2003 REG CAB with 78 F250 axles

Got a 78 f250 Dana 44 bolted under my Tacoma tonight. Going to start fitting the Ford steering box next week.

 

Looking good. Whatre your overall plans for your rig man?

 

5.38s and spools front and rear. Rcv axles in front stock Dana 60 in rear. 37" or 35" BFG KM2s. Bed is bobbed and thinking about making it a 4 seater with back of cab cut out so my boys can come along. Work in progress.

 

Are you from southern Indiana? I seem to remember your name from the TTORA days for some reason.

Rancho 44044's for front springs?

@slander went with a Ford box on his swap and really didn't like it...Any particular reason you are going with one over a Toyota box?

 

Yeah go with the usual Toyota ifs box with hydro assist. The Ford box runs hot as hell even with a cooler, is a bitch to bleed and barely works off-road. It's nice on the road though, quick effortless steering, but again it still gets hot. It's also a royal pain the ass to package being right up against the exhaust manifold and next to the motor mount.

@Snowy the ranchos are a common leaf to use, that's a waggy spring.

 

Yeah I am from Southern Indiana.

TG 4" springs installed.

Got a cherry Ford box for $50.00 and have heard people say they are the best and some say they aren't any good. I will try this one...i have a toy box I tapped for hydro but don't want to have to use it. We will see. I have a 2.7 so manifold is passenger

 

This is what I ended up swapping to, the TG 4" HD springs are junk, (Spring rate/ capacity definitley not for taco weight.) ended up bending the spring pack on the shakedown run.

Running the 44044s ever since, holding up well.

 

Run what ya got for sure and if ya got the ifs box as a back up no big deal I guess! It will suck with that spooled front end, I run mine in 2wd most of the time to keep the box cool with the Aussie locker. It's not just the manifold, the box sits right above the axle which makes shock placement and bumpstops a bit of a PITA and one of the mounting bolts goes right into the motor mount unless you push everything forward a bit.

 

Shock tower will look something like this with giant Ford box in there. Might have to notch the shock tower for steering shaft and cut some of the front lower portion off to get box where pitman arm will be in line for drag link. I will add some plate support if it.comes to that

 

Going to add this cooler and some extra volume to the steering system to help it run cool.

 

I cocked my shock mount back to the rear and the steering shaft cleared the tower so you will be good with that.

 

I rock 44044's on my truck as well. They work wonderfully. They are soft enough that the axle has self clearanced the oil pan on full compresson but still hold the truck around a 24-25" frame height on 37's

 

If the trail fail spring don't work I will look into them. I bought these 2 years ago or so when I first thought I was going to swap the truck. With some rough math and measuring I should be right at 24"s as springs are now with 37"s. After i add winch, bumper, gear box and such and flex them out I hope it settles to around 23" or a bit lower.

 

You too?

 

I put the 4" springs on but made them the 3" by removing some. Mine have held up so far with a ride height around 23-24". And my oil pan has been self clearanced as well haha

 

Another tacoma reg cab SAS. Reg cab owners unite

I almost did my SAS with a similar axle. If going the d44 route, I think the late 70's d44 from a F250 is the way to go. Those are full width, 1" thick axle tubes, high pinion, etc.

 

Found these axles for decent price near house already geared, spooled and with flat top knuckles and high steer arms so I decided to use them. Would like to use Toyota axles but they aren't very plentiful for cheap here in Midwest. Couldn't pass these up for price. Bought a Detroit at same time for 250 for the front to get rid of spool but decided to run spool for a while and see how hard it is to steer.

 

Box is mounted...should have raised it a half inch or a touch more but top sleeve for steering box would be half or more out the top of frame. Had a hard time drilling these even with the magdrill due to frame bending out toward back spring hanger. Plated the inside of the frame with 1/2".

 

Was going to run the hiem joint below pitman arm but after a few beers and looking at it I think I will cut 1 3/4" DOM tube in half and sleeve frame to run hiem joint above pitman. I don't think this will affect steering box and will keep everything out of the leafs better. Head of bolt is 1/4" from clearing frame with high misalignment spacers and hiem on top.