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Drop spindle Dana 60 build

ntsqd

heratic car camper
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,919
Loc.
Upper SoKA
Can't even recall what pbb number I had. Wasn't there very much.

On the carrier bearing for the half-shaft, I'm not sure that it matters even a little, but the OCD in me wants to put it on the outer ends of the inner shafts.
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
35,706
How sealed is that? Trying to keep everything out, or are there drains built in?

I've had thoughts of a flipped housing with H1 portals grafted on. Never got serious about it.

Another idea was to pull the whole H1 axle/suspension/frame clip. Delete the springs and make them solid. Then hang that package off links and treat it like a solid axle. You could get all the articulation of a straight axle with the clearance of independent suspension and portals.
 

ntsqd

heratic car camper
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,919
Loc.
Upper SoKA
Or bolt them together with a bridging structure and have a deDeon axle.

Or could put them on swing-arms, use a single 9" upside down, drive them with chains and.......oh, wait, Cam's already done that.......

i-p9GvSDk.jpg
 
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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

Contributor
Jr. Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
274
Loc.
Kutztown PA
I hear you guys regarding the pbb. I hadn't logged in in years. I did specifically for this project, hoping to find some info. I had no idea it wasn't a thing anymore.
 
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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

Contributor
Jr. Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
274
Loc.
Kutztown PA
Can't even recall what pbb number I had. Wasn't there very much.

On the carrier bearing for the half-shaft, I'm not sure that it matters even a little, but the OCD in me wants to put it on the outer ends of the inner shafts.
Honestly, I wish it were. That's one thing I'm not super happy about. That's just how it worked out since That shaft is made for it.
 
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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

Contributor
Jr. Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
274
Loc.
Kutztown PA
How sealed is that? Trying to keep everything out, or are there drains built in?

I've had thoughts of a flipped housing with H1 portals grafted on. Never got serious about it.

Another idea was to pull the whole H1 axle/suspension/frame clip. Delete the springs and make them solid. Then hang that package off links and treat it like a solid axle. You could get all the articulation of a straight axle with the clearance of independent suspension and portals.
Not sealed at all, it has drain holes. I like the portal idea a lot, but there are no 1-1 geared portals, so you have to run them front and back. That was a deal breaker since I wanted to keep this low.
 
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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

Contributor
Jr. Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
274
Loc.
Kutztown PA
I knew from the start that I wanted electric parking brakes so I went down the rabbit hole researching what people are using. Turns out Tesla used a really nice Brembo caliper for a while. It's aluminum, so pretty light, but what really sets it apart from the rest is that it's a 2 piece caliper. That means you can un- bolt the two halves and make a spacer to run any width rotor you want. That all sounded great, so I hit the buy it now on eBay and got one. As soon as I got it in my hands I knew it wasn't going to work for my application. The part that bridges the rotor was to thick to fit between the rotors and the wheel. I ended up using 2020 f150 calipers. Probably for the best in the long run since they are much more readily available.

It took forever to find a rotor that would work. The flange where the unit bearing bolts on is 7" diameter, so it had to be able to swallow that. Also it had to be at least 13.5" diameter so the calipers would fit without hitting the axle housing. I ended up with 08 Dodge Durango rotors. They were drum in hat, so they had room to swallow the axle flange and are just shy of 14" diameter. I did have to grind the calipers a little to clear my wheels.

I'm bought a Pantera Electronics controller for the park brake function but haven't got a chance to install that yet.
 

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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

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May 16, 2018
Messages
274
Loc.
Kutztown PA
I originally planned to keep it leaf springs, but that idea went out the window pretty quick. As soon as I realized how big the housing was going to be, and wanting to keep the ride height where it was, there was definitely no room for leafs. Ok, so I started figuring out a triangulated 4 link. Not the easiest task on an early bronco that is realatively low, not willing to cut the body and still have some decent wheel travel. I ended up going with a trailing arm setup.
 

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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

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274
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Kutztown PA
The shocks are 8.5" Fox . Most of the pics I have are with the wrong springs during mock-up, that's why the adjusters are down so far.
 

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Qumanchew

Qumanchew

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At this point I have about 200 road miles on it, no off-road miles yet. It runs out nice and smooth, so I'm feeling good about that. Only time will tell story of longevity. We're going to try and get out wheeling in a few weeks, so we'll see what happens there.
 
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