DANA 60 Differences

[RD]

differences between truck and cars?  thanks

[Rocky]

Width, location of spring perches if any, no provision for a pinion snubber.  Anyone else?

[Steve P.]

differences between truck and cars?  thanks

Dana made for a Mopar car will have the mounting pads for a pinion snubber and will have car type axles.

Dana for a truck, will have no mounting pads and will have semi or full floating axles, (MOST CASES). Some Ford half tons had normal car 5 bolt axles. In the late 60's early 70's I think.  There may be more..

[RD]

would i be able to take a truck DANA 60 and just put in car axles without any other modifications?

[firefighter3931]

would i be able to take a truck DANA 60 and just put in car axles without any other modifications?

Jamey, you'll have to weld on new spring perches and have it narrowed to the correct width. The proper ends will also need to be welded on for the mopar brakes. In some cases the axle tubes are larger than 3in diameter and need to be turned down for the u-bolts/shock mounts. The dana in my 68 came from a ford truck. 

Ron

[moparguy01]

What Ron said. get the right axle tubes in the right length, and then go ahead and weld your perches on the right spot or stop being a wuss and 4 link it right away. 

i know where a dozen dana 60s are sitting in trucks and full sized vans. I even got a dana 60 front stored away for use in something else that i'll determine later. maybe I'll 4x4 my buick. haha

[RD]

What Ron said. get the right axle tubes in the right length, and then go ahead and weld your perches on the right spot or stop being a wuss and 4 link it right away. 

i know where a dozen dana 60s are sitting in trucks and full sized vans. I even got a dana 60 front stored away for use in something else that i'll determine later. maybe I'll 4x4 my buick. haha

sniff sniff... i am not a WUSS!

I have a dana 60 from a 3/4 ton van that has my name on it, so i am trying to unravel this mystery to see if it is useable.  thanks for all the input guys! and for moparguy, gals!

[Steve P.]

If you plan to make a truck DANA work yourself you will need some special tools and skills. I'm by far no expert on rear ends. But,, I did sleep at        - - - - - - -.. Not really.. I have looked into it some as I want to do one for my car some time in the future.  What I can tell you is that these rears are set up differently than a 8.75. In this I mean that to set up the gears and bearings you have to spread the housing. The bearings in a DANA are not adjustable. They are shimmed to make adjustments behind the bearings. This means you need a set of bearings that will be destroyed to do your set up. A housing spreader and you will also need a specially ground tube that goes all the way through the axle tubes to align the brake and bearing flanges. Then you need to be able to weld as the flanges are welded to the tubes and also the leaf spring perches.

It's a bunch of work, but,,, if you have power you can't beet a DANA..

[MOPARHOUND!]

Isn't the pumpkin offset in a truck Dana different than a car?   I think it governs how you cut the Dana's axle tubes, in turn governing the correct axle lengths for the application??

I was basically given a Dana 60 HD, and it had 3.5" tubes.  Dr. Diff said I'd be better off finding one with the 3" axle tubes.

If you do it, go ahead and weld the axle tubes 360 degrees on each side of the pumpkin, before putting it in your car.

[Steve P.]

3.5",,, holly crap!!   I was checking out the tube thickness on my dana. It's monster thick.....  about 3/8 inch or more... 

[BrianShaughnessy]

3.5",,, holly crap!!   I was checking out the tube thickness on my dana. It's monster thick.....  about 3/8 inch or more... 

Mine was out of a ferd van.   I have to use 3 1/8" U bolts on it.   Yes the tubes are very thick compared to car tubes but I'm pretty sure it's 5/16" compared to the 1/4".   
As I've said before...  for the cost of conversion with new axles, parts, labor, etc. it'd have been a better deal to call up Doctor Diff.     If you have the skills and the monster welding rig like my friend Paul did to weld these ends on these tubes then go ahead. 

[70daytonaclone]

I have a friend that sold me a dana 60 he found in a junk yard and it came out of a 68 f-100 truck.  it is 5 lugs and within an inch on each side of being the stock b body width. no snubber, but who cares? I can put the snubber on the floor of the car instead and it will still be adjustable.I will convert the backing plate to dodge as well. and go like the devils after me with the 4.10 power trac.

[Chryco Psycho]

the Van diffs are usually a problem unless you are going very narrow , the van diffs have the carrier offset more to passenger side & may be too short for most b body applications unless you change the tube out 

[694spdRT]

I have a friend that sold me a dana 60 he found in a junk yard and it came out of a 68 f-100 truck.  it is 5 lugs and within an inch on each side of being the stock b body width. no snubber, but who cares? I can put the snubber on the floor of the car instead and it will still be adjustable.I will convert the backing plate to dodge as well. and go like the devils after me with the 4.10 power trac.

This is interesting and seems like a easier route to go. Were these in "heavy" F-100 series trucks or all F-100's and is it the standard 5 bolt pattern? I think some of the old IH trucks had 5 lug Dana's but the bolt pattern is different.

[Steve P.]

I recently saw one in the boneyard. They didn't know what year F-100 it came out of, but it had a locker in it and the bold pattern was 5 on 5".  Also it had equal length tubes. The gears were 3.5 - 3.7,, somewhere in that area..  Ray at the boneyard told me he has sold many like it and that many  old farm trucks had lockers.