Between the Dana 44a or an 8.8, I'd go Ford 8.8" all day. They are a dime a dozen for under $150 here, the only expensive part would be the brackets since you are coil instead of leaf sprung. As others have pointed out, the 8.8" has slightly stronger gears, slightly stronger axles, and a stronger housing. The only downside is the C-clips, but you can upgrade that later if you want. An 8.8" is perfect with 35" tires and can do 36"-37" tires with 4340 shafts and a C-clip eliminator conversion.
I did find these on fb market place.. hp d44 front and a drum brake dana 60 rear, which I would convert to disc. 4.10 gears, which I would probably leave in it.. I havent been in the axle buying market for a while.. is $850 a reasonable price for a set?
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That is pretty much the best legacy Dana 44 axle you can buy (high pinion, 1/2" wall tubes, big brakes, ~69" WMS width), but that is more than what a set of '05+ Superduty axles go for around here. I'd say $300-$350 would be a fair price for the Dana 44, $400 would be my top dollar. The rear Dana 60 isn't a bad axle per se, but it has 30 spline full-floating axles and small bore spindles that you may or may not be able to bore out to go 35 spline. You'd be way ahead to start with a Dana 60U from an '08 or older E-series van. They have disc brakes, a smooth bottom center section with more clearance, 32 spline full-floating axles, large bore spindles that will accept 35 spline shafts w/o modification, and still have the older 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern. I would try to snag that 44 and get a Dana 60U out of the pick and pull if you think you will want to run bigger than 35" tires.
I have the axles that are in that listing in my beater Bronco II. I have a 5.0L V8 and 38" XMLs, and so far they are holding up pretty well, but I don't drive like I am sponsored. The only "upgrades" I made were tack welding the caps on some 5-760X Spicer U-joints in the stock front axle shafts and installing a factory slug from a full-time 4WD application. They are a good combo for 37-38" tires in my opinion since those sizes are a little small for full blown one tons, but too big for most lighter duty axles.
In my opinion, a Dana 60 rear is overkill for just 35" tires unless you are a throttle jockey or it is a competition vehicle.