Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

So I have done a little research and found that possibly 610-219 Dorman studs will replace the 7/16 studs on a Dana 44. This would be a 72 k5 and I was thinking of upgrading. Apparently a drill will make it work. Has anyone else done this? Any other options? Also does anyone know what the part number is for 1/2” on the 12 bolt?

Re: Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

I do it all the time for my customers running larger tires. You'll need 2 drill bits. One for the rotor and 1 for the hub. (don't know the sizes off hand) The 219 stud is a Ford F-150 4x application. I've even done a few 9/16'' conversions

Re: Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

I just put some longer than stock 7/16" studs in my front hubs. The longer studs had a larger knurled shank but the closest smaller drill size was 37/64" which was only .005 smaller. I drilled the hubs but the new studs didn't seem like they went in hard enough. I believe that .007 - .010 is recommended. I ended up welding them to the hub on the back side as I didn't want to take the chance on them spinning in the future. Just piece of mind.

Re: Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

I think the 9/16 studs would be overkill for me. I installed all new 7/16 studs when I rebuilt the diffs. I thought about converting them at the time but I wanted to get it together so I could roll it. It’s pretty easy to tear apart if need be so it’s on the list in the future. So those 219 studs work fine? I assume the hub is a slightly larger bit to clear the knurles on the stud?

Re: Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

Yes you have to drill both the hub and the rotor

Drill bit to drill out the hub is 19/32

Drill bit for the rotor is 41/64

Re: Dana 44 and 12 bolt 1/2” studs
 

Definitely some oddball bits. I think I can get them from the local Ace hardware. They have a bunch of bit sizes. Thanks for the info on this.