• RME Gear & Apparel

Dana 60 tube swap

1993yj

1993yj

.
Location
Salt Lake
So we all know that a 78-79 Ford Dana 60 front axle is hard to come by, and expensive as hell. I have been looking for a good deal on one for a while, but to no avail. Recently I had another idea as to how to get a Dana 60 under my YJ. I have a relative that I can get a Chevy or Dodge with a front Dana 60 from for dirt cheap. If it wasnt a relative, I would just sell it and put the cash towards a Ford, but I dont want him to feel like I am taking advantage of him by selling it for a few hundred bucks.

I was thinking about just using the Chevy axle and swapping the tubes around to make it a drivers side drop, so it would work for my application and save some cash. Anyone ever tried this?
 
J

jrpcinders

Registered User
Location
Provo
dana 60

I had this done to my 60 under my tj. You need to strip the axle down to the bare housing and then take it to terra and they can do it for you. It cost me about 500 dollars. I like the king pins from the chevy instead of th ball joints in the ford that is why I went with the chevy. Well good luck and let us know how it went.
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
jrpcinders said:
I like the king pins from the chevy instead of th ball joints in the ford that is why I went with the chevy.
Click to expand...


uhhm i hate to break it to you but Ford used king pins till 93/93 1/2 so...........you are wrong.the only thing Chevy has over the Ford is the knuckle is larger and stronger then the Fords
 
1993yj

1993yj

.
Location
Salt Lake
I am also wondering what is all involved in swapping the tubes. Do they just drill out the plugs that hold them into the diff and then re-weld them? Has anyone done it on their own? $500 seems like a lot for just that.
 
Coreshot

Coreshot

Resident Thread Killer
Location
SL,UT
I had this done with my HP D44, pretty simple and affordable. You only need to retube the original short-side, as the long side can be cut to the short-side length.
 
7

78mitsu

Registered User
1993yj said:
I am also wondering what is all involved in swapping the tubes. Do they just drill out the plugs that hold them into the diff and then re-weld them? Has anyone done it on their own? $500 seems like a lot for just that.
Click to expand...

There's more to it then that, they have to press out the tubes, then press in the new ones, then jig it up so it is perfectly square so the splines line up perfectly. Then they re-weld it. most will weld the plugs then weld some around the tube for good mesure.
 
ChestonScout

ChestonScout

opinions are like Jeeps..
Location
Clinton, Ut
Badger said:
uhhm i hate to break it to you but Ford used king pins till 93/93 1/2 so...........you are wrong.the only thing Chevy has over the Ford is the knuckle is larger and stronger then the Fords
Click to expand...

The Ford brake calipers are smaller than the Chevys in my experience. Probably depends on year but if you are going to run 15" wheels there is grinding involved.
 
7

78mitsu

Registered User
Tacoma said:
$500 to retube a 60 isn't crazy, it's a fair amount of work.

I would keep the Ford for what you're doing though...
Click to expand...

or just replace the C's you can do that. I've done it with a cutoff wheel (okay like 8 cutoff wheels) and a big ol hammer. Trick I've found is find a big semi rim, big enough that the entire pumpkin fits in it and then weld both sides of the tube to the rim at the desired pinion angle. then you level the top of the C's and you're golden.
 
DevinB

DevinB

I like traffic lights
Location
Down Or'm
Badger said:
uhhm i hate to break it to you but Ford used king pins till 93/93 1/2 so...........you are wrong.the only thing Chevy has over the Ford is the knuckle is larger and stronger then the Fords
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I've always thought the late 70's D60's from Fords were ball joints?
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
DevinB said:
I could be wrong, but I've always thought the late 70's D60's from Fords were ball joints?
Click to expand...

nope like i said before they didn't use ball joints till 93 .this has been covered before on this forum

i'm also the current owner of a 78/79 HP 60 .its kingpin
 
7

78mitsu

Registered User
mbryson said:
The axle shaft splines?
You do need to worry about the desired caster on the knuckle and that you have the tube square to the pig, but you'll have to enlighten me on the spline thing.
Click to expand...


That's what the whole "jig it up" comment meant, I wasn't talking about dancing. The way I have seen it done they use 4 1" pices of machined steel with a 1" hole turned in the middle two are torqued into where the carrier bearings would be and two are taped into the bearing locations at the tire end of the tubes, then they use an 8'x1" solid rod that's perfectly strait and stick it through, shifting the tube with a hydraulic jack until it goes through all four ends, then with the jig in place they weld the tubes in. that way the shaft splines spline into the spider gears and the bearing will still push into the end of the tube.

of course you can just redneck it, flip the housing over and add an oil slinger to the ring gear to oil the pinion. then swap the knucles from r. to l.
 
1993yj

1993yj

.
Location
Salt Lake
78mitsu said:
of course you can just redneck it, flip the housing over and add an oil slinger to the ring gear to oil the pinion. then swap the knucles from r. to l.
Click to expand...

If that worked wouldn't everyone do it that way to make their Chevy axles high pinion? Correct me if I am wrong, but doing this would make your axle (tires) run in the opposite direction. ie. if you were in D the front drive shaft would be turning the pinion to go forward, but the gears would be set up to make the car go in reverse.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
1993yj said:
If that worked wouldn't everyone do it that way to make their Chevy axles high pinion? Correct me if I am wrong, but doing this would make your axle (tires) run in the opposite direction. ie. if you were in D the front drive shaft would be turning the pinion to go forward, but the gears would be set up to make the car go in reverse.
Click to expand...


You are correct. The only way you could do what 78mitsu suggested is to run a rear-mounted engine & essentially have everything turning backwards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top