The main reason that Dodge never put a dana 44 under a Cummins was not due to the direct weight of the engine......it has to do with the fact that Cummins trucks tow a lot of weight.
When one takes a left or right hand corner at speed with a lot of weight behind them....that weight wants to go forward and that outside front tire is doing all it can from being ripped off the axle.
That is where the dana 60 and all it's goodies really takes over.
If one isn't going to haul any sort of weight and isn't going to run larger than small tires......a dana 44 will hold up ok for daily driving.