2005 E-350 with 4x4 conversion, D44 with Chevy 8 lug knuckles

[OBSF150-CB]

Hello, I’ve got a 07 E350 on tracks that I’ve been working on. This van has had a 4x4 conversion done, using D44 TTB and Chevy 8 lug knuckles and Hubs.

I need help identifying the knuckles as I’m putting a set of wheel bearings and seals in it. All the info I have is it’s got dual piston callipers, and 3” hubs. Any insight into the years of Chevy trucks that had this would be appreciated.

Still wondering why they didn’t just put a D60 in this thing.

Haha, just looked, the company that allegedly did the conversation now only puts D60s in them

Thanks-CB

 

[MrMarty51]

Hello CB and welcome to the forum.
First question, is this an independent front suspension unit ?
Is there any way to get some pics of this ? Wheel off would be great.

 

[MrMarty51]

Went doing a search.
Seems there must have been a Ford axle/suspension unit used but for some reason they used the GM knuckles, spindles and hubs.
Might be the Ford units was five or six lug and the Ford 8s wouldn't fit.
IDK why there should have been such a conversion.
Maybe someone with some Ford knowledge could chime in.

 

[MrMarty51]

Oh yeah, I forgot, Your van is on tracks.
I would take the bearings and seals to the parts house, have them look up bearings for a 1998 K3500 Chevrolet pickup truck and see if the results matches what You have in Your hand.
Please do post us some pics of this van. That sounds like a mighty interesting unit.
My BIL once had a 4X4 Ford van, factory 4X4. He had that van for years, then my niece, his daughter took it over from Him and that was Her DD until she married a guy that was in the US Army. Then she was moving around so much that she sold it.
Dont know to who or where. She might have drove it to Florida where He was stationed and sold it off over there.
It was an 8 lug Ford axles.

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Oh yeah, I forgot, Your van is on tracks.
I would take the bearings and seals to the parts house, have them look up bearings for a 1998 K3500 Chevrolet pickup truck and see if the results matches what You have in Your hand.
Please do post us some pics of this van. That sounds like a mighty interesting unit.
My BIL once had a 4X4 Ford van, factory 4X4. He had that van for years, then my niece, his daughter took it over from Him and that was Her DD until she married a guy that was in the US Army. Then she was moving around so much that she sold it.
Dont know to who or where. She might have drove it to Florida where He was stationed and sold it off over there.
It was an 8 lug Ford axles.

TTB is fords version of independent suspension in the 80s and 90s
D44 had 5x5.5 lug pattern
And the D50 and D60 both had 8x6.5 lug patterns.
I’ll get some pictures for you today when I go to tear it down

Kinda a fix as soon as possible thing as it is a company rig used for shuttling people out to go ice fishing.

Being in Flin Flon, MB, it just hit -40 yesterday

Everything is breaking

Gonna be a fun one. Hope I got the right spindle nut socket laying around

 

[MrMarty51]

Oh My goodness, you are in coldsville.
I try to get out tondo some fishing through the ice as often as possible.
Chained up four wheeler and used to haul it to site on a 8 foot HF trailer.
Get to the pond, usually Ft. Peck on the Hell Creek Arm, unload the four wheeler, disconnect trlr from truck, spin it around and hook it to the four wheeler, slide the shanty and gear onto the trailer and head off across the pond. Get to a cove sheltered from the ever blowing wind, clear off the ice, set up the 4 foot by 8 foot shanty, cot and big buddy heater goes in there along with some supplies and bedding, head out across the lake and set out the tip ups, find a likely spot, saw a 16” by about a 30” hole through the ice, clear off the snow from all around so more light can penetrate the ice. Get it all set up with the heater, spear, decoy and small jigging pole with small bait for perch and such. Drop down some crushed egg shells from boiled eggs, dont use raw egg shells, the eggy stuff makes a mess in the water, and the white shells reflect light for more visibility, especially in murky water conditions. Watch the norwegian TV for a while and when the perch and small fish take off, get ready with the spear and start playing the decoy, something big is coming through, start lowering the spear to enough lenght to judge the deflection of the image and wait, pike or walley coming in.
The dark house shanty, folds up like a brief case with canvas and bows all self contained. Unfolds to 4 foot by 8 foot. Doubles as my sleeping quarters when camping on the ice. It has two holes for jigging and a big hole for spearing, about 16 inch by about 30 inch spear hole with a hinged cover for when using it for a camper.

