axle good and bads?

[NuCKinG FuTS]

just wondering what the strength differences were between the chev and ford dana 60's were and whether the king pin or ball joint setup is best. also havent heard much about the 9inch rearends how well do they hold up what tire sizes? any info is appreciated.

 

[Kiel]

Ford HP axles, will give you better drive shaft angles, but are known to have wekaer outer knuckles. All are drivers drop. Chevy and dodges are passenger drop, but are low pinion. All are 30 spline outers and 35 spline inners stock. Most people will prefer kingpin axles as I do, but most people have not had any problems with balljoint ford axles.

 

[STAG]

1985-1992 Ford kingpin D60's are only 30 spl. inners, and 30 outers iirc. The 1977.5-1979 ford kingpin D60's have the 35 spl. inners and 30 outers..

Kingpins are generally much stronger than ball joints, but the weak point of a Ford D60 is the factory outer C because there is a thin spot (as mentioned above) however the outer C is still pretty strong in comparison to many smaller axles parts (D44, D30, 10 Bolt etc)

Kingpins allow the use of High-Steer arms, as no balljoint D60 came with "Flattop Knuckles"

A Ford 9" weak point is its housing, and if it is going to be wheeled, it must have a truss system fabricated into it or you will eventually end up messing up the housing. Depending on how hard you wheel, a 28 spl. 9" can handle 36-37"s.. and a 31 spl. axle shaft can handle 38-39's.

http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana60.htm <-- Here is a link about some awesome info about D60 axles.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

1985-1992 Ford kingpin D60's are only 30 spl. inners, and 30 outers iirc.

This is not correct

All the front Dana 60 inners are 35spl the outers are 30spl. the rear 60 were mostly 30spl

 

[NuCKinG FuTS]

is it possible to turn a ball joint into a kingpin or will that require cutting the knuckles off. i plan on doing full hydro steering on my jeep later also which would hold up better to the stress of the full hydro?

 

[Chevycrew]

You can cut the C's off and put on the kingpin c's

Worried about stress? Id go with an aftermarket knuckle.

 

[Rot Box]

I personally prefer Kingpins, but don't think I'd go through the hassle of converting a ball joint axle over just to have them imo.

Some axle builders prefer ball joints. The Dynatrac Pro Rock 60 comes to mind...

 

[STAG]

Yeah converting a d60 BJ to KP would require cutting off the BJ C's. And with the price of aftermarket Inner C's and Outer C's (Deadenbear brand for example) would be much higher cost to convert a BJ to KP than it would be to buy a KP D60 outright.

 

[Gravy]

late model dodge 60's are driver drop, low pinion, balljoint, unit bearing, with a disconnect housing, 30 and 32 spline shafts were used through different years.

 

[Jared]

late model dodge 60's are driver drop, low pinion, balljoint, unit bearing, with a disconnect housing, 30 and 32 spline shafts were used through different years.

There are a few elusive non-disconnect modern Dodge 60's out there. I've had one, and seen one more for sale since. I have no idea what year or options these came with, but I do know the one I had came out of a Cummins equipped truck.

Jared

 

[STAG]

There are a few elusive non-disconnect modern Dodge 60's out there. I've had one, and seen one more for sale since. I have no idea what year or options these came with, but I do know the one I had came out of a Cummins equipped truck.

Jared

just off of the top of my head iirc correctly my brothers '05 3/4 ton cummins is a non-disco. I'm heading over there tonight I'll double check.

 

[mbryson]

just off of the top of my head iirc correctly my brothers '05 3/4 ton cummins is a non-disco. I'm heading over there tonight I'll double check.

That'll be an AAM axle, not a Dana

 

[NuCKinG FuTS]

thanks for all the info so far guys been a big help. also been wondering how easy it is to actually build one from scratch. not saying it would be easy
its just hard to buy a 1000 dollar axle when you know your gonna gut it and rebuild it anyways if ya catch my drift.

 

[Tacoma]

It will cost around $2500 to build a junkyard 60 with 35spl outers, slugs, and all new hardware and seals/bearings. Do you NEED to? Depends. I haven't broken a stock outer yet, so I'm holding off on the blingtastic cromos... and I keep getting cheap/free stock hubs, so no need to upgrade to slugs yet either. Stock U-joints are $100/pair, lots cheaper than anything aftermarket, and if you're not breaking them you won't need to upgrade those either.

Compare that to any build costs and proceed accordingly.