older front d70 ?s

[scotty]

well in my quest for a more durable axle to have sitting around tongue.gif i have cmoe across an older,closed knuckle,drum brake d70.

i had not considered something this old to be an option,but i am told that the 8 lug uses 35 spline,1.5" inner shafts,and uses this funky "tracta" joint wich is supposed to be very strong. so now i am considering it.

anyone have anything else to add? like,how tough will it be to add discs? dont think i could get myself to run rear discs/front drums :eek:

ur thots? smile.gif

[Snakeyes_Tx]

Now *that* would be bass-ackwards! smile.gif

How come you just don't run a F-250 or F-350's front Dana 60 with the discs and sprung over perches already on it?

I think you'll find that the D60 and D70 from knuckles out are strikingly similar if not the same. From what I remember, its just the differential itself that's the difference, and being more webbed.

[PAJEEPER]

What is it out of? I looked at some 70's in my Chilton manual. Those joints are weird looking suprising how they even move. I'll bet the turning radias would be pretty bad. Looks that IH ,Ford, and Dodge all used different styles. It would be very tough though and I would use it if I had it.

As for putting discs on it I assume it has big hubs just like a full floating rear that you could slide a disc on. You would have to fab a caliper bracket to go where the drum backing plate went.

[scotty]

snake,the ford diff is on the wrong side for me to use. :( too bad,cause theyre alot easier to come by. i traded my camaro on a blazer frame for a front ford 60 and an early chevy rear 60 and gave the ford front 60 to my xj friend,cause he runs a ford 205 xfer.

ifn i could find a front disc braked 60 as cheap as i got this thing,i would. you know how i do things,mr snakeyes,im poor smile.gif so everyhting i do is on an extreme budget. he only wanted $100 for it cause it smashed his cell phone and he was mad at it.i thot it was a good enuff deal,i didnt want to wait and him change his mind,so i gave him $$ i didnt really have(some of the bills can wait another week)

the perches look to be pretty close to 30" apart,so i could prlly bolt it right to my springs if i wanted to keep it SOA. ill want to keep it SUA,tho,i spent $260 on my tuff country springs,and really like the ride,and the further forwward axle position,and the height im currently at. if i soa'ed it with my tuff countries,it would be waaaay to big. even if i soa'ed it with stock springs,it would put me a couple inches over where im at now,wich would give a nose high stnace again,plus my axle would move back to its original position. doesnt look like it should be too big a deal to make it SUA.

you are correct,the main diff in the 70 is a slightly bigger pinion and ring gear. i would have told myself not to screw with somethin this old,but it supposedly has 35 spline 1.5" inners,and if i break the funky tracta joints,i can prolly have custom shafts made with u joints.dont really think i will tho,they look pretty strong from pics ive seen.its defiantely kinda neat how they work.

greg,
it is supposedly out of a chevy,but the pass side perch on the pig has the studs in it like dodge used,so im guessing that its maybe actually out of a dodge.

thats what im thinkin on the brakes. hopefully i can make a bracket,and use a newer front rotor on its hub.

im now gettin pretty antsy to get it out of my 'burb so i can ear it down and make sure its what its supposed to be. it will definately add to the "unconventionalness" of the rest of my rig smile.gif

plus,if it really has a 4.88 gear(what the tag says) then my final drive in 1st,low range eill be 76 to 1 :cool:

[ March 01, 2002: Message edited by: scotty ]</p>

[PAJEEPER]

Sounds pretty like it will be one bulletproof axle :cool: With the 14 bolt and the D70 wouldnt it be almost a 1 1/2 or 2 ton? Something like an M715.