Why Dana 60?

[bmc69]

Yeah, but the Sterling if I remember right is lacking a pinion brg, has a longer pinion shaft (messing up DS angles) and lacking comparable pinion strength if I remember right.

? I swapped a Sterling in to my '78 Bronco, to accompany the D60 I put up frnt, and the rear driveshaft length was spot on the money...didn't have to change it at all.

 

[hossbronco]

You are right on. It is HARD to find anybody in my Valley to go wheeling with. Must be 9/10 guys in the big city 100 miles west of me that won't even drive in the RAIN much less go wheeling.

They all drive $80,000 trucks and drive them in the rain...

That’s the downside of this trend. Most people seem very pleased about the increase in value, but not me. It just makes it harder to find good Broncos. For a guy who is never selling, I’ll never cash in. And it’s going to get more difficult to find EB owners who are willing to actually wheel their Broncos.

 

[1969]

Yes, comparing it to the D60 above.

I grenaded enough built 9" rear ends to not even feel it worth mentioning that the 14 bolt is stronger than the 9".

Before I built the 14 bolt to replace the TruHigh 9 with CRV axles and aftermarket housing with FF ends, etc.... I called all over to builders of chase trucks and off road shops and every single one of them repeated the same story. I wouldn't be able to keep a D60 in the rear- don't even try as the 14 was far stronger.

So far so good.

I’ve seen plenty of rigs running both the sterling and 14 bolt. I couldn’t tell you which is the stronger of the two.. I only got the sterling to match the front super duty 60.

 

[1969]

That’s the downside of this trend. Most people seem very pleased about the increase in value, but not me. It just makes it harder to find good Broncos. For a guy who is never selling, I’ll never cash in. And it’s going to get more difficult to find EB owners who are willing to actually wheel their Broncos.

I prefer the increase in value. I’m glad not everyone and their cousin is driving around in a classic bronco like it’s some pos Jeep.

 

[nvrstuk]

I prefer the increase in value. I’m glad not everyone and their cousin is driving around in a classic bronco like it’s some pos Jeep.

That's the exact problem now. The EB is a status symbol so they aren't used anymore. They are being shown off. "Look what I have" vehicle. To me that's worse because they don't want it for what it was built for.


Personally I really dislike the increased value. Nothing positive in it except it's worth more. NOT selling so every other thing about increased value is detrimental.

1- insurance costs and difficulty with a policy allowing you to drive it off pavement

2- parts cost explosion

3- theft concerns

4- very few will drive them- not talking Fordyce type trails. Talking ANYWHERE "it'll get wet, it might get a rock chip, it might"... this is what I don't like... Used to have a half dozen guys locally that wheeled...

5- Looky loo's. I am looking at having to buy an enclosed trailer to keep "lookers" off my trailer when I come out of the store or gas station when traveling.


like Gen6 owners that are now "Bronco people". No similar experiences. No conversations that go like this: "look what I fixed" with a reply of yeah, "I had to fix that too and here's how I modified it".
Two rigs aren't even close to the same (except name badge) so the experiences of building them aren't the same. Anyway, guess ya know how I feel about increased values. lol
NOTHING but negative downsides to guys that actually drive them off road imho. Also not saying Gen 6 people can't be nice (not saying that at all) or friendly but just like going to a Camaro event and fitting in- nice people but not the same experiences.

 

[Yeller]

^^^^^ how I feel about car shows. Only reason to do more than a cruise/walk through is to hang out with friends that I wheel with lol

 

[jamesroney]

That's the exact problem now. The EB is a status symbol so they aren't used anymore.

I agree that this is a problem. Did someone say Fordyce??? The other issue is that some Bronco's have been improved / modified / bulletproofed over the years to the point where they no longer self-destruct on the trail. It's a double edged sword. I think it intimidates some newbies from taking the plunge. But you also run out of things to share at the campfire. But @nvrstuk is exactly right. I know where this green Bronco still lives. It hasn't been on the trail in 10+ years. It sits in an air conditioned garage, and is "too pretty" to wheel. And that Green M38 also sits in a $3M garage-mahal.

Funny thing is, that M38 has an SEFI 5.0 / NP435 / D60 / D44. If you didn't know better, you would think it's a Bronco. In fact, after I built it, I realized that I had invented a Bronco. So I built this blue one. And since this is a D60 thread, you can see the low budget D60 sitting under the front of this one. Cheapest 60 that I could find. It's a GM King Pin 60, with tubes swapped, and re-patterned 5x5.5 hubs, and shortened / re-splined on one side. Modified 3/4 ton GM back plates and rotors. Used c-wedges and track bar bracket from a D30. All used parts. I think I spent $1K total. And about 500 hours. Rolling on 35's, that pumpkin was capable of finding every boulder on the trail. It made a lot of interesting noises scraping the tops off of just about everything. It got hit more times than Joe Louis. Highly recommend shaving, or going 37's. I don't know why the rear 60 never got hung up.

