Built Dana 44

So over the weekend I broke my spider gears in my D30. I planned on putting an ARB in the from since I have one in the rear. A couple of friends including my mechanic said I should do a super 30 kit. But the ones I’ve found were around $2500 including locker hubs and Molly shafts. Is it possible to just have a D44 built for that price or am I off on price?? Thanks in advance.

Dana 44 200-400
RCVs 1,500
Then your locker

So yea you are in the same ballpark

I would start from scratch with a bare axle and do all new brackets

Then you are doing all the brackets and you need a rear to match or wheel spacers from5x4.5 to 5.50


I have a 44 with RCVs and an 8.8

If I remember correctly, specfab has a d44 for a good price. It's the 3/4 ton version.
Honestly if starting new, I'd follow redjeep2.0 advice.
If not then I'd look into for sale pages and see who's got a d44 that's built how you want yours.
Sometimes a built axle can cost less than starting from scratch, but only if it's got what you want on and in it.


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I wrote spec fab to see how much it would cost. But with all the different components involved with doing an axle swap spacers, rims etc I’ll probably just replace the spider gears with some Yukon’s. But we’ll see.

30's are under rated in my opinion. A lot of us have abused the hell out of them with very few failures. With 33's, I wouldn't sweat putting a little money into it. Building a 44 is a lot of work.

To fix it cheap, I'd toss a lunch box locker in it (Spartan, Aussie, etc), and keep on wheeling. An upgrade to that would be a full case locker (ARB, Grizzly, etc). 30 carriers are weak, I cracked one in half, and then upgraded to a full case locker with no more issues.

However, everything is for sale for the right price, and I just happen to have a narrowed HP44 under mine.

I pick up this Dana 44 fro Specfab a few years ago. It has been gone though and now has all new bearing disc brakes, 3.73 gears and ARB. I am only running 31’s so I’ll stick with the locked D30 up front.

I think building a front D44 is way more expensive than building a D30 - I just built one earlier this year. I've never seen a front D44 for $200-$400. They are usually closer to $1000 in my experience. Either way, the axle is the cheap part.

Ford D44: $800
TnT truss kit with all mounts, shock mounts, etc: $500 (this was cheaper than piecing together all the upper and lower mounts, trackbar mount, shock mounts, truss, etc)
Welding on the truss: $200
New Gears: $250
Master install kit: $150
New Yukon air locker: $800
Gear install cost: $400
New high arm steering: $400
New trackbar: $250
New Yukon hubs: $250
Shafts and joints: $800
Diff cover: $125

Total cost is closer to $5k when all is said and done. You can do it cheaper (skip the shafts, re-use hubs if they are good) but that probably only saves you $1k. You can save a bit more if you can do the gear install, weld on the truss, and make the trackbar and steering. Don't forget to include rear gears or install kit if you are choosing different gearing.

A HP44 around my neck of the woods goes for about $200. Put gears and a lock rite in it and you have a pretty good axle.


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