Well i made the big mistake of letting the wife drive the truck...short and sweet is after a new tire/steering shaft/box/pump/and linkage I'm still in a world of hurt with a bend I beam and tweeked leaf on the passenger side. I have the crap double I beam front suspension on a 250 with a 460... I want to go with a solid axle instead of repairing the double I. I can not find a 350 front axle 94-97 around here but did find a few 2000's. I know I need to match up gear ratios but was wondering if I ran the 2000 axle what would I have to change out.... I want this to be simple and really do wish I could find one from the same year so I am not having to convert linkage/swaybar/ and brake lines.

Where is a simple place to look to get a reliable source to get the current gear ratio on the truck to match up????

-My question is if I do pick one up from a 2000 truck are the leaf perches the same distance apart they were on the 90's trucks?

- steering linkage the same?

- Sway bar?

-What brake fittings do i need to convert.



ANYONE HAVE A 1TON FRONT AXLE AROUND HERE IN CO THAT IS NEAR DENVER 96-97!

 

axle code is c9...

 

3.55 gears...dammit all the ones I found were for 4:10s

 

The replacement axle doesn't have to be from the same year. It can be from a 92 and still work, so long as the gear ratio is correct.

 

I understand that...I'm looking at a set of 3.73's from a 2000 diesel and just want to make sure the leafs will bolt up correctly...i need the pad offset to be the same. Hybrid u joints are not an issue, I just wanted something that I could do the front and rear in a weekend.

 

I believe the lugs will be different. I think they went metric around 97/98. I am going to guess that the perches will prolly have to be moved. Shouldn't be that big of a job if you have access to a welder.

 

Lugs will be different, 8-170 after 97 and 8-165 on the earlier trucks. Don't know about the pad width though.

 

Most 350's came with 4:10 so you are going to have a hard time finding a d60 with 3:55's

80-96 F350 front axle will bolt on to your leafs with no mods to the perches, I think you just need to change the arm off the steering box. Do a search to find out all the specifics but it should be pretty straight forward.

Scott

 

The later axles are ball joint vs kingpin but other then that any D60 stick axle under an 80-97 truck will work. I believe Ford used the TTB under the 80-84 F350's though. Most of the one's I've seen are 3.55's so they're out there.

 

Well I'm not too worried about having to replace lugs nuts as long as the stud spacing is the same 8 lug stud pattern as the 90's trucks. My main concern is the leaf perches. I'm going to ask the fellow if he can get me a measurement on the pad spacing right now. The cheaper route would be just to fix it back to stock... I have done this once and can not believe I'm replacing the passenger side TB again....


I may be misunderstanding a few of your comments but the point of this is to get rid of the TTB. Not just fix it. The hard part is a front 3.55 axle is hard to come by so I'm going to probably buy both f+r to get my ratio equal. I really don't want to go back to the TTB but if this is going to prove to be a major deal I don't want to do it.

I understand what it takes to do an axle swap... I had D60 under my cherokee, however I just moved and do not live close to my shop, can not drive the truck far, and its my only vehicle. The wife has her car, but works as well 80 miles away. my job is 45 miles the opposite way so I'm trying to get the truck driveable by next weekend and get the minor issues figured out after that....(F Drive shaft/ujoints/ebrake)

 

The TTB setup is worth saving unless you only use the truck offroad. From the sounds of it you would be better with the TTB

Also you would have do redrill the stud pattern or redrill the wheels. That's a big hassle, unless you can find a 97 or older D60 id stick to the TTB. Just my .02.

 

The lug bolts are not the problem it's the bolt pattern that is different. You would need to remove the hubs and have a machine shop redrill them for the earlier bolt pattern then put the new studs in.

Like has been said unless your building an off road truck you are better off staying with the ttb. They are strong, dependable, and ride better than a solid axle.

If you insist on doing a sas You can use the d60 from any 80-96 F350 and any other info you need can be found by SEARCHING the forum, this has been covered in detail many times.

Scott

 

OR when you buy the later/greater axles buy the wheels that fit them....

 

came up with another solution for the 2000 axles....why not just buy a set of wheel lug spacer/converters? 100 bucks. I ran them on my jeep and never had an issue. I'll get new rims when I get the money but I'm looking at close to 2500 after this incident. I still need to get an accurate pad spacing measurement.

 

I can't see how swapping out both axles and hoping they fit and then using wheel spacer/adapters is better or more cost effective then fixing the TTB.

I get that you want a solid axle, but this all sounds like a terrible idea when it would be too easy to find a proper D60 to fit with a bit more searching.