Tell me about Dana 60's

[krisbassett]

I am hoping sooner than later I'm going to be doing some work to my baby and I have been thinking about putting full width axles in. I am wondering what my best option is? I have read some good things about the D60. Are they that much better than the 9" and D44?

Also for you guys that have a full width setup....what are your thoughts on it after it's done and on the road?

thanks
Kris

 

[bmc69]

D60 front axle is vastly superior to the D44. The rear D60s compared to the 9"?..meh..you gain full floating axles and the same 8-lug stock pattern as yr D60 front axle(asuming you want to go 8 lug..)..but not a huge strength upgrade relative to a 31-spline-upgraded 9".

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

x2 on the matching 8 lug front and rear. additionally you could then sell both bronco axles as a set, rear Dana 60's came in Ford, CHebby and dodge a lot of 4:10's and limited slips. I had a 60 on the rear of my Ramcharger and with the 440 engine and Limited slip I never broke anything and seldom needed to lock the front, 4:10 gears and 36" mud wranglers.

 

[pcf_mark]

I do not know about off road but in drag racing you can not kill a Dana 60. Ever. We had one that was in an 8.80 all steel car weighing 2900 lbs with a trans brake for 10 years and probably thousands of quarter mile passes in weekly bracket racing. It never broke! The only reason we changed it was the Ford 9" is lighter with more ratios available.

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

Just remembered, Dodge put some Dana 60's on cars in the late 60's, early 70's. Those cars had Hemi engines with 8 barrels and 440's with six barrels.

A lot of torque.

 

[daves bronco]

I picked up a kingpin front for 900 and a matching rear with truss for a 100. I noticed the prices can very a lot depending on were you are. Alot on pirate4x4. there is alot of reading on 60s, do a search on here. keep the nine? fullwidth? it all depends on which direction you want to go ie, trail rig, tire size, tub narrow, street legal.

 

[Scrapper_MV]

The Dana 60 in the rear of my rig is a problem off road. It hangs down much lower than the 9" or the 44. But it is stronger than both in my opinion. I would recommend 60's if you're going to run large tires, at least 40". But with smaller tires the strength of the 60 is not needed and the loss of ground clearance is a problem.

 

[ep67bro]

Dana 60 rears are cheap and easy to get. I have one with 410 gears behind my shop that I would give away!! You could also go with the Sterling 10.25 rear found on Ford trucks or the GM 14 bolt rear both a real tuff and easy to get. But finding a tru dana 60 front axle can be tricky. You would want one out of a late 70s F250 F350 or one out of a 80s F350 I also think early 90s F350s also had them.

The biggest question is how are you going to use your bronco? Unless you are going to thrash it to death on the rocks with 38" tires or Mud bog it with a 600hp motor and 44" boggers the Dana 44 and Ford 9" will handle almost anything else with mild up grades.

 

[krisbassett]

The reason I ask is because I found these. What do you think?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=12008565&cat=594&lpid=7&search=ford

 

[Broncoholic1]

The reason I ask is because I found these. What do you think?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=12008565&cat=594&lpid=7&search=ford

I think you would be better off with my 1979 Kingpin HP Dana 60's out of a F350 I will give them to ya for $1000

Matched set front & rear. 4.10r Extra set. Rear is under truck still.

 

[Steve]

IMO if you're gonna go full width and 8 lug, you're a LOT better off with a rear 14B or Sterling than a D60. A stock rear D60 is actually pretty weak as far as shafts go. Here are a couple of pics for reference. The first is a pic of a D60 carrier w/ring gear on the left and a 14B on the right.

And here's one of a rear D60 shaft on the left next to a 14B. Both are stock. A stock 14B is MUCH stronger than a stock D60, and both are dirt cheap.

 

[EricLar80]

I have a D60 in the rear. Never had an issue with it, the posi acts almost like a locker in that both wheels are always spinning, but it drags all over everything... you have to line up your route a little better, but you can trash it without worry, Mine is a 5x5.5" lug...

Eric

 

[G's Baja Bronco]

wow, I had zero problems with my Dana 60 rear with 36" mudders and 440 engine on my dodge, i did upgrade to f350 drive-shaft and yokes (too much torque) and the axle shafts with stock locker never failed, pulled several 1 ton trucks, pulled 1.5 ton trailer up hills.

