Something w/ rabbits. 72.5 pages of BS

So seeing as spring is just around the corner, I thought I'd start a thread on the future undertaking of swapping in the Dana 60.

The axle is from a 1986 "Fawwd" F-threee "fitty", sporting some kingpins and a whole lot of rust. I took this axle apart a few months ago (except stupid me didnt remove the pinion nut before breakdown ) and had it hot tanked. I wanted it sandblasted, but the machine shop owner smirked and said "naaah yo, that junx is too big for my blasting cabinet" .. okay except he didn't really say that cauz he's old and a really cool guy. ANyways *twirls blonde hair*, this is my plaannn:

- WMS-WMS this axle is just a bit over 69" wide so I'm going to cut the passenger's side down a few inches to match 'ye ol General Motors 14-bolt axle. So this is going to require custom axle shafts and I think I'm going to go Chromos and 35-spline outers off the bat from the most awesome guys at Complete Off Road.

- Drive flange or lockouts? They are about the same in price and its a dedicated trail rig so I'm leaning towards the drive flanges. Right now, the cheapest flanges I found are the Teraflexes at $180 for a pair. If anyone knows of a better deal, please let me know !!

- High-steer arms and a double-ended hydroponics goodness ("cylinder").

- Opposite-ended panhard bar! The idea is to mount the chassis end of the panhard on the passenger's side frame rail and the axle end on the driver's side. Doing so should allow a more simple and cleaner design since the axle-mount can be mounted on top of or near the differential housing, instead of a tower on the passenger's side (like in my current D44 setup). I also plan to boost the panhard as far up as possible to increase the roll center of the front suspension. Yeah the concept is a little strange but I'm hoping it'll work and won't have any issues (no drag-link to factor into the design). But if anyone knows of any problem running this config, please chime in!

*EDIT*
- Detoit Locker for the carrier. I'm please with how the Detroit in the 14-bolt has performed so I figured I'd run the same in the front. Of course 5.13s to match the 14-bolt.


So here's the little guy, he's been in this position for the past few months just collecting dust:

 

[cybergasm]

Yea you defintly don't waste anytime do you?

 

[Dannyboy]

and I would have thought you would have done this right and suprised us with 5.38s.

 

[Dannyboy]

and what size tires you planning on running as well as what lug pattern will you now have?


I've got a set of 37"BFGs on 17" Ford wheels. The tires are about 80% gone and the bolt pattern is for the newer style 8 lugs. Pretty much nothing you are looking for but I thought I'd show off what kind of cool crap I've got laying around. You could take them home in your checked luggage when you head out for the AZ run in march.

 

[IZwack]

Yea you defintly don't waste anytime do you?

I ordered those things last week . I didn't plan on starting a thread until way later but I looked at the calendar a week ago and realized crap -- spring is just around the bend so I'd better start planning and ordering! Fooortunately, good ol' Google Calendar is keeping me on my toes about what to order and when

!!!!

and I would have thought you would have done this right and suprised us with 5.38s.

Cant hooomes -- 14-bolt's deepest ratio is 5.13s (w/o going to "thick"). That and I don't want to setup the 14-bolt -- its a crush sleeve design on the pinion -- like the trusty Ford 8.8.

and what size tires you planning on running as well as what lug pattern will you now have?
I've got a set of 37"BFGs on 17" Ford wheels. The tires are about 80% gone and the bolt pattern is for the newer style 8 lugs. Pretty much nothing you are looking for but I thought I'd show off what kind of cool crap I've got laying around. You could take them home in your checked luggage when you head out for the AZ run in march.

I'm planning to run as close to 40s as possible (stock 8x6.5 pattern) -- cauz that Tellico run has me scared . Thanks for the offer thoughesus! And not sure I'll be at the AZ run because I plan to do the swap in the March-April time frame. You should do a for-sale thread though, I'm sure there will be plenty of interest with spring coming up (when people do most of their builds and swaps).


Funny thing is, with the holidays and being sick, I havent done anything really physical (other than snowboarding and last night's quick run around the neighborhood). So today, picking up and moving this box from outside to the basement was a rude awakening.

 

[95exploderboy]

I'm planning to run as close to 40s as possible (stock 8x6.5 pattern) -- cauz that Tellico run has me scared .

New tires???? Where are your old ones goin? I could use some bigger meats

 

[IZwack]

My current tires will go on sale sometime in the middle of summer so you can have first dibs on them if you're willing to wait that long. The reason for the delay is because 39-40 inch tires are freaking expensive!!

So if anyone runs into a set of 39" red label Krawlers, please let me know! If I cant find any Krawlers, then I'll settle for the Interco SX2 (coming out this spring) or Iroks.

 

[Dannyboy]

Keep a frequent eye on the TSL blem page.

