I called boyce equipment today to price a dana 60 front (78-79) for my 70 F-250. They want 3300 for a completely rebuilt axle hub to hub with your choice of gears and disc brakes. I know that sounds pretty expensive but do you guys think it is worth it. Does anyone know where I can get one cheaper? I am seriously thinking about getting one. I also priced Dynatrac and they wanted 5-6 grand , And that is their BASE axle!

 

You can probably do it yourself cheaper, but not much. I'm thinking you could pick up an axle from a j-yard or ebay (1000-1200 w/shipping), spend another 500 on a kingpin/brake rebuild with hubs and another 350-450 for gears. Add in your labor, aggravation, and all the beers you would drink during the process, and the price is livable. Of course, there's also the question of whether or not you're ready to plunk down 3 grand on an axle at the moment.


One alternative is a guy in Winter Haven, FL called driveline engineering. Last time I talked to him he was working on a web site. He quoted me a rebuilt D60 with choice of gears for 1900. I almost pissed my pants at the price, and wound up going the other route. If you need me to, I can get a phone number for you, just pm me.

All the Best,
Ernie

 

Well about 10 minutes after i wrote this thread i found one for 1100 bucks. I'm gettin the money order tomorrow and sending it out. So I can forget the boyce equipment idea. Thanks anyways. Later.

 

are you smoking something? i bought mine for $1000 even and bolted it up! king pins are very strong and i would bet money that most axles you find have good K/P's! brakes for it are $25 for the pads and if needed the calipers run about $50. gears in a D60 will most likely be 4.10 but they also came with 3.55's! for a truck running 35's 4.10s are plenty! hell i am running 4.10s and 39's. i think you might have over shot a lil!

good luck on gettin that D60 front Thomsen!

-cutts-

 

Yeah you can build a ford dana 60 with choice of gears. detroit, 35spl outers, new bearings/seals/brakes for cheaper than 3g if you shop around and don't mind buying used parts (like gears, outers/hubs, etc). But yeah sounds like a decent deal there Thomsen.

 

For $3300 I think I would buy a 2 1/2 ton axle, a set of 40s, and a lift kit. Either that or buy a rusted out plow truck and use its front axle.

 

Those Boyce Dana 60's are not from Fords. They are from all the surplus military Dodges (dogs) and GM pu's and blazers that the military got in the 80's. The fron axles all have the pumpkins on the queer side (right). They wouldn't be a bargain. Too much work.

 

Guys, you are all correct in the points you make. As I said, I almost passed out when I was quoted 1900, and did it myself for much less. The point I was making was that a completely rebuilt axle - hub to hub as he was quoted would cost the numbers I threw out. Trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison. Sorry if I sounded like a retard.

Ernie

 

Its okay Green sub.

*Sound of bus door opening on the short bus.*

Just kiddin ya sub.

Chris

 

Sure, you CAN bolt junkyard axles right up and run them but it's always a good idea to rebuild the basics first. Otherwise you might get it all together and wind up with some wicked death wobble, right Fishy? KP's are about $100 for the rebuilt kits. Wheel bearings will run you about $150 for inners and outers on both sides. Then you should check spindle bearings, brakes, etc. Without even getting into the pumpkin you could have $500 into a basic rebuild. Is it necessary? As Patches O'Houlihan says "Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No. But I do it because it's sterile. And I like the taste." It's one of those things that's best to do while the axle is out already. If you can't afford to do it that just kind of blows because chances are you'll have to pull it in the near future to start replacing this stuff. While you're at it you may as well upgrade to 35 spline stubs. Then you need new U-joints which is another $80-$100. You also need new hubs now which will cost you $150-$200. Little stuff adds up in a hurry. I've got about $3,000 into my front axle in just parts, not counting what that axle would cost.

 

ahhhh! missed that part! sorry if i sounded like an *** but my jaw hit the floor when i saw your numbers, lol

Ivan, i want to make it clear than i went through the entire axle hub to hub and everything in it was good! i didn't just bolt mine in as soon as i got it! and for the king pins, i didn't have a problem until i jumped from 33's to 39's!

I agree and it should be gone through and what needs replacing be replaced but chances are if it came out of a late 80's model (88-90) you prolly wont have to do anything to it unless it was just beat to hell and back and back to hell! that wasn't that long ago!

-cutts-

 

the place in Winter Haven, FL is Differential Engineering, steve is a good guy, does great work

http://www.differentialeng.com/

 

Well the guy gauranteed me that everything is in good working order and that the axle is straight. I have heard nothing but good things about the guy from other people that have done business with him. The only crappy thing is that i am gonna have to buy new gears soon (i planned on later) for both front and rear because the gears in the front that i am buying are 3.54 and i have 4.10s now. So i am going to go with 5.13's i think...maybe 5.38's. Also i was maybe thinking about trussing the 60. I keep telling myself that i wont jump it again but when i get in the mudbogs/races it's hard to hold back...hey i have to justify buying 5 point harnesses dont I? HA!

 

In 2003 at the Bloomsburg jambo in Pa at the Quigley tent (4x4 van conversions) they were selling some NEW axles. On sunday when the weekend was over, they were selling off some parts. One of the parts was a new Dana 70 open-knuckle front, left side pumpkin, 4:10 gears, and disc brakes for $1500!! Not much help to this thread, but I thought I'd share. No I didn't buy it.

 

Open knuckle huh...do you know what it came out off?