That Chebby rear axle looks very beefy, do they come with disc brakes??

IMO if you're gonna go full width and 8 lug, you're a LOT better off with a rear 14B or Sterling than a D60. A stock rear D60 is actually pretty weak as far as shafts go. Here are a couple of pics for reference. The first is a pic of a D60 carrier w/ring gear on the left and a 14B on the right.

And here's one of a rear D60 shaft on the left next to a 14B. Both are stock. A stock 14B is MUCH stronger than a stock D60, and both are dirt cheap.

 

[Steve]

That Chebby rear axle looks very beefy, do they come with disc brakes??

A few came with disks, most had drums. You can swap caddy disks onto it pretty easy and cheap. They also have a pinion support that's very similar to a 9", which makes it stronger and gear installs easier.

There are a few, rare, 35 spline read D60's out there in specially equipped E350 vans. They're the holy grail of rear D60's. Upgrading a standard 30 spline rear D60 to larger/stronger 35 spline shafts costs much more than building a 14B.

 

[Ranchtruck]

IMO if you're gonna go full width and 8 lug, you're a LOT better off with a rear 14B or Sterling than a D60. A stock rear D60 is actually pretty weak as far as shafts go. Here are a couple of pics for reference. The first is a pic of a D60 carrier w/ring gear on the left and a 14B on the right.

And here's one of a rear D60 shaft on the left next to a 14B. Both are stock. A stock 14B is MUCH stronger than a stock D60, and both are dirt cheap.

An older Eaton HO72 is better, it uses the same setup as a 9", but 14bolt size carrier. It also has a thrust bolt that stops the ring from trying to walk off the pinion. A lot of them came with Detroit lockers in them too. 3/4 ton or bigger chevy's from the 50s-70's had them.

My 56 GMC has one, 4.56 stock ratio.

Napco 4wd conversions used the Eatons in the front too, custom axles and knuckles welded on to them. Used CV's instead of U-joints as well. Pretty damn near indestructable.

 

[Broncoholic1]

Roger that a pair of 60's beat 4 = 44's

 

[krisbassett]

Dang!! Now you guys are making my head hurt LOL I wish I was closer to some of you or you were closer to me. I really like the thought of a full width setup and it looks like there are a ton of options!! So.....what is going to be the cheapest and easiest way to get a full width setup? I want it strong but truth be told I don't beat on my Bronco too hard so it probably doesn't need to be capable of what some of you guys need. Being in Idaho it seems like I am always looking at having to ship anything I want.

What trucks might I be able to get a good setup out of so I can keep my eye open locally?

Thanks for the info!!
Kris

 

[Steve]

DSo.....what is going to be the cheapest and easiest way to get a full width setup? I want it strong but truth be told I don't beat on my Bronco too hard so it probably doesn't need to be capable of what some of you guys need.

Kris, if you don't plan on going larger than 37" tires or so, and don't wheel it real hard, you probably don't need a D60, 14B, Sterling, etc. The easiest and cheapest way to get full width axles under your EB is to get both axles from a 78 or 79 full size Bronco. The front is a HP D44, so better than the LP D44 in the EB, and the rear is a big bearing 9". A plus is they're the same bolt pattern so you won't need to buy new wheels. That swap is pretty reasonable and will work for most people.

I went with a HP kingpin D60 front and 14B rear axle because I'm running 40" sticky tires and wheel mine very hard.

 

[krisbassett]

Kris, if you don't plan on going larger than 37" tires or so, and don't wheel it real hard, you probably don't need a D60, 14B, Sterling, etc. The easiest and cheapest way to get full width axles under your EB is to get both axles from a 78 or 79 full size Bronco. The front is a HP D44, so better than the LP D44 in the EB, and the rear is a big bearing 9". A plus is they're the same bolt pattern so you won't need to buy new wheels. That swap is pretty reasonable and will work for most people.

I went with a HP kingpin D60 front and 14B rear axle because I'm running 40" sticky tires and wheel mine very hard.

Thank you very much!! That makes things much easier for me!!

 

[krisbassett]

Found this http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=12618605&cat=&lpid=&search=Ford Bronco