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Oh My goodness, you are in coldsville.
I try to get out tondo some fishing through the ice as often as possible.
Chained up four wheeler and used to haul it to site on a 8 foot HF trailer.
Get to the pond, usually Ft. Peck on the Hell Creek Arm, unload the four wheeler, disconnect trlr from truck, spin it around and hook it to the four wheeler, slide the shanty and gear onto the trailer and head off across the pond. Get to a cove sheltered from the ever blowing wind, clear off the ice, set up the 4 foot by 8 foot shanty, cot and big buddy heater goes in there along with some supplies and bedding, head out across the lake and set out the tip ups, find a likely spot, saw a 16” by about a 30” hole through the ice, clear off the snow from all around so more light can penetrate the ice. Get it all set up with the heater, spear, decoy and small jigging pole with small bait for perch and such. Drop down some crushed egg shells from boiled eggs, dont use raw egg shells, the eggy stuff makes a mess in the water, and the white shells reflect light for more visibility, especially in murky water conditions. Watch the norwegian TV for a while and when the perch and small fish take off, get ready with the spear and start playing the decoy, something big is coming through, start lowering the spear to enough lenght to judge the deflection of the image and wait, pike or walley coming in.
The dark house shanty, folds up like a brief case with canvas and bows all self contained. Unfolds to 4 foot by 8 foot. Doubles as my sleeping quarters when camping on the ice. It has two holes for jigging and a big hole for spearing, about 16 inch by about 30 inch spear hole with a hinged cover for when using it for a camper.
View attachment 91944

Sounds like a beautiful set up.

my old man used to have a 8x16 shack with a 24x24” hole in the middle and four holes around the outside that we would fish in as kids.

I’ll never forget watching Northern pike come in and biting our hooks.

Now a couple buddies and I have a 8x16 shack on 10” skids set up for deep water fishing. Lumber is all home made so it’s real 2x4s and 2x2s,
2x4 framing on the floor, 2x2s around the walls, tin roof, 2” foam insulation, thing is basically air tight once you cover the holes for the night. Little home made wood stove does the trick but yea really got to keep the fire rocking once it’s -30 or colder

Set up to catch Lake Trout and Burbot right now but I do want to try some walleye spots in future years

When we are moving around testing spots we bring a pop up and a propane heater

 

[MrMarty51]

Here it is legal to spear pike and walleye only.
Sometimes I toss the spear at them perch or crappies/blue gill and have managed to haul in a couple through that method.
Immediately the stove is fired up and those speared fishes gets ate before the F&G arrives.

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Here it is legal to spear pike and walleye only.
Sometimes I toss the spear at them perch or crappies/blue gill and have managed to haul in a couple through that method.
Immediately the stove is fired up and those speared fishes gets ate before the F&G arrives.

Fair enough
Here’s the rig I’ve been working on. They moved something else in today so I haven’t been able to get to it

 

[jrsavoie]

Fair enough
Here’s the rig I’ve been working on. They moved something else in today so I haven’t been able to get to it

That's awesome.

How do the tracks hold up?

What happens if a track breaks out in the middle of nowhere?

Just curious what the plan is or odds of it happening

 

[MrMarty51]

That rig appears to have all the phun toys.
I’m not much of a fan on Fords, but, a company furnishing that, I’d have a lot of fun.

 

[Will L.]

Looks cool st first, but then you realize you donuts & drifting days are over!

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Definitely a looks good from my house situation with how things hold up.

Originally this thing had some half ton tracks on it that my uncle bought on a whim cause tracks are cool,

Those tracks were beat up to begin with and they did come apart quite often.

That was before I started working on them but they would lace them together with hockey skate laces on the lake and they’d hold up for a bit.

These one ton tracks hold up a lot better, obviously the bearings in the idlers are a hotspot for maintenance as well as the central bearings, basically a large set of conics wheel bearings between the frame and the drive wheel.

