I decode the door tag on my '76 F250 project . The axle code is 22 and is a Dana 61 . This is an 8000 gvw camper special .

Anybody familiar with the 61 ?

 

They are goody! There strength is they have a d70 sized axle tube housing and bigger wheel bearing but have the small d60 carrier with weak d60 sized 30 spline axles again. The offset for high gears, 4:10 and down I though, is what makes gear selection limited. I guess you could run a spacer under ring gear.
Because it has bigger bore spindles you could technically put 35 spline side gears in your carrier and then add d70 ,35 spline axles.

 

they are tough to find brake parts for. Had a buddy that dumped one from his truck since he kept trying to order shoes, etc. for it and they kept giving him d60 stuff which I guess is different & didn't work. He just put a 60 in it's place.

 

I bet they at d70 brakes. They share the same housing. I'd take the shoes off and bring them right into the parts store to compare.

 

he tried bringing them in I believe. No luck. He finally said F it and put the d60 in so in case we are out somewhere weird and there is an issue parts will be much easier to find.

 

I’m a rear end builder in the Richmond Virginia area and I’ve come across a Dana 61 under a project for a client however the axles tubes are not big enough to get a 35 spline axle thru it. A 35 spline requires 11/2 opening at the snout however the housing is only 1.37. It’s hard to say if these have been chopped and replaced I don’t see any signs but it’s been a complete nightmare for everybody involved to get parts to even begin work on this thing. Although rugged and solid the Dana’s are I’m advising my client to go to a 10.25-10.5 where parts are more available and sell this as a boat anchor or whatever

 

The 61 is an interesting axle, some have the bigger housing tubes some don't, mine doesn't. I rebuilt one about 10 years ago, it was a factory 3.00 gear, I added a dana Trac lock at the time and in all honesty it seemed to me that the only difference from the 60 was the pinion offset....

As is often the case if the guy working the parts counter is about retirement age your probably going to have better luck with parts.