Axle experts needed

DaveB

Long Jeep Fan
Location
Holladay, Utah
My son has put in a semi float dana 60 into his comanche and we discovered an issue when we installed the axle shafts. The axle came from an old F100 Ford truck that had a powerlock posi in it. It turns out that the powerlock has two axle buttons in the spider gears that push out on the axle shafts. The axle end play is set on these by adding shims to the back of the backing plate. The buttons in the spiders push out and the shims set the play. Now that the power lock isn't there the buttons no longer push the axle out so there is too much end play on the axle shafts. I can see how we could add shims behind the wheel bearings to move the axle out but they would need to be custom built. It might be possible to use newer wheel bearings and seals to make it more like one of the newer axles but I haven't looked into that yet. I'm sure someone on here has run into this issue before, so how did you fix it ?????
 

bryson

RME Resident Ninja
Supporting Member
Location
West Jordan
I don't think I have ever dealt with the older semi-float axle/powerlok combo you've got, so this is just my opinion - You would have to take measurements of the bearing pocket AND the axle shaft to see what else might fit. If you could run something like a standard SET20 bearing, that would make things easy, but it isn't likely. If nothing standard will fit, I fear you would be stuck cutting off the old and welding on new bearing pockets, and likely sourcing new/different shafts. I hate to say it, but an easier solution may be to replace the whole axle. The custom shim route sounds to me like it'd be more expensive than another junkyard axle... Maybe a 9"? Although it is a different story if you already have gears/locker, lots of bracketry etc. on this axle.
 

DaveB

Long Jeep Fan
Location
Holladay, Utah
Not sure if these help, but I am little confused in exactly what is going on. My terminology/vocab for diff stuff is a little different, perhaps a picture.




http://www.panther4x4.com/Dana60-2/


http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana60.htm


If you look on the panther link for sheets 22 and 23 of the old dana 60 manual you will see what the axle looks like. I have read the complete manual and there are discussions on the powerlock posi end shaft "button" spacers and the backing plate shims.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Worst case if you can't figure anything else out, you could cut off the ends, weld on a full-float spindle, and get some flanged axleshafts to run a FF version of your same axle.
 

bryson

RME Resident Ninja
Supporting Member
Location
West Jordan
Worst case if you can't figure anything else out, you could cut off the ends, weld on a full-float spindle, and get some flanged axleshafts to run a FF version of your same axle.

Or the same thing with standard SF bearing pockets and shafts. You could upgrade to 35 spl at the same time fairly easy depending on what locker you have.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Or the same thing with standard SF bearing pockets and shafts. You could upgrade to 35 spl at the same time fairly easy depending on what locker you have.

Good point--same amount of work either way, so bolt pattern availability might be the deciding factor.

It's an Eaton E-locker in this one, not sure if they'd sell just the side gears like ARB can/will.
 

neagtea

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
farmington
I am thinking set 15 or set 20 brg may work. Measure and check bower catalog. Tom Snyder at 6 states in ogden or moser eng. Most ford camper special 60's used set 20. Is it 61" ish flange to flange?
If it is wider it may be a binder. Binders used both.
 
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DaveB

Long Jeep Fan
Location
Holladay, Utah
Well we have a solution. I took everything off of one of the axle shafts and pulled an axle out of his old dana 44 and measured things. It turned out that the shafts are the same as dana 44 shafts and the bearing pocket in the housing is also very close to the same so we were able to press on the same bearings as the 44 and they slipped right in and the end play seems good. The only thing we found is that the axles sit just a touch farther in the housing than the original set up and the outer part of the drums touched the shoes ever so slightly. I have fixed that with some sanding. Eventually we are going to put disc brakes on it once we find a good solution for discs.
 
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