79' to 72 front axle swap?

[stonecrusherbronco]

Will this work putting a 1979 bronco fullwidth front HP44 directly into fmy 72 bronco the radius arm mounts and all that are the same right?

[Broncrick]

I'll let the ones who have done it chime in, but IIRC there is a pan issue, and coil/arm mount issues depending on the what arms you have, maybe steering too if you run stock....

[stonecrusherbronco]

Its a 5.5 lift with crossover steering with the 12" extended radius arms that are bent in so tires dont rub. But even if this will work have u had any experiance with a HP44 running 38's to 40's. Or do you think it would be wise to just put in a D60? Id still like to know if you think the HP44 would work with my setup. And do the Hp44 have the flat top knuckles for high steer? Thanks alot.

[Rubicrawler]

I did the same swap but used a HP D44 out of a '77 F150. The pre-78 housing have welded C's and mine were moved in to match the EB stock radius arm width. This gave me much better clearance for my 40" IROKS. Your '79 housing has cast C's that cannot be moved. I've heard of people spreading the arms and bolting them in but I don't know what issues they ran into. Like was said before, you'll have to at least rotate the spring plate 180 to move the bottom of the coil in.

Just a couple of things you need to know;

Exhaust- long tube headers will interfere with the HP housing. You'll have to run shorties or stock EB manifolds if you have an auto or early Mustang 289 manifolds with a manual w/stock linkage.

Track Bar- you'll have to fab up a new axle-end mount

Drive shaft- no real issues, just double check the length to make sure your's is not too long.

You're going to love the stability the extra width provides! Good luck