Hi Folks, I just put a Sterling rear diff 10.5 from a 03 F250 super duty into my 2005 extended V10 van. I have been looking at this for a long time trying to get a dana 70 to workout, but most van 70's have 60 guts, and the heavy duty ones are dually. I recently did a bunch of measuring on the 10.5 pickup and realized that with spring perch moved about 2 inches outward, shortened the drive shaft by 1 1/4 inches and bolted it straight in. Used the econoline u bolts, axle tubes are the same size, the overall width is 3/4 of an inch longer on each side of the van, no wheel clearance issues though. I tow a lot and the dana 60 just wasn't holding up for longevity. I went with 4.30 gears, if I don't like them I can put slightly taller tires on it and be back at 4.10. Used the econoline brake lines, the ABS sensor is identical, same part number. Over all I am pleased with the outcome and I am glad to have a 10.5 under the van. The yoke for the sterling is 3/8 of an inch longer than the yoke of the dana 60, and bigger, that is included in the 1 1/4 inch. The critical measurement is from the center of the pinion shaft to the middle of the spring perch. With a square it measures 22 1/2 on the 60 and that is what must happen to the sterling to get the pinion right in the spot it was before. Once you have done the right side measure 49 inches across to the center of the other perch and it will work fine.
I have used two pickup wheels because they are 8x170mm. I got around the spare wheel problem by using a die grinder bit on the holes of my spare and opened the hole up just a bit and it will now fit the 8x6.5 fronts and will go on the back. The truck wheels do not use a tapered nut and hole. The wheel mounts on the hub and the nuts have flat washers on them to hold it on. Anyway thought I would mention this works if someone else has been thinking about doing it. My van is stock, not lifted at all and everything clears great. I turned the truck shock mounts around from the back to the front and they are adjustable for the right position and are working fine. The pinion angle on the sterling is the same as the dana 60 too.


Andrew.

 

I'm getting ready to put a sterling 10.5 in my 2003 E350. I'm not sure how to go about the driveshaft as far as yokes, length, etc. I would like to have a driveshaft ready ahead of time if possible.

 

 

sounds sketchy

 

Thanks for the replies. This forum is an excellent source of information. I'm just looking for ways to reduce my down time during the swap.

 

I would just re-build the Dana 60 to what you need .....I know I tow alot more weight than most people...but I have a Full Float rear end AND a 7.3 PSD...so ...I would just upgrade the rear end you have ....that way you don't need to change anything but the guts inside the pumkin....Installing a Sterling is a mistake.....IMHO....Good Luck....

 

After having driven 150,000 miles with the 10.5 Sterling in my van I have a few observations for you. I love the 4.30 gears and I don't think you can get them to live in the dana 60 or fit for that matter. The van driveshaft will work but you will have to get a combination u joint that goes from the smaller van drifeshaft u joint size and the outside being the bigger F250 size. These combination u joints are available. There are a couple of problems though. Because the 10.5 does not sit perfectly in the van, its off an inch on the passenger side I cannot get a 4 wheel alignment. I had a 5 inch aluminum driveshaft made by a driveshaft company in san Antonio for $600 bucks but its not necessary. The drive line angles are not the same so you need to cut off the spring perches and put the rear end in and move it up and down until you get a smooth running set up. 60 mph is the big test. The nose of the diff will end up down some. 4 degrees on the van trans and 4 up on the rear end. I have not been overwhelmed with the 10.5 longevity and it may be true that a good rebuild on your 60 might be the better choice. I bought several used 10.5 rear ends before I got a good one. Two had spun bearings in the housing and the wreckers I bought them from told me they had 50k miles on them but lied. I pulled them down and 300k would be better estimate. The one I have now is doing quite well. Another point is that the two wheel drive f250 uses a flange like the van on the pinion where the driveshaft hooks up, but the F250 is bigger you will have to order that flange and they come in two sizes depending on the 10.5. You may be able to go with a u joint shaped flange like the 4 wheels drive ones but I don't know about that. The extra inch has not effected the handling, the V10 likes the 4.30 gears. Speedometer is 5 mph off, I had it set for 4.10 previously and then put the 4.30 in. there is no adjustment in the van computer for 4.30 gears, they never thought someone would do it. I would imagine yours will be 10 mph off if you had a 3.73. I am towing 9400lbs travel trailer and the rig does exactly what I wanted it to do. It might be a little light in the front but handles and stops well, I put discs on the trailer. This has been a great experiment, but not without its frustrations. Find out if you can put 4.30 gears in your dana 60. I have also looked recently at a much later model F250 6.2 2012 rear end and it should fit. Bigger wheels because they went to bigger brakes in 2005. Unless you are very mechanically inclined this is not a swap out that is without its challenges. I like the much bigger bearings in the 10.5 and apart from the fact that F250 rear brake calipers are very prone to seize up (which I did not know) never had that problem with the van ones. I don't know if setting the rear end exactly in the middle of the van will make the driveshaft go crazy. I just measured it so that the driveshaft would be in the same location as the 60 and had the right side wheel stick out just a bit more. I haven't had to use my spare at all, but I cannot rotate my tires any more, I have two vans so I rotate them on to the rear of the other van from the front of this one. Anyway hope this helps you Andrew.

