). My thoughts are that if I’m removing all of the front end and buying lockers, gears, etc and building all the brackets anyway why not just install the complete Dana 44 TTB? I would use the cut shaft method to gain the 3-1/2” width rather than the full width. I also read the comment that rather than doing the full swap it’s better to just do the knuckle swap. It seems to me that it would be about the same amount of work as doing the complete Dana 44TTB at the same time as all the other modifications. Sorry to make a short story long but I’m wondering what are the downsides of the complete swap? Benefits over the knuckle swap? My plan is to run 35-37” tires(undecided yet)and lockers. I’m not a high speed pre runner guy and we don’t really have rocks to crawl anywhere near here. Mostly logging trails and bush trails in the mud and swamp. Any comments or experience in this area would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.