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custom building axles, D60 and Ford 9 questions

You definitely could, hell you could probably take a passenger drop one, cut the center casting out, flip the tubes and knuckles side for side (obviously swap the knuckles so the steering's still in front of the diff), and install whatever center section you wanted. Bam, kingpin driver drop axle that takes 60 size ujoints.

edit: oh, make sure you dial your caster angle in with respect to pinion angle while you have it all apart, that way you'll retain stock return to center steering stability etc while not making any compromises on pinion angle and driveline vibration.
 
kastein said:
You definitely could, hell you could probably take a passenger drop one, cut the center casting out, flip the tubes and knuckles side for side (obviously swap the knuckles so the steering's still in front of the diff), and install whatever center section you wanted. Bam, kingpin driver drop axle that takes 60 size ujoints.

edit: oh, make sure you dial your caster angle in with respect to pinion angle while you have it all apart, that way you'll retain stock return to center steering stability etc while not making any compromises on pinion angle and driveline vibration.
Click to expand...

so i could buy that "crappy" D60 front from you for like $75 and a RockJock bare center....... then combine the two?
to keep the initial cost down i would reuse the stock open carrier and then shorten the shafts then later on i can upgrade when i get more $$$$ hahah
that would keep me using OEM replacement parts correct? brakes, rotors, bearings, seals, ect ect ect
 
I already sold the crappy one, it was a balljoint POS. The only other dodge one I have isn't quite so crappy.

Hell, if I still had the crap one, I would have given it to you just so I could watch this project. I sold it for literally $15 more than scrap price as it was.

I believe you are correct on the rest.
 
Ok, so ball joints are good but not great and the rest of the axle is good.
The one with king pins is really good but everything else is bad.

What model do I need to look for? I'll start watching CL or hit up my local junkyard.
 
All sorts of stuff.

Dodges - you want a 93 or earlier 250/350 sized pickup front axle I believe. Try and get one from 92.5 through 93 (iirc, the start of that split may be off) as those have internal locking hubs instead of external ones. It'll be kingpin, 30 spline outer shafts, 35 spline inner shafts, try and get it with everything including calipers so you can just rebuild them, turn the rotors, and put new pads on it plus new spindle bearings all around. If you get a dana 61 IIRC it will have 3.5" axle tubes, dana 60s have 3" tubes. I am not too well versed on the difference but it's basically a carrier and gearset difference, gears numerically lower than 3.55 (iirc) would not physically fit in a dana 60 housing due to how it was set up so they made a special dana 61 housing with the pinion moved over a bit to allow for a larger diameter pinion head. Either way since you'll just be tearing knuckles-out stuff, possibly shafts, and possibly axle tubes out of it, it is not something I'd be concerned about.

Some chevies also work, so do Fords (make sure it's kingpin if you care) but if you get your hands on a Ford 60, sell it at market rate and use some of the money to buy a dodge/chevy 60 to chop up.
 
I measured the Ford 9 housing I have now an it is 60.5in from flange to flange. Hav matching currie 31 spline chrome shafts as well. Will I need to narrow that?

As for front D60 ideas....
I need one that I can use inner/outer shafts, carrier, R&P and everything in the RJ60 housing. Yes I know, open diff stock shafts RockJock is gay but it's my start.

Do not know to diff but I seem to see that king pin are better than ball joint?
 
Most people like kingpin a lot more because it's easy to put high steer on them. I'm not honestly sure of any high steer options for a balljoint 60.

Can't really answer the rest. What gear ratio are you aiming for? That will narrow down a lot of your axle donor choices.
 
If you can find one, I believe CUCVs have 4.56s and a kingpin chevy 60. Expect to pay for it though :(

edit: oh right. That'll be a low pinion diff anyways, low pinion R&P won't go into a high pinion housing no matter how hard you try. So you're looking for a high pinion donor axle, which implies a Ford 60 I believe, and you're probably better buying a cheap housing with random gears in it and regearing at that point. Or just running a Ford 60.
 
Hmmmm. I see.

