Ford Repair: 96 F150 rear axle swap, 4x4 trucks, dana 44

Question
Hey Steve,

You've been a great help before and I was wondering if you can riddle me this...  My truck currently has a 3.08 rear end that used to have an I6 engine and now have a 351W e4OD trans with 4x4.  I have the weird 2 piece axle up front and someone told me that if i take the 3.55 rear off my other donor f150 (same setup) and swap with my 3.08 that i'd also have to swap the front axle as well.  Is this true??  What if I want to get a solid front axle, i think they are called a dana 44 or what not?

I've currently got my front axle off cause i'm almost done doing my 6 inch suspension lift.  I look forward to your answer.

Brandon

Answer
Brandon-

  To be perfectly honest, 4X4 trucks are definitely not my field of expertise.  However it stands to reason that if you swap the rear gear, you'll need to swap the front gear as well.  I can only imagine not doing so would cause huge amounts of headaches and possibly dangerous driving conditions.  Regardless of what type of front end you use, the problems would be the same I imagine.  If it were me, I'd just swap both ends to the same ratio.  You wouldn't necessarily have to pull the entire front ends off of both trucks, but if you've already got one off it might just be easier that way.  Sorry I couldn't give a more definitive answer, but I hope this helps.

Steve