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the dana 60 35-spline thread

Beezil

Member #Nay
NAXJA Member
Location
Indiana-Missouri
(for ron s)

whats up supercool?

This is for the dana 60 owners who have suck-ass 30-spline shafts and want to have 35 spline untis but are too lazy to do anything about it.......

ron, I have broken 3 dana 60 shafts and I'm sick of breaking, but I'm also too damn lazy to do anything about it.

I do not have a lathe big enough to bore out the spindles.

I wish I did....dn't you?

all I am looking for, is someone to sell me some spindles that I can weld onto my 60 axle and be done with it.......

My laziness is driving me just to go with chro-mo 30-spline axles.......

I know it smacks of "turd polishing" almost as bad as putting hubs on a dana 30, but I just don't have the heart to get into a huge project these days

discuss.

any dumbass comments will be accepted.

even stupidity from hinkley
 
swap in a 70
 
I've thought about the 30 spline cro-mo's but can't justify installing 30 spline for almost the same price as 35 spline. What about the "adjustable reamer"? Will it work? Also people are claiming machine shops will bore for about $90 but who wants to disconnect and clean the whole housing? Not me!
Beez, What's your opinion on resplining a 30 spline spool to 35 (another thread I started)? I don't want to buy another damn spool.
I should have done it reight the first time. I knew that tey wouldn't hold up to the big tires.
Thanks for bringing this back to life.
Chill,
RonS
 
Ron S said:
I've thought about the 30 spline cro-mo's but can't justify installing 30 spline for almost the same price as 35 spline. What about the "adjustable reamer"? Will it work? Also people are claiming machine shops will bore for about $90 but who wants to disconnect and clean the whole housing? Not me!
Beez, What's your opinion on resplining a 30 spline spool to 35 (another thread I started)? I don't want to buy another damn spool.
I should have done it reight the first time. I knew that tey wouldn't hold up to the big tires.
Thanks for bringing this back to life.
Chill,
RonS

Ron, I can't answer your machining question, I am definitly NO machinist.

ask one butt he's one of those machining bitches.

I tried and adjustable reamer...

turned out to be a sick joke.....

I dunno how people claim success doing it that way....

The lazy-ass in me says chro-mo 30 spline looks about right.
 
Alright, I'll give you my 44's when you get your cro-mo's and let you give them a true strength test. I have a hard time believing that they'll hold up real well.
I may be going the cro-mo route too for the time being. Damn, this sucks!

Chill,
RonS
 
You put in a 35 spline 9" and have more clearence and shafts the size of a 14bolt without the boat anchor size......or you could weld 70 spindles on your 60 and be done, my buddy( is a machinist) did this and has no complaints. If you want more info I can hook ya up with him. He probably has a set of 70 spindles.
 
small pederson said:
swap in a 70

nuff said....
actually on a more informative note, boring out the 60 spindles could probably be done on an upright mill if you had a boring tool with a large dia. boring bar to offset the tool pressure cause by having to use a 8" long or so bar to clear the entire length of the spindle. I imagine it would be anywhere from 4-6 hours of work depending on machine quality/experience of machinist. It might also be done using a 6 flute endmill of the right diameter but i dont think that they make endmills long enough to clear the entire length of the spindle. A large enought drill bit could also theoretically work but most large drill bits have a tapered end that is too big to fit into a milling machine. It could also be done on a lathe using (you guessed it) a boring bar, but the problem would be having to center the spindle in the jaws of the lathe, as i dont know (although I'd imagine they are) if the axleshaft openings on the spindles are centered with the outside of the axle tube. If they arent, it would be a lot more work to have to chuck the spindle in bearing edge first to machine the grip edge so that the axleshaft opening would be centered within it. (hope that makes sense) Either way you're looking to drop a bit of cash off to a local machinist.
Welding on d70 spindles or 14bolt spindles would probably be a bit cheaper and more feasable for a do-it-yourselfer with a bandsaw or grinder and a welder.

For Ron S,
You might be able to pull the 30 spline spool and have it annealed, broached out to 35 spline and re-hardened, but it would probably cost almost as much as just buying a new 35 spline spool.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Not got on the 70 spindles.....Mad4wd sells the rockcrusher ones for your application. Most everyone else I know took them to a machine shop and had them bored out to accept 35spline stuff. Funny, a guy in our local club is looking for the same thing...
 
I assume you guys are just talking about rear 60s. How about front 60s, are you breaking much up there on 30 spline, or is the rear breaking before the front for you? I'm pretty sure my front 60 will be 35 spline before I put it in just so I don't have to worry about it.
 