Well I guess I'll just find one of the worth it's weight in scrap axles and use just the tubes on out?
Inners and carrier .....? Hey is it a bad idea to put a detroite Locker in the front?
 
I did what you are talking about. I have a build thread in the AZ chapter but I put together a Ruff Stuff 9" front housing with mid 90's Dodge D60 outers. I found a cheap donor D60 that had good outers right down to new brake pads, chopped off the inner C's, bored them out to fit the larger tube and grafted it together. Super low buck way to go. I used the Dodge outers because I didn't want hubs and the steering arm is very high on the knuckle so you get real close to high steer by flipping the TR over without the extra cost of arms or machining. Yeah, the outers are only 33 spline but a company now makes them in 4340 so not real worried. I know several buggies that are running stock stubs on 39/40" stickies in the AZ rocks and rarely break those so I'm thinking I'll be fine with 4340 version.

Balljoints are fine for most, they are huge compared to D30/44 stuff. And I've never seen a D60 BJ knuckle break, but plenty of kingpin knuckles bite the dust like this one recently:

DSC00556.jpg


Running a locker in the front is fine, hell I'm running a spool but have full hydro. The only issue with a Detroit is if you break a shaft it has a good chance of taking out the locker, have seen that quite a few times.
 
hmmm, ya i am looking over your other thread on the ford 9. did you keep it full width or what though as i wan to use stock shafts for cost and replacement reasons.

i am still not sure of the front, i do like the 9 with the drop out 3rd member as they are much much easier to work on or swap out parts and finding used cheap things are easy. CL or ebay has posi units for $200 and lockers for $400 ish.
 
those are pretty much the same arguments that vanimal conviced me to go for the dodge 60 when I finally do it:
d60 R&P >>> d30 ring and pinion
d60 u joints>>>d30 ujoints
d60 outers >>> D30 outers
d60 Ball joints >>> dana 30 ball joints ( I really am not worried about going kingpin honestly)
33 spline outers >>27 spline outers
$$$$ford hp60 harder to find out here and cost 3x more than a dodge driver drop lp60

cut down CAD housing on dodge and run 35 spline lunchbox and inners (youre gonna narrow it anyway)

you can get cheap brakes and unit bearings online for the dodge 60

I prefer unit bearings over hubs personally after years of playing with blown up hubs on a locked front d30 cj5 and then started wheeling the XJ and at least to me its like night and day to swap out a front shaft. Now im lazy and used to it.
 
sardo_67 said:
hmmm, ya i am looking over your other thread on the ford 9. did you keep it full width or what though as i wan to use stock shafts for cost and replacement reasons.

i am still not sure of the front, i do like the 9 with the drop out 3rd member as they are much much easier to work on or swap out parts and finding used cheap things are easy. CL or ebay has posi units for $200 and lockers for $400 ish.
Click to expand...

I ended up about 68" WMS, my goal was to match it width wise to an SRW 14 bolt rear that I plan on migrating to eventually and keep it reasonable to fit on my trailer. Can't really use stock shafts (well maybe with a lot of brain damage). I looked into that for ease of replacement but the 9" offsets and seal surface locations are way different than a D60 so it just wouldn't easily work out. I got custom 4340 inners and they really are not much more $ than a off the shelf 4340 shaft. Just not as convienient to replace if I break one.

I like 9" fronts too, that's why I built a new stronger one! If you want hi pinion 3rd, a True Hi 9 is the only way to go IMHO. Not cheap but you get what you pay for. 7 years of abuse on mine with zero issues.
 
ok so i'm about to make some cuts on this to narrow it. what should i bring this down to?

what i am thinking is 2.5 off each side, that way i can use the "short" shaft as the long and just cut the "long" shaft into the short one saving some $$$.
so is that a bad idea?

also anyone have a local place to suggest for the axle shaft mods?
 
ok i'm building the Ford 9 rear....

picked up a complete axle the other day with 3.50 gears and Detroit Locker inside, 31 spline.

need gears and a rebuild kit but never doing this before what is a good kit and gear set? i'm thinking Yukon gears and rebuild kit from them, any reason not to?
 
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