Questions about rebuilding/substituting a Dana 60 from '74 J-20

[Gary Gable]

Hi folks,


I had a driving mishap along the highway a couple days ago where my left rear wheel, with drum, hub, and axle attached flew off the truck. It came to a dragging stop just off the highway.


Besides not being able to find what flew off in the heavy overgrown woods next to the highway, the left axle housing where the hub rides was destroyed, brake plate ground down flat, etc.


I posted an ad looking for a complete replacement axle or parts. Hopefully that yields something.


My questions are these:


1) Does anyone know of a roughly compatible rear axle that could be temporarily put in to make it a roller again? Worst case, as long as it's 8 lug and has the same spring perch width and similar WMS I could have the shop put it in and use the front wheels to drive it onto a trailer. Unless I find the correct replacement I may need to do that just to get it home.



2) Do people rework the J-20 Dana 60 to the extent my axle needs? Pretty much what is destroyed or missing is everything to the left of the differential.


Thanks for any input!


Gary Gable

[Mikel]

If the spindle is chewed up, you can replace it, but it's rather involved.


If no other J20 D60 is available, I'm sure your near junkyard will have something that is close enough.

[Gary Gable]

Re: D60 replacement/substitution

Thanks for the advice.



My dilemma really boils down to this: The truck is in a repair shop 380 miles away. That's where I had to leave it. I need to return to the shop with an the same series Dana 60 used in J-20's from '74 onward, or bring a substitute axle. If I go the substitute route, it at the very least needs to have a spring perch center dimension that is within 1/2" or so, and have the same 8 lug bolt pattern so I can use my existing wheels to bolt on it to make it roll. The shop where I left it is a competent workaday world busy shop, but they're aren't a shop that can do custom fabrication. So I cannot drop by a D60 from another vehicle and say "yeah, just relocate the spring perches here and we're good to go". You get the idea.



So that's what I'm asking really: Does anyone know the spring perch dimensions used on the Dana 60 found in later model J-20 trucks? I can't measure it directly as I'm home now, not with the vehicle. If I know that, at least I can hit the junkyard knowing what I'm after.



Thanks all!


Gary

[joe]

I can't do any measurements but you're talking "late J-20's" comparing 74 and 76. Those are actually "early J-20s". J-20's didn't come out till 74. 74 and 76 should be identical.
"Late J-20's" to me were 1980+ and the pumpkin was moved to center position where the previous were passenger side pumpkins.
I don't get where if needed moving spring perches is too hard for a decent shop. Moving spring perches is easy if using a non J20 axle. With a Dodge, Ford etc D-60 I'd be more concerned with the R&P ratio matching the front axle.

[Gary Gable]

To be more specific...

I mis-spoke a bit in my identification of the axle I need. My vehicle is actually a '76 J-20, not a '74. I'd read that the '74 and later D60's used in J-20's were the same. Are you saying the differential shifted to the center some time in the mid-80's? I didn't know that. Do you know what years the D60 used in J20's was identical to my '76?



I personally don't find moving axle perches a big deal, but this would complicate the process a lot. The shop seems to be decent, but it's not the kind of shop that does this kind of modification. It's not place that does suspension fab work or lift kits or any of that type of work. If I take them a D60 from a similar year Jeep they can swap over my Detroit locker and R&P, do whatever is needed to make it work again and eventually I'll drive away in it.


If I cannot find this perfect D60, then I need something, anything that has the same lug pattern and spring perch width they can throw in so I can move the vehicle using the front wheels driving. At that point is all about getting it onto a trailer and home again.


Thanks for your input. It's not a matter of going out to the truck and measuring, it's 380 miles away. Any dimensional info supplied and what year information of exactly compatible axles would be much appreciated.


Gary

[joe]

Can't say "exactly" alike but 74-79 should be pretty close if not identical. 1980 was the year the rear differential was centered and not offset to the pass side as in 79 and earlier so don't even consider an 80 or later axle.

[Gary Gable]

Thanks!

Good enough for me: Sounds like if I find a '74 to '79 D60 axle from a J20 I'm golden.


Much appreciated advice, and I'm changing my "wanted" ad right now.


Anyone else know about the spring perch widths?


Thanks again,


Gary

[Woodchomper]

FWIW a J10 axle will bolt right in if you are looking for something to get it on a trailer.

[Gary Gable]

Great point!

That occurred to me, and I appreciate your mentioning it. I'd need to get an axle with wheels too as I don't have any of that lug pattern handy, but that shouldn't be too difficult.


Do you happen to know the spring perch center to center dims?


Thanks again!


