609 with Deadenbear C's and Knuckles

[DanWheeler]

yeah, reading through that thread is part of what got me thinking of ditching the 44. I could handle a blown axle shaft, u-joint, diff, whatever. Limp out in 2 or 3 wheel drive.

a busted ball-joint like that? What a crappy, long day.

 

[gddyap]

You could try a 509. Use D50 outers with 9" center. A D50 is essentially D44 center with D60 outers. They might be cheaper to find used than D60s because of their bad reputation of having D44 size centers.

 

[DanWheeler]

hmm, thats really interesting... so they were kingpin then, right?

so would a set of RCV axles fit into a D50?

 

[gddyap]

Balljoint, I think.

 

[DanWheeler]

did some research, here's what I came up with.

twin beam Dana 50s came in F250s from 84-2004. Twin beam D50s have weak D44 joints and probably not kingpin.. looked on napa for replacement knuckles and they are very strange looking. Not something i'd want to invest in.

solid Dana 50s came in F250s from 98 - 2004. Yes, the C's and Knuckles are apparently identical to a late model Dana 60 but being late model they only come with balljoints.

so no real advantage that I can see in a Dana 50

 

[78Scronco]

I was interested in the 609 as well. I gave up reading after so much information on pirate about them, some good some bad. Do a search over there and be ready to read.