As for how the van takes em, it holds up alright.
They’ve been running it for three years or so and we ended up putting a rear axle with a limited slip in it to help in slush. And now the u joints are letting go in the front axle as well as the balljoints
Wheel bearings have actually held up pretty well, only a bit of water damage in the set I took apart today, but I’m gonna have the whole front end apart so it’s getting everything not sure if they’ve had issues with steering linkage but I guess I’ll find out.
Drive shaft u joints go left right and center as you could imagine, as these tracks are near 200lbs a piece.
They’ve blown the t-case apart but that was operator error

Definitely goes places you couldn’t imagine
Steering is a bear, can’t turn unless your moving

And the tracks come off pretty easy so you can put wheels on in the summer to use it as a shuttle and to maintain the tracks

Got the part numbers for the wheel bearings and seals today so I can cross reference them and get what I need

Luckily the u-joints and balljoints are the same as any other D44 TTB so there’s no issue finding parts there

Just wondering if I should go with greasable u-joints cause while they do last longer when greased, but I’m concerned about weather the passages in the balljoint would decrease strength enough for this to bust them

Oh and the abs on this van hates the tracks and has largely been disabled, but it still does kick in even if turning.
Surprised no one else that has touched this has thought about unplugging the sensors

Ill take some pictures of some other rigs they have so you boys can have your fun

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Definitely a looks good from my house situation with how things hold up.

Originally this thing had some half ton tracks on it that my uncle bought on a whim cause tracks are cool,

Those tracks were beat up to begin with and they did come apart quite often.

That was before I started working on them but they would lace them together with hockey skate laces on the lake and they’d hold up for a bit.

These one ton tracks hold up a lot better, obviously the bearings in the idlers are a hotspot for maintenance as well as the central bearings, basically a large set of conics wheel bearings between the frame and the drive wheel.

As for how the van takes em, it holds up alright.
They’ve been running it for three years or so and we ended up putting a rear axle with a limited slip in it to help in slush. And now the u joints are letting go in the front axle as well as the balljoints
Wheel bearings have actually held up pretty well, only a bit of water damage in the set I took apart today, but I’m gonna have the whole front end apart so it’s getting everything not sure if they’ve had issues with steering linkage but I guess I’ll find out.
Drive shaft u joints go left right and center as you could imagine, as these tracks are near 200lbs a piece.
They’ve blown the t-case apart but that was operator error

Definitely goes places you couldn’t imagine
Steering is a bear, can’t turn unless your moving

And the tracks come off pretty easy so you can put wheels on in the summer to use it as a shuttle and to maintain the tracks

Got the part numbers for the wheel bearings and seals today so I can cross reference them and get what I need

Luckily the u-joints and balljoints are the same as any other D44 TTB so there’s no issue finding parts there

Just wondering if I should go with greasable u-joints cause while they do last longer when greased, but I’m concerned about weather the passages in the balljoint would decrease strength enough for this to bust them

Oh and the abs on this van hates the tracks and has largely been disabled, but it still does kick in even if turning.
Surprised no one else that has touched this has thought about unplugging the sensors

Ill take some pictures of some other rigs they have so you boys can have your fun

And when they had these tracks on the 2013 dodge 1 ton used for plowing, the list of things that didn’t break is probably shorter

 

[Will L.]

I remember some 4x4 forums did a bunch of testing which u joints are strongest over all and which ones have longest life. Been a few years back but I’m sure the info is out there still. Changing the diff yoke is the hard part, rewelding a driveshaft to accommodate is the much easier part. Being all custom put together it would surprise me if they didn’t already determine this and change to a good set up but worth looking into.

I know in racing we were having U joints sent off for chryogenic treatment and saw the difference. 300below.com You basically ship them the parts, pay a big chunk of $$ and they send it back in a couple weeks. It helps everything we have tried so maybe collect up the most problem ridden parts and send off.

All that extra drag created, something else to consider is techline coating for lower resistance on those components too. If you do both you always do the coating first then the chryo.

There’s a ton of things you can find showing chryo treatment results. Below is a short video I ran across that is an easy example for anyone thats ever messed with an axle to understand how well the coating works.

 

[OBSF150-CB]

Honestly I’d opt for a D60 and a costom drive shaft before going through the motions of taking everything off and having it all coated

Drive shaft and front pinion are bothe still oem
But the wouldn’t have half the problems if they knew how to take things easy