the ttb will bolt right up in place of the I-beam suspension. How do I know? Because I've done it.. Not easy but very manageable. Hardest part is bolting the heavy *** ttb up into the brackets by yourself

 

If yer tags missing you'll have to pull the 3rd member off the ttb and count the teeth Divide the pinion with the ring.

How'd you get the trans an tcase so cheap??

 

Agreed on the heaviness conman. Took four people to put that thing in my bed. I got the trans/tcase from a guy on CL went to look and it shifted nicely through all the gears and the T-case engages through all selections well. The fluid in the T-case is somewhat milky probably due to the speedo plug missing and rain getting in there. I drained it out as soon as I got home. If anyone's got a 133" wb rear driveshaft for sale for less than $100 shipped to Northern NJ that would be great!

 

So my list grows... I picked up an 8.8 rear today with 3:55 open gears 3" wide leafs, rear driveshaft and sway bar for $100... Not too shabby... $300 bucks for a complete 4x4 drivetrain...

 

I'm beginning my D44 rebuild and am plagued by the radius arm bolts that hold them to the track beams. (one is lower coil bolt and the one on the bottom.) How do I remove these? They have rust but not terrible.

 

I've never had to do them myself but I'm thinking a huge wrench lots of penetrating oil and some patience.

 

You can use a driveshaft from the same wheelbase older 4x4 truck even if it doesn't have the bolt on flange. You can put your flange onto the rear u-joint of the shaft and bolt it on. The driveshaft itself is the same length.

I actually had to change the rear section of my 2 piece driveshaft on my '87 regular cab longbed which has the u-joint that bolts to the pinion flange. I used the rear section of a '95 extended cab shortbed which had the flange that bolts to the pinion flange but I removed it.

 

I understand what you're saying Sean but the truck I have has a one piece rear driveshaft and so did the 88 I got the front end parts out of. They scrapped the thruck anyway so i can't take it anymore. I swapped my 2:73 rear out today for the 3:55 and WOW what a difference! Takes off better and speedo is still accurate but I'm screaming in 1st at 10-15MPH. I hope the 4x4 tranny has different gears in it.

 

I was just trying to explain which driveshafts you can use. So you would need a one piece driveshaft from any year with the same wheelbase regardless of the additional flange.

 

I know everyone's gettin' sick of hearin' about this but now that I swapped the 2:73 rear out for the 3:55 rear I can't take her on the highway anymore. Yep, can't even really go over 60 without matting it and it just wants to decelerate rapidly once you let up. Here's my limits while shifting at a higher RPM. 1st: 15mph, 2nd: 25mph, 3rd: 35mph, 4th: 45mph, 5th: 55mph and that's barely a comfortable speed for my OD gear. Why am I having issues with higher speeds? I have 31's on the truck now and the speedo is accurate. Did Ford use an entirely different geared M5R2 for the 2:73 rears? FML