[AllenV]

Since I put up that post with the lovely black frame sitting its own wheels I have decided to fix a problem that I had been deferring until later. Namely the rear axle had some internal rust damage at the surface where the wheel bearing is supported. A new wheel bearing slid in far too easily and had significant slop. In fact, I measured 0.025" vertical play with the new bearing installed.
I finally faced the music and committed to a solution. A new axle was needed. I failed to find a Dana 44 within any distance I was willing to drive for pick-up. A conversion to a newer Ford 9-inch looked pretty attractive. In fairly short order a local CL ad appeared offering the rear axle from a 1964 Ford F-100. From 1957 on, the F100 shipped with the Ford 9-inch rear as standard. I thought I was going to see an early 9-inch rear in this ad. BUT, what I found was a Dana 44-1. This truck had been optioned with limited slip and at the time Ford used the Dana 44-1 in all limited slip trucks. This axle came home with me.
Since the 44-1 is a slightly larger (2.75") tube size, the 1955 brackets did not fit so I used spring cap plates from a 1957-60 truck with a fabricated 1/8-inch spacer and fabricated my own shock mounts which place the shocks in the same location as the 1955 mount.
I am using the original 1955 brake backing plates and all 1955-spec brake parts. The axle shafts are from the 1955 unit, slightly shortened to accommodate the limited slip differential.
PHOTO 1: Dana 44-1 installed
PHOTO 2: the tags from the Dana 44-1
PHOTO 3: the new shock brackets before paint
PHOTO 4: close-up of the new spring cap and shock configuration