| After 7 years and
140,000 miles I decided it was time to make some major changes to my already
capable Explorer. During this round of mods
FST scrapped the stock Ford TTB (Twin Traction Beam) suspension in favor of a solid Dana 44 front axle and
accompanying custom 4 link
suspension. The Dana 44 carries an ARB Airlocker
with 4:88 gears as does the Ford 8.8" rear
axle. 36x14.50 Swamper IROKs were added to 15x10
Trail Ready beadlock rims and the appearance
of the truck was freshened up with the addition of a 1999 fiberglass front clip from Perry's
Fab & Fiber and a bright orange paint job from Extreme Paint and Body of
Scottsdale, AZ.
The Dana 44 used in this application is
a high pinion design which works well to keep the driveshaft out of
harms way and to keep the working angles to a minimum. The axle housing
was purchased from Tri-County Gear. They pressed in the tubes and cut
them to size, the track width is now 2" wider than stock, 1"
wider on each side.
The brake calipers, spindles, hubs and
rotors are from a 1980 Blazer. The parts are readily available and
relatively inexpensive. The anti-lock brakes no longer function, but in
my opinion that is a very good thing for an off-road vehicle. Stopping
power is very impressive with this setup.
Axle shafts are by Moser and front axle
u-joints are by CTM, hubs are by Superwinch. This Dana 44 has now been
under the truck for 5 years. In that time it has seen a ton of abuse
thrown at it by trails like the Rubicon, Golden Spike, Hells Revenge,
Terminator, Judgment Day and many more. The only breakage has been a
blown hub. The ball joints were just replaced after 5 years all 4 were
badly worn.
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