 

Thanks for the reply Andrew. A lot of great information there. I have a 2003 E350 with a Dana 60hd (semi floater with 35 spline axle shafts, what's the point?) with factory trac lok. I want more traction but don't want to put any money into this axle. Tried finding a dana 70 but no luck. I have the 7.3 with 3.55 gears and want to stay with that. I have a good 2002 F250 axle and super duty hubs converted to 8x6.5. I'm trying to figure out if I will need to shorten the drive shaft. I know the ujoints are different but don't know if there is a combination that will work with out shortening the driveshaft. I don't know how much longer the sterling pinion is. I think as OldBlackCat said I will probably need to put the axle in place and measure for the new set up.

 

I don't believe you will need to shorten the drive shaft at all. I ordered my aluminum one 2 inches shorter than stock and ended up having a 2 inch spacer made to fill the gap. I found that when I pushed the drive shaft into the tranny it showed that it was 2 inches too long but didn't realize that the rust on the input shaft into the tranny made it seem bottomed out, but it wasn't so I believe there is enough slide room on the tranny with the stock shaft even though the snout on the sterling is a bit longer. Of course the diff end of the drive shaft will need a different coupling to attach to the flange if your 10.5 has a flange, if not you might be able to get the dual size u joint and just bolt up to the sterling u bolt set up. But the stock shaft will still do the job. I got the aluminum one because it has a maximum rpm of 8,000 rpms. The steel shaft at 90 mph is getting close enough to its critical speed that it can cause some vibration, but if you get the angles right I don't think this is an issue in reality. If you are using 3.73, or 4.10 this is not an issue of course.

 

There is a u joint available that does both the van driveshaft and the 10.5 bigger size in one u joint. My memory isn't working on those numbers. But the sterling uses one size bigger than the original drive shaft. ask a parts store. So you should be able to change the u joint and it should go in. I would take the drive shaft out of the tranny and get that rust off so it can slide its full length without tearing up the seal in the end of the tranny, you will have it a bit further into the tranny but its not enough to hurt anything and won't bottom out when loaded.

 

you won't need to shorten the drive shaft. I pushed my driveshaft in to measure it for shortening and the rust on the tranny end stopped the shaft going all the way in so I thought it was bottomed and it wasn't at all. I ordered my shaft 2 inches shorter than stock and ended up having to have a spacer made to make up the 2 inches difference. Just get a u joint original for the drive shaft and with the bigger size f250 joints to go on the u joint at the rear end. You might have a flange there, you will need the end of the driveshaft that fits that flange if its flat and there are two sizes. or you might just be able to hook it up to the u joint pinion end. I would not shorten the shaft.

 

Get the rust off that tranny end so you don't tear up the seal when you push it back in the tranny.

 

you will not need to shorten the shaft. I pushed my stock shaft back into the tranny to measure and found it was 2 inches too long, but the shaft had rust on it and stopped at the seal. I thought it was bottomed out, but not so so I had to get a spacer made to bring mine back to stock length. Make sure you take the rust off that piece going back into the tranny or you will tear up the seal in there. Some emery cloth and clean it all the way back to the u joint so its free to slide.

 

It appeared on my computer that none of my posts were being posted, sorry for all the repetition.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. I was hoping that since there are different ujoint options I wouldn't have to shorten the driveshaft. After what you said I think I can use the strap style pinion ujoint with the dual size adapter. I'll have to check how much I have to work with with the transmission yoke. I have the 4R100 not the 5R110 but I don't think that changes anything as far as that goes.