Which trucks have a Dana-60 that will fit my '88 GW?

[gwinn]

I'm shopping for front and rear Dana-60's for my GW. I see them in the newspaper, Truck-Trader & online. There appears to be no shortage. Many are listed by the vehicle they came out of. Which vehicles and what years have Dana-60's that are compatable with the least retrofitting? I have a mechanic friend that will help with rebuilding and retrofit, but he suggested I ask the forum to get started. :confused:

[jeepbob]

Bolt in? none! Ford would be your best bet with the drivers side drop.

[scotty]

the ford spring pads are close enuff for govt purposes smile.gif youll just need to modify steering and shock mounts. keep in mind that this axle is allready sprung over,so installing it is gonna give you 7+ inches of lift automatically unless you go to alot of trouble to spring it under.

[gwinn]

I guess it isn't real important to have a D-60 in the front. How much trouble would it be to install a rear D-60 and a front D-44 out of a '74 or newer J-20 in my GW? Is the front pretty much the same diff, but with 8 lug wheels? How 'bout the difficulty of retrofit on the rear? :confused:

[Agent Orange]

Don't forget about lug patterns. You'll want to match them up if you ever intend on rotating the tires. As long as the spring pads are close it's just a matter of bolting on the ubolts and connecting the brake line which may need an adapter. Not to complicated. If you want 8 lug front you can swap in 8 lug hubs rotors and calipers off of a chevy or ford 44. I know someone with the parts. Also why are you going with 60s? If you do mild wheeling you really don't need anything that strong.

[gwinn]

Actually my wheeling isn't that mild. I was out last weekend and got my rear kicked by a steep mountain, as well as, a Nissan Pathfinder and a few Wranglers etc. My engine was strong and I wasn't spinning at all. The problem was in my gears. I want to upgrade to 4.56 or at least 4.27. I don't want to over-stress my axles etc with the lower gears. I figured the D-60's could take more severe beating.

[TexasJ10]

A 1978 or 1979 Ford D60 for the front will be a very close match for you. It comes with a standard 8 bolt pattern and disk brakes, and is a high pinion design to which helps with drive line angle. The spring pads are 31.5" between center verses the FSJ width of 32" to 32.4". It will bolt in. As previously mentioned, the Ford front axle is a spring over design and when installed will result in the front being lifted 6" to 7" over stock. For the rear, I have been advised to look for an eigthies Dodge Dana 70. supposedly the spring pads are close on this axle as well. The D70 has the desirable 35 spline axles while most stock Dana 60s come with 30 spline axles. To level the vehical you should look into the River Beast shackle inversion kit. This kit will raise the rear 7" with stock springs and no blocks. The lift that this combination of axles requires is a little higher than I really wanted, but it seems to be a good combination all the same. I believe the above axles are also approximately 4" wider than stock. This lets you use a wheel with greater backspacing and yet still gives a stable base even when lifted.

[scotty]

for whatever its worth,i havent had any trouble with my front 44. my rear has suffered pinhed axletubes,blown spider gears,and a broken axleshaft.in all fairness,tho,i believe my broken axleshaft was a result of a piece of spider gear getting wedged in the pinion or ring gear on the way home.id welded the rear diff in the woods,after blowing out the spiders,but the welds broke on the driver side(was still oily,and couldnt really get to it to make a good weld since the ring gear was still on,and the diff still in the housing). i used the right rear to pull it around to hook up the towbar,and when i got home,i had no rear wheels at all :confused: and lo and behold a broken axleshaft.

anyway,im pretty hard on mine,and im not worryin too much about a front 60 till my front 44 starts giving me grief. i think the front 44s full floating design and beefier housing makes it quite a bit stronger than the rear. im also conastantly shigfting in and out of 4wd,i only lik to use the front when i have to,so my rear has to hold up to alot more of its share of the abuse.

installing a j20 axle will mean movig the spring pads. not sure how close they will be on the ford.it would be worth measuring,they might be close enuff.

a j20,j10,or f250/350 or chevy axle will be wider than your current front. if you dont want to hack out your fenders or install widetrac front fenders,you could swap the 8 lug stuff onto your current front.

some 3/4 ton 44s have bigger axle u joints. at least thats what the mags say. however,the couple 3.4 ton chevy and j20 44s that ive actually checked had the same 297x that my 1/2 ton 44 uses.

as was mentioned,most 60s have 1/31 inch 30 spline axles. the d70 has 35 splie 1.5" shafts,and the 14 bolt 1.5 30 spline shafts. while the 70 is prolly alittle bit stonger,the 14 bolt is a dime a dozen. if you think your wheelin is gona be that extreme,you might consider one of these.

only thing about 3/4 and 1 ton axles is that you lose ground clearance. im gonna be pretty bummed out at the clearance loss,but hopefully the strength gained will be worth it. and hopefully i can shave off enuff to keep loss to a minimum.i got away with 1/2 ton 44s and 38s for a long time by using an automatic and being easy with the pedal on the right smile.gif

[TexasJ10]

The 14 bolt does seem attractive. Does anyone know far it hangs down in relation to a Dana 70? Are good lockers available? Do any come with spring pads spaced 51" on center? I'm always hoping for a bolt in for my J-10.

[sandmanb]

not sure about the diference in clearence between a 14 bolt and a 70,but it hangs down about 1/2inch lower than a dana 60,lockers avaliblity,i do know they make a detroit at least.if you want a 14 bolt call some military salvage places,the chevy 1-ton cucv has a corparte 14-bolt with 456 gears and a detroit locker,they all do,and they are uasuly in great shape, i picked mine up complete hub to hub for 250.00 bucks,use your extra money for a disk brake convertion and your set,im not sure about spring perches,havent set mine up yet,but its no big deal even if you have to weld new ones on.