Which Dana 60 to go with???

Finaly in the hunting and buying up phase after much time studying and researching. (3 YEARS WORTH) with many changes along the way.

Quick low down of the build plan of just the basics
-98 2 Door XJ
-5 Speed manuel
-NP231 for now and then Dana 300 doubler or maybe 4 speed Atlas Down the road
-Stock I6
-Clayton 8" Front/rear coil lift
-Dana 60 front/rear

So Ive read up on Dana 60 quite a bit but I'm really getting lost on all the different types of axles. I'm pretty good on Dana 30's 35's and 44's, but 60's I'm just getting completly lost. Hunting down a specific one shouldnt be a problem as I will take my time and have alot of people to look around for me. So I'd like something that is extra beefy all around, 3.5" tubes, full width, 6 bolt pattern minimal.

Ultimate Beefy Dana 60 to me consists of the following (Or what would you do differently???)
-3.5" Tubes
-Locking Hubs
-Minimal 6 bolt pattern
-ARB Locker
-Gearing with what ever I finally decide
-Disc brakes
-35 Spline
-Heavy duty shafts
-High Pinion Front and REAR???

Also I know they excesist but I cant seem to find a axle that is High pinion for the rear end with the pinion in the center. I know its not going to be a DANA axle or IS IT????

Just because I know someone is going to ask what type of wheeling I'll be doing is Rock crawling mostly with about 15% dirt and mud areas.


Any and all help and ideas are more than welcomed

Check out the pirate 4x4 dana 60 bible. Should answer a lot of your questions. As for the high pinion rear, they don't exist out of a stock truck. Thats an aftermarket or custom built deal. Usually made from custom housings or high pinion front 60 center sections with equal length tubes and full float rear outers.

go 14b ff c&c rear , and shave it. I wouldnt bother with a 60 in the rear. I wouldnt do hi pinion in the rear , weaker in the rear, unless you always drive in reverse. I have a currie hi9 rear (8.8 gears) and I worry about it sometimes, no trust block and only 2 pinion bearings compared to a true hi9. I was going to swap it out for a built 8.8, sold that since I Needed money so now im just being careful. Go at least 5.38s. Many people swear by Kingpin 60s (ford are driver drop and HP) but I can find ball joint ford hp60s for cheaper all the time, plus you can still do 35spline, and run stock shafts. massive u joints. make the 30 u joints look like a kids toy.

If you want a driver drop HP 60 you have 4 junkyard choices that are all Ford. 78-79 Snofighter, 86-91.5 kingpin, 92-98 balljoint, 99-up superduty BJ. If you are looking at having one built from scratch, well, then you can have whatever you want.

All are 35 spline inner axles, 30 outers, 8 lug with big brakes, housings are plenty stout.

78-79 Snofighter has longer driver tube (pinion more centered) that makes it somewhat easier to mount coil buckets and CA brackets. But they command a steep premium.

86-98 have narrower driver side tube but it's still pretty easy to deal with coils/CA brackets and are much cheaper. BJ vs kingpin is blown out of proportion IMHO. For most people, BJ is fine. I've actually seen more issues with kingpin axles on the trail. Kingpin knuckles are prone to cracking so several companies sell gusset kits.

99-up Superduty are unitbearing and have metric bolt pattern. The TRE mounting arm is very low on the knuckle as well. High steer arms are available though. Converting to 35 spline (unless you score a Super 60, which has 35 spline outers stock) outers requires new unit bearings for $$$.

If you don't want to run full width, all will have to be cut down. When you add up the cost to build a "bling" 60 (especially if you have do all the brakes, hub bearings, etc) you might find it equal or less $$ to build a custom 9" front. That's what I did.

For the rear, skip the HP and 60 and go right to a 14 bolt. Everyone I know that tried an HP rear ditched it, were blowing up gears. 14 bolts are cheap. Shave it, gear, and lock it and you are done. Most 60's are 30 spline stock and only a relative few have spindles that can accept 35 spline shafts without boring them out.

id go for the 87-91 ford 60 for the frt as there easier to find and cheaper, for the rear check out a D60 ISU from a 92-03 ford E350 van, smooth bottom, and d70 tubes with big bore spindles(no boring required for 35 spline shafts) in 99 they got twin pistion disc brakes, and check out the bible link ktm racer poster, has all the info you need

For me it's all about bang for buck so I bought an 87 F350 kingpin 60 that fell into my hands for $150 pulled and loaded into my truck. I didn't even intend to buy a 60 the day I happened to stop by a yard I'd never been to on a whim, decided to kick some tires and asked what they wanted for it, and decided on the spot I couldn't pass it up when they told me their price. Didn't even bother trying to haggle, just said pull it and I'll be back an hour after you call me back with cash.

I've also found balljoint ones pretty frequently (I average one about every 6-8 months wandering the JY) but I tend to flip those to pay for other parts for my collection rather than plan on building anything with them.

Who knows if I'll ever use the kingpin one I found, but I'm keeping it around just in case I actually start building my jeep instead of just using it around the yard and wheeling it.

I'm tempted to build a Jana76 HP rear with a load bolt.

I wonder how well that would hold up.

Okay so after about 6 hours of reading the Dana 60 bible over on pirate I have answered, to me know, all the DUMB A**questions I was asking before.

I only have about 5 very specific questions.

Like-

What is the length of the tube on the Driver side of a Ford Dana HP60 between the years 78-79? I need to know if the clayton High clearnece axle bracket kit will work or is the tube its self to short.

98XJLongBuild said:

Okay so after about 6 hours of reading the Dana 60 bible over on pirate I have answered, to me know, all the DUMB A**questions I was asking before.

I only have about 5 very specific questions.

Like-

What is the length of the tube on the Driver side of a Ford Dana HP60 between the years 78-79? I need to know if the clayton High clearnece axle bracket kit will work or is the tube its self to short.

Click to expand...

it will work, if doing a 80's axle you will have to modify the bracket to fit, NO NOT under any curcumstances modify the axle to fit his brackets, i dont care if Adam or Clayton recomend to, ive seen 2 broken 60 housings and 1 broken 44 housing where Clayton cut down the casting to make there brakets fit