 

[nvrstuk]

Great pics James and under 1K for the WIN!!!

 

[rocknhorse76]

You are right on. It is HARD to find anybody in my Valley to go wheeling with. Must be 9/10 guys in the big city 100 miles west of me that won't even drive in the RAIN much less go wheeling.

They all drive $80,000 trucks and drive them in the rain...

You know I’m always up for wheeling with you, Brian!

 

[Yeller]

I wheel mine, despise driving it in the rain seriously, I’d rather ride a motorcycle with no windshield in the rain than drive my bronco. Working on fixing that, at least make it better, but got a fellow members project that I’m committed to getting complete first.

 

[nvrstuk]

For sure Tim!!

Yup, there's 3 of us now!

 

[Madgyver]

we play
I'll be doing a D60 soon.

 

[NGABronco]

^^^^^ how I feel about car shows. Only reason to do more than a cruise/walk through is to hang out with friends that I wheel with lol

Hell, I take mine to car shows and play in the mud!!!

 

[toddz69]

I enjoy reading these type of threads for good tech info for folks that push their rigs a lot harder than I do.

Todd Z.

 

[Speedrdr]

Since I’ve seen the term “shaved” in reference to differentials, what you talkin bout, Willis ?I’m just a plain old guy that’s only had plain old EBs.

Randy

 

[Yeller]

Since I’ve seen the term “shaved” in reference to differentials, what you talkin bout, Willis ?I’m just a plain old guy that’s only had plain old EBs.

Randy

Trim the bottom of the housing off and weld in a piece of steel plate and put a custom cover on it. Adds 1-1/4” of ground clearance on a D60, making it equal to a d44 in ground clearance. You can see the different shape of the housing on the bottom. One is a stock D60 and one is shaved.

There is also some tech in This add about it.

 

[Speedrdr]

Gracias, Yeller! Was thinking the chunks were cast iron, for some reason, and difficult to weld.

Randy

 

[Yeller]

Gracias, Yeller! Was thinking the chunks were cast iron, for some reason, and difficult to weld.

Randy

Your welcome!

Common misconception that the center sections, C’s and knuckles are cast iron. They are cast ductile/nodular ironor in the case of some C’s and knuckles forged steel. They are all weldable. Exception is some drop out centers like 9” and 8” sometimes are not weldable. I even weld suspension links to the center sections, this is the upper control arm mount on my one and only D44 in my fleet.

 

[hossbronco]

Yes, comparing it to the D60 above.

I grenaded enough built 9" rear ends to not even feel it worth mentioning that the 14 bolt is stronger than the 9".

Before I built the 14 bolt to replace the TruHigh 9 with CRV axles and aftermarket housing with FF ends, etc.... I called all over to builders of chase trucks and off road shops and every single one of them repeated the same story. I wouldn't be able to keep a D60 in the rear- don't even try as the 14 was far stronger.

So far so good.

Just to be clear, you’ve grenaded enough built high pinion 9” rear ends, or have you grenaded built low pinion 9” rear ends as well? Certainly the 14 bolt is stronger either way, but I’m trying to understand how you think the 9” compares with the Dana 60.

I don’t think it would be fair to compare the strength of a high pinion 9” rear axle to a low pinion Dana 60 rear axle when making statements about which axle is stronger overall, though it still makes for an interesting conversation.

 

[jamesroney]

Just to be clear, you’ve grenaded enough built high pinion 9” rear ends, or have you grenaded built low pinion 9” rear ends as well? Certainly the 14 bolt is stronger either way, but I’m trying to understand how you think the 9” compares with the Dana 60.

I don’t think it would be fair to compare the strength of a high pinion 9” rear axle to a low pinion Dana 60 rear axle when making statements about which axle is stronger overall, though it still makes for an interesting conversation.

Don’t forget that anyone in the rock crawling community is focused on ultimate strength and shock load features. For sustained high torque loads, you will have different results.

The Dana 60 hypoid pinion, when loaded in positive thrust will outperform the 9 inch (in sustained pulling) by about double. The 60 uses a HM803146 tapered roller (3.5 inch OD) for the inner pinion. The 9 inch uses a M88048 (2.688 inch OD) The 9 inch has an allowable dynamic load of 61.1 kN. The Dana 60 is good for 124 kN. That means that 60 can push twice as much load up the same hill.

I’m not saying the 60 is better for your application. And I’m not saying that the 9 inch is better. I’m saying that depending on the application, there’s advantages, and disadvantages. At the end of the day, the recipe that has worked for the most people, running 35-39 inch tires across the community is a 35 spline 60 up front, and a 30 spline 14 bolt out back.
Your mileage may vary…