'76 Dana 44 Rear end

[plwindish]

The '76 is in the shop this week getting Turner sets front and rear. There was no problem with the fronts, but the rear end, a Dana 44 posi with 3:31 gears is throwing us for a loop. The axle housing has not 4, but 6 bolts on each side. In talking with Jim Turner last night, he has not seen a housing with 6 bolts. The 6 bolts are in a "lucky horse shoe shape", top end open. Of course, the caliper mounting plate drilled holes do not line up with the bolts at the position they are supposed to be mounted at. Another issue is getting the new seals and new bearings for the axles once we get the caliper mounting issue solved. I'm thinking the rear end may have been a heavy duty one for a jeep? Any one out there in Avanti land run into this issue? It certainly looks like the original rear end in it, having all the ID tags on the rear housing.

[adamderosa]

Paul-

It was my understanding that the Turner Brake rear disc kit only fits Dana 44 rear-ends with tapered axles, which were used on some Studebaker Avantis. Avanti II's mostly used Dana 44's with flanged axles. (Tapered axles have the wheel studs attached to the brake drum, and the drum is held to the axle by a large nut, flanged axles have the wheels studs mounted to an axle flange, and the brake drum slips over) You might want to contact Jim Turner and verify this with him. I've attached a picture of one of my Dana 44 flanged axles from when I had it removed, and it also has the 6 flange bolts in a u-shape like yours.

[plwindish]

Paul-

It was my understanding that the Turner Brake rear disc kit only fits Dana 44 rear-ends with tapered axles, which were used on some Studebaker Avantis. Avanti II's mostly used Dana 44's with flanged axles. (Tapered axles have the wheel studs attached to the brake drum, and the drum is held to the axle by a large nut, flanged axles have the wheels studs mounted to an axle flange, and the brake drum slips over) You might want to contact Jim Turner and verify this with him. I've attached a picture of one of my Dana 44 flanged axles from when I had it removed, and it also has the 6 flange bolts in a u-shape like yours.

Adam,

The Rear brake Turner kit now has one for tapered and one for flanged axles. The flanged set up is for the axle housings with 4 bolts, though. I've had several conversations with Jim this past week. He had not seen a flanged axle with the six bolt set up. The caliper mounting bracket needs to have a slightly different shape to mount the caliper in the 1:00 to 2:00 position. Its on to plan B, cleaning up and rebuilding the drums, replacing all the lines, and hooking up the front Turner's. I had good stopping power, but the incessant squeal drives me nuts. The pads on the front Turner's are about 2 1/2 times the size of the Dunlop/Bendix hockey pucks. The rotors are also ventilated, which should be a quiet operation, so I'm sure I'll be pleased with the results when done. I am just a little disappointed that I couldn't totally modernize the brake system. A guy from the Stude blog thought our Dana rear ends may have also been used in early '70's IH Scouts. He got the bearings and reseal kit for a '72 Scout that was a perfect match for his ,74 Avanti. 6 bolts instead of 4 made me think that it was probably used in a Jeep of some heavier application.