You have a 30 spline FRONT 60? Those are rarer than a college degree in the Midwest chapter.......

CRASH
 
assuming you use a ford hp60 front the inners are 35spline/ outters 30spline. I put 35spline outters on mine the size difference is quite noticable over a 30spline. I replaced the inner shafts as well the axle I used (78 f350 king pin) had "neck down" shafts in it and a lot of them do as well, inner shafts weren't to expensive and thought it was worth the extra $$$ not to be wheeling the hell out of 28 year old shafts, plus I got spares. I haven't broken a 35 spline outter yet and have beaten it pretty hard.
 
I run Dutchman 30 spline chromo's in the rear of my YJ. I was considering going 35 spline, but I already had the 60 under my rig and all set up at the time. I called Dutchman and the tech said their alloy 30 spliners were as strong as stock 35 splined shafts. 2 years later and no problems.

When I took out my original shafts, they showed no twisting at all after being wheeled on hard for 6 years under various rigs with no less than 38's on them.

Those who have seen me wheel (Bigwoody, 35xj, many others here) know my style, hard throttle and lots of it. If I break a Dutchman on my next trip, I will say they have been worth it.

One thing to consider also is having a tractor-trailer axle repair shop do an on-site boring. We had a Dodge 3500 dually Dana 80 at my dealership with a warped rear axle spindle. The cost of a new housing was too much for him, so we called up Carolina Axle Surgeons. They cut off the old splindle, set the replacement up in a jig, welded it on, bored it to spec, all with the trucksitting on a jackstand. Just something else to think about...

Found their site:
http://axlesurgeons.server101.com/
 
BIGWOODY said:
assuming you use a ford hp60 front the inners are 35spline/ outters 30spline. I put 35spline outters on mine the size difference is quite noticable over a 30spline. I replaced the inner shafts as well the axle I used (78 f350 king pin) had "neck down" shafts in it and a lot of them do as well, inner shafts weren't to expensive and thought it was worth the extra $$$ not to be wheeling the hell out of 28 year old shafts, plus I got spares. I haven't broken a 35 spline outter yet and have beaten it pretty hard.

Bez needs a d70, or a 14bolt. Semi truck shops can have the huge lathes required to bore out a d60 spindle, Id probibly cut and weld d70 or 14bolt outers on it. cheap/easy.

Im still running my 1979 d60 front with stock outers. Its welded and running a steering ram on the tierod. With 42s Ill give it a good test. Only 8 tough trails with the 42s and no brakes yet, but I have a stock t-case and a 5-sp.
Once the auto and dual cases goes in It will be like the 4th of july :D
I will upgrade, but I dont think Im at high risk with my current gearing. Even with 42s I see D44 on 38s (cromo ro not) exploding all around me on the trails.

Ever see a d44 brake.. this guy was following me through H2H in the AZ marathon This was his second brake of the day. (should be featured in extreme 4wd mag 2nd issue, and 4wd sport and utility in the next few months) Alloy d44, CTMS
000_0056_small.jpg

brian_H2h3.1.jpg

000_0059_s.jpg

000_0060_s.jpg


How its done...
1ashman_H2H.jpg


Not a "tough" section or too extreme of a trial.
 
ashmanjeepxj said:
This is the reason why i got a king pin front :D

@beezil
There are weld in rear spindles you can buy, bored already for 35 spline shafts. Why should you spend all the effort to build another axle when you just can replace the spindles?
 
ashmanjeepxj said:
Hey is that me in that picture? :)

My answer to you Beez would be to get some 9" big bearing outers, weld them on and get some 35 spline 9" shafts. It would give you a semi-floater, but 35 spline shafts.
Only trouble is you're not going to get those to match your 8 lug pattern but since it's a 44, it can be converted to either 6 or 5.

So maybe my answer is no good.

But it's cheap and easy.
Even for lazy azz people.
 
ashmanjeepxj said:
Ever see a d44 brake.. this guy was following me through H2H in the AZ marathon This was his second brake of the day. (should be featured in extreme 4wd mag 2nd issue, and 4wd sport and utility in the next few months) Alloy d44, CTMS

Broke three sets of CTMs and outter alloys. The last time the knuckle/tire etc.. passed me going up Helicopter pad atTellico. Looks like the weather was nice where that guys broke. Mine ripped the knuckle off on New Years eve on top of Helicopter pad at about midnight and the temp. somewhere in the single digits, Built a fire and started putting ball joints in, it was a long night. The wife had no problem with me dumping $$$$$ into a kingpin 60 after that and even suggest all the "upgrades" to the 60 to limit carnage, she got to freeze her ass off and watch the repair.
 
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