39.5s on 20s for $150 a tire

http://www.intercotire.com/site.php?pageID=55&newsID=7

You might have to buy them one at a time, but you've got 6 months.

 

[95exploderboy]

My current tires will go on sale sometime in the middle of summer so you can have first dibs on them if you're willing to wait that long. The reason for the delay is because 39-40 inch tires are freaking expensive!!

Sweet! What's you current size? 37s?

 

[cybergasm]

SO any more toys showing up today?

 

['97 V8]

Did you order set up bearings as well?

 

[cybergasm]

Did you order set up bearings as well?

3rd Pic in post #20

 

[IZwack]

Sweet! What's you current size? 37s?

Current size is a mix of 36 and 37. The 36s are in the front and are Interco SXs while the back are 37 MAXXIS Creepy Crawlers. The size difference is minimal as the SX is considered a "large" 36 while the Creepy Crawlers are "small" 37s.

SO any more toys showing up today?

Ahaha no, the part orders are scheduled 2 weeks apart so next order will be placed on Tuesday/Wednesday of next week.

Did you order set up bearings as well?

I didn't have to order them because fortunately, about half a year ago, Spas gave me a box of left-over (but new) Dana 60 stuff some co-worker of hers left at her shop -- and of course in this box are bearings. So at some point, I'm going to grind down the ID of the inner races and make those bearings my setup bearings.

And to clarify, setup bearings are temporary sets that you use to setup the ring and pinion gears. They are temporary because parts of them are grinded down to make removing and installing shims easier. Once you get the proper shim stack, you pull out the setup bearings and replace them with the real (non-grinded) bearings. Of course not all bearings are the same so there is some margin of error in the end but it is minimal and you always double check the gear-contact pattern in the end to make sure the error is tollerable.

 

[zainyD]

Bro, please leave the D60 full width. Either that or find a long side shaft from a D60 that will narrow it sufficiently. For instance, I believe that a long side shaft from a 78-79 Ford D60 is several inches shorter than the one on your axle. Many distributer's will let you mix and match when you buy a full set of chromo shafts too.

You'd be money ahead just springing for some new rims. That and if you ever broke a axle shaft you can get a new one a lot easier than having to have a custom one made for you.

 

[IZwack]

From the research I did today, yeah seems like its logical to just leave it full width and go with wheels with more backspacing. But we'll see in a week or so when I pull the Explorer back into the garage and measure the 14-bolt's WMS-WMS.

Here is the question I've been DYING to know: what is the likelihood that I will break a D60 axle shaft? There are a few Explorers on the forum with D60s but I dont think any of them have wheeled it hard yet so not sure there is, at this time at least, a concrete answer to this question

 

[Burns]

Here is the question I've been DYING to know: what is the likelihood that I will break a D60 axle shaft? There are a few Explorers on the forum with D60s but I dont think any of them have wheeled it hard yet so not sure there is, at this time at least, a concrete answer to this question

OH NO..>>>>>>> THANKS im going back to 2.5ssssssssss lol


Have you talked to anyone one pirate4x4 to see how they were doing with the 60? This site just does not have the experiance of the 60 and above

I would also stay full width and just change the rims.

 

[IZwack]

Well from what I've read on PBB, I'll have a hard time breaking a D60 (especially with chromos and just 39s or 40s). But these are competition rigs that weigh a little bit less than ze Explorer -- but they often have more torquey engines so I guess its a fair comparison.

The rigs I hear of are SBC powered, crazy reduction units, 44"s, chromo shafts, CTM joints and so on -- and they last for a few years w/o breaking. And already, the high-pinion design is about 20% stronger than the low-pinion so ring/pinion breakage shouldnt be a problem -- or at least I hope!

I guess I'm confident that I wont break any chromos with the setup I'm aiming for -- I just need to build the damn thing.

 

[Dannyboy]

agreed.

All this talk about breaking something that isn't even built. I'm glad to see your going with a big dog tire, that 60 drags a lot of steel under it. I look at the axle on my superduty and can't believe how much more mass is under that than my 44.

A wise man once told me that Dana 60s are for lead footed honkeys who need to compensate for not knowing how to drive. So what does that make IZwack if he breaks a 60?

 

[FROADER]

A furious footed filipino!!

 

[IZwack]

That makes me.... a President!

The axle shafts typically break when climbing verticals/walls, cauz you just gotta push that front tire until it breaks zero degrees and actually starts climbing. Two D44 shafts said "LOL neh" and *boom*!

The other axle shaft was broken while backing up a rocky face with probably 85% of the weight on the front axle. D44 says, "LOL OMFG is that Draper there standing in front of the vehicle? Let me snap a U-joint and try to kill him".

 

['97 V8]

lol...i've recently put the 60 through some hell 2 weeks ago and it did fine. If my somewhat heavy foot, 4low, V8, and heavy azz foot didnt break it you won't either.