1956- Dana 44 Differential high RPMs on highway

[Philt]

My 56 has a tagged Dana 44 differential with the Ford O Matic and 312. Fun so far but the rpms are a bit high for highway travel My buddy swapped a 74 Maverick RE into his 55 for the 2.74 ratio.

Local rear end shop confirmed mine is a 3.30 and that the only ring/pinion sets available are 3.23...not much improvement. Short of a tranny or rearend swap, guess I will keep this one on side roads.
Phil in Tenn

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[Dlluinstra]

Overdrive transmission

 

[tbird]

Please include the model year of the car in the subject on future posts.
Also, a detailed subject is vital for responses.
"Dana 44 Differential" could mean anything, are you selling one, buying one, repairing one? I changed your title to "1956- Dana 44 Differential high RPMs on highway"

 

[henro]

My 56 has a tagged Dana 44 differential with the Ford O Matic and 312. Fun so far but the rpms are a bit high for highway travel My buddy swapped a 74 Maverick RE into his 55 for the 2.74 ratio.

Local rear end shop confirmed mine is a 3.30 and that the only ring/pinion sets available are 3.23...not much improvement. Short of a tranny or rearend swap, guess I will keep this one on side roads.
Phil in Tenn

we drove the 292 and 312 engines many years at 3-4 grand al the time. never hurt a thing. why do people think these old engines can't run over 2 grand down the highway? run the hell out of it , it will take it in stride!

 

[Larry3005]

My 56 has a tagged Dana 44 differential with the Ford O Matic and 312. Fun so far but the rpms are a bit high for highway travel My buddy swapped a 74 Maverick RE into his 55 for the 2.74 ratio.

Local rear end shop confirmed mine is a 3.30 and that the only ring/pinion sets available are 3.23...not much improvement. Short of a tranny or rearend swap, guess I will keep this one on side roads.
Phil in Tenn

where is that rind and pinion available

 

[anatoly arutunoff]

I'm the 5th owner of a '55 automatic. whoever rebuilt this engine--if anyone ever did!--did a fantastic job! in 10+ years of ownership it's never leaked a drop of anything, even creeping thru traffic with 95 degrees f and the a/c condenser still in place in front of the radiator (we've removed the rest of the a/c system). it's been in France for awhile; they love it over there. it burned a quart of oil about every 500 miles until I had to keep up with traffic 3 years ago and ran 80mph for half an hour. now the oil consumption is negligible! I've used xado in all its fluids; check out their website. I also use some tablets in the gas but I don't remember the name of that product. our only problem was heavy loads over bumpy roads wore thru the flex line to the rear brakes--the line just got squeezed against the body a bit too much. the carb was rebuilt several years ago and with the h/d brake linings someone installed, and an addco rear sway bar the car will keep up with a '55 jaguar thru the mountains. I have another '55 with a continental kit here in tulsa because I thought I'd sold the one overseas, so if anyone's interested in a very nice car with both tops at a good price please let me know! I have a set of headers to go on the faraway car the next time we get over there. I'd've thought headers would be easy to find but it took a surprisingly long search to find them.