Axle decisions

[Fullsizexj]

I have a Dana 60 with 30 spline axles in the rear, trying to decide if I want to get a 70 or nab a 14bolt and cut the tube ends off it and graft them to the 60 and use the 35 spline shafts. The housing spindles on my 60 do not appear to have enough meat on them to bore out for 35 spline shafts, any opinons from personal experience

 

[XJoachim]

Why not sell the 60 and put the 70 in? Don't mess around with cutting the spindles off and welding it to a different housing. The 70 has not much less ground clearance than a 60 but is overall a lot stronger than a 60.

BTW, you told me to give me some prices for your coils you have left over.

 

[Fullsizexj]

BTW, you told me to give me some prices for your coils you have left over.

I will inventory them today, might take a trip down to the pick u part yards today and have a looksie for a new rearend, gotta change the front brakes on the F-250 first though

 

[FarmerMatt]

Go 9" or go home!

 

[Dazz]

I'm a cheap bastard so here it is...
The 60's 35 spline upgrade will cost you more. Just either get a 14 bolt and shave it or a D70 which already have the 35 spline shaft. Both would save you a few more pennies then the D60 route.
Another plus is that there are plenty of spare 14bolt shafts available and cheap.
A 9" Ford could drain your pocket a bit more when fully built.
:thumbup:

 

[Economos]

Shaved D70.

 

[JnJ]

Go D35 or go home!!

 

[csudman]

You can shave a 14 bolt to the clearance of a shaved 60. And there basicly indestructable.

 

[offroadman83]

14 bolt-----if shaved properly as much clearance as a 44. Strong---only found 3 people to break them on all offroading boards I am currently on (7 boards to be exact). Full case detroit is cheap, rumor is arb will be out soon, lots of aftermarket for this axle now and more coming soon. I say 14 bolt for its strength.---------Kyle

 

[Fullsizexj]

14 bolt-----if shaved properly as much clearance as a 44. Strong---only found 3 people to break them on all offroading boards I am currently on (7 boards to be exact). Full case detroit is cheap, rumor is arb will be out soon, lots of aftermarket for this axle now and more coming soon. I say 14 bolt for its strength.---------Kyle

I went to the pick u parts today, here is what I found Dana 80, it is 69.5" wide so it matches my fron Dana 60 width, comes with 35 or 37 spline axles, have to pull one to find out which and came with 5:13 or 5:38 gear ratios, again I have to open it up to find out which. It is sitting under a box van and is complete right down to rims and tires and still had the hub caps on it. I figure I can shave it and come up with more clearance than my Current Dana 60 has. Only $175.00 for the whole thing. I will probably go get it tomorrow

 

[Mike L]

Hopefully it is still there......................LOL :gag:

-Mike L.

 

[Fullsizexj]

Hopefully it is still there......................LOL :gag:

-Mike L.

It will still be there, this one is one of the small out of the way yards around here, things don't disappear to quick around here

 

[XJoachim]

The D80 is not that bad but realize that you're limited in gearing to 5.38 as lowest you can get. This is the same downside in my eyes as in th 14Bolt. I run 5.86 gears in my 60/70 combo with 39.5 Boggers and i have lots of power.

The advantage of running lower gears in the axles is that you can run your stock drivetrain without the risk of breaking something because the torque multiplication is in the axle where the beefy parts are that can handle this.

 

[basalt51]

Go 9" or go home!

YEAH! heehee

 

[Fullsizexj]

The D80 is not that bad but realize that you're limited in gearing to 5.38 as lowest you can get. This is the same downside in my eyes as in th 14Bolt. I run 5.86 gears in my 60/70 combo with 39.5 Boggers and i have lots of power.

The advantage of running lower gears in the axles is that you can run your stock drivetrain without the risk of breaking something because the torque multiplication is in the axle where the beefy parts are that can handle this.

I am already running 5:38 gears and am very happy with them, so this is not a downside for me

 

[Dazz]

$175 for the D80? :shocked: I'd jump all over that!

Get it and you don't have to worry about another rear axle again. :roll:

 

[vintagespeed]

I shaved my 14B and it's got decent clearance. The bolt on disc brakes were only about $70 with junkyard parts & my spare shafts were another $35. I love my axle.

The only thing I didn't like was cutting & grinding the damn cast leaf perches off the thing, my ears are still ringing from that long day.

With 40s, why are you worried about clearance?

-jb

 

[Fullsizexj]

I shaved my 14B and it's got decent clearance. The bolt on disc brakes were only about $70 with junkyard parts & my spare shafts were another $35. I love my axle.

The only thing I didn't like was cutting & grinding the damn cast leaf perches off the thing, my ears are still ringing from that long day.

With 40s, why are you worried about clearance?

-jb

I am not really worried about it, just figure since I have the 60 under the rear already that setting this one up is not an extreem rush job and I can do a couple little extra things to it before I Install it.

 

[XJoachim]

With downside i meant the fact that you can't go lower than 5.38. Since i run 5.86 right now with 39.5 boggers i know what this low gearing is doing for powering my rig. If i ever go with bigger tires or decide to use it as a off road only rig (trailer queen) i will switch to 7.17 gears. This way i have real low gearing which eliminates every stress out of the drivetrain and gives me a extreme low crawl ratio when i put it in 4 lo.

 

[Fullsizexj]

Well, I went and got it out today with the help of a coulpe friends

got me a full foating Dana 80 now