Gary

[Woodchomper]

Do you happen to know the spring perch center to center dims?

Unfortunately not at the moment. If nobody posts the dimensions I can measure my truck tonight.

I actually have something like three J10 rears. If you lived near me I would just give you one to use.

Anyway, I know your primary mission is to bring your truck home. So with that said, I would recommend bringing new u-bolts with you when you go to get your truck. As far as the rear goes, I think the WMS to WMS is 67 inches so any rear near that size would fit. As far as I remember the leaf spring width is 2.5 inches. You could get 2.5 weld-on perches and just bolt about any rear underneath as long as the tires don't rub the leaf springs or the fenders. You wouldn't have to weld the perches on or fit a driveshaft if you are just putting the truck on a trailer.

For rear end choices, I'd take a look at Dana 60's from 3/4 ton Ford and Chevy vans. I saw a complete brand new Express van rear for like $500 on CL. The late model GM rears still use the 8x6.5 bolt pattern. Ford used to have 8x6.5 but sometime in the early 2000's they changed to a metric pattern. The late model rears have disc brakes with a parking brake. If you go this route make sure you remove all brackets off the rear before you try to fit it under your truck.

Good Luck.

[SJTD]

Couldn't just get of one of those dollies from Harbor Freight for rolling a car around the garage and some blocks or even a floor jack, and a 2x12 for a ramp and winch or front wheel drive it onto the trailer?

If you're just bolting an axle on it to get it on a trailer you don't really need the perches.

[Gary Gable]

Update.

Thanks for these tips. Hearing them, and armed with some dimensional information from another poster, I was able to hit the local pic n pull and identify that the rear axles from the Ford E350's are really close. Not a bolt in, and actually because of the centered diff vs offset like the J20 it's not really a drive away option, but it's close enough that if I relocate the perches and remove the drive shaft I can still hobble around in front wheel drive.


That last part is absolutely essential. I have a steep driveway that's long and uneven with big ruts. lifting the axle with a floor jack would never cut it in an attempt to maneuver it around. I could get it on the trailer, but once home I couldn't get it where it needs to go to complete the work.


Again, thanks, the support and advice has been great.


Hey, if anyone has a J20 axle I'm still interested even if it has to ship on a pallet.



Gary

[Mikel]

You could try www.car-part.com

[Gary Gable]

What finally worked out

Since I had a separate thread started inquiring about spring perch width dimensions and the threads were related I'm adding this reply here which I posted to the other thread, with a couple minor edits.



The "E-350" axle I bought has a wms of 67", different from the pic n pull units I measured. The reason for that is it was off a Ford box van. I'm no Ford expert but as near as I can tell that particular model was offered in DRW or SRW. The one I bought was from the SRW option truck. It's still a bit of a mish mash as the drums and brakes are shared with the dually version. Who knows, maybe they're the same. In any case the shop was able to bolt it in (after I relocated the perches) and hook up the hydraulic brakes, though the parking brake will require some adaptation and I'll need to add shock mounts as those are not anywhere near close in placement. Oh, and the centers of my wheels needed to be expanded (meaning plasma cut to a larger diameter to slip over the Ford hub) so now the wheels are "lug centric" and not "hub centric" though apparently that's not a real issue. And finally, apparently the U-joint output on the Ford D60 is different than my Jeep D60, and the shop had to find an adaptor u-joint with 2 different sizes contained in one u-joint. Thankfully it clears my fuel tank, but as my J20 has an ambulance box on the back and the fuel tank was non-stock that was just pure luck.



Anyway, with a little more luck I'll drive it the final 380 miles home this weekend after the 11 days since it broke down on the highway. I appreciate everyone's input. I also accept the limitations of what can be asked and what can be offered. Ultimately I'll rebuild my existing Jeep D60 and put it back in. But that could take months, even using the vendors on this site with whom I've happily spent many thousands of bucks with. No complaints. I got exactly what I asked for, which was to be pointed in the right direction. My original fantasy was that there existed a complete, identical version of what was in the Jeep offered by one of the big 3 on one of their later model offerings. My second fantasy was that someone two blocks away from the shop had a J20 axle ready to sell me. What finally worked out was that with a lot of creative adaptation and help from others an acceptable option became evident. Not perfect, but at least the truck will remain out of the junk yard for another year.



Thanks again!

[Cecil14]

The lug vs hub centric thing is pretty easy to solve. Do a search for "hub centric rings" on Amazon (and I'm sure plenty of other places), and you can get cool little adapters to put the wheels back to hub centric. Just measure your hub diameter and new wheel hole diameter and find an appropriate adapter.


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