Posted by George S on Sunday, March 10, 2002 at 10:03PM :
In Reply to: 1973 dodge 4x4 drum to disc on a dana 44 posted by joe bowers on Sunday, March 10, 2002 at 11:42AM :
I'm doing this conversion on my 73 W200 now, but have not finished. I need to replumb the brake lines plus change porportioning valve and maybe the master cylinder I'm told. I have not gotten back to work on it yet, because I need to replace the cab first. I had a Dana 44 with disc brakes with 5 on 5 1/2 bolt pattern that I took off my 93 W150. Thought I could swap the knuckles, caliper brackets and outer axels-spindles and buy new 8 lug hubs and rotors. No such luck... the knuckles for the 3/4 ton have a different casting that extends further back where the caliper bracket mounts to for the larger 3/4 ton rotors. But the caliper and caliper brackets are the same for the 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton. I searched for a 3/4 ton Dodge front axel for 3 months, even out west. Found one in Cocoa Florida area. All I wanted was the brakes and knuckels, but it was the same price for the whole axel. $400.00. I also tried to buy the parts from Dodge Dealer, hub assembly... $300.00 each. Hub and rotor come as an assembly with wheel studs also tried to buy the parts at NAPA, (rotors available only), plus several 4X4 shops, Curries, Dynatrac, Boyce, founds lots of Chevy axels and parts and was told that I could adapt Chevy brakes to it but I wouldn't consider it. The dealer seems to be the only source for a new hub; unless someone knows of something else that will interchange; best bet is to locate a complete front end from a Dodge. After all of this, I located another 3/4 ton Dana 44 at a local wrecking yard while looking for a cab. I told the wrecking yard not to crush the truck, because I wanted it for parts. But have not been able to find an excuse to bring more stuff home to decorate the yard with. I'm also looking for a complete cab and front clip with minimal or no rust. If anyone knows of one, let me know!