Hey guys,

I'm in the market for a Dana 60 SAS axle and i'm going to look at one this weekend.

Guy said it's already been sandblasted and painted. It's out of a '91 F350, it was before they used ball joints, so it's a king pin axle.






Those are the only pictures he sent me.

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to axles. I think I have Dana 50 in my '86 F250 and as long as the spring perches are 35" and it has 4.10's in it...it should work. Right?

I want to make sure that i'm not buying a complete POS, so what should I look for? Obviously cracks in the case, but is there a way to determine that the hubs work, and everything works as it should when it's out of the truck? Guy is charging me $950 to put 4.10's in it, (it has 3.54's in it now he says) If I were to buy it with the 3.54's in it now, he'll only charge me $850, which I still think is a little on the high side, but it's close to me, and I can get it.

What do you all think?

 

The price is whatever the market will pay.
Kingpin 60's are desirable and he knows it.
$100 for a properly setup R&P swap seems like a good deal to me.

D50 came with supercab F250's, otherwise it would have to be ordered as part of a plow package.
Do your hubs come straight out like a can, or do they taper like a plastic cup?

 

They're like a plastic cub, start big at the rim, then get narrower towards the outside, and rounded on the end.

 

D44 HD like mine.

I don't have much advice other than the obvious.
If I were going to lift my 250 and/or run big tires That kingpin D60 would be first thing on my list.

I really haven't had major problems with my TTB front end, but it does take someone who knows WTH they are doing to align it right and it is expensive to service.
It is starting to tweak in reverse (again) so I suppose it is time for new pivot bushings.

 

See that's what i'm fearful of. The maintenance costs.

Right now, it's just barely starting to leak from the gasket on the drivers side arm. Ford in all of their wisdom had to bless us with these, so now if the gasket starts to leak, you gotta tear apart the whole front end just to rebuild it and then have something else fail on ya. My local shop charged me $300 in labor just to replace the seal, that's not including the alignment or any other parts. Then once that goes out, who knows what it'll take next.

No thanks. That's why I want to go this route.

Not too sure if lifting will be the way i'll take this thing in the future, but i'd like to have it available to me if the situation presents itself.

Is there anything in particular I should look for though? Rust in a certain area meaning anything, leaking seal to look for here or there, ya know? Any pointers.

 

$100 for a properly set up ring and pinion sounds like an unbelievably good deal to me. And I mean that. It doesn't sound believable. Are we sure it's not $850 for the axle and another $950 to swap the gears (total of $1800)? That would seem a little high, but a lot closer to reality.

 

Honestly, I don't think there's much to look at? It's a solid piece of steel. Checks brakes? And anything not on the hard tube.

 

I don't know how to check for a bent axle or bad splines without pulling them.
That's about all I could think of going wrong unless the pins are worn out from lack of grease.

I pay $250 to have my guy set up a ring and pinion.
I supply the master set and the gears.
I break it in right and assume all responsibility.

If the guy already has gears lying around and knows what he's doing I can see him willing to swap it for a C-note.
It's sitting on the floor and probably dry right now anyhow.

 

What i'm fearful of, is the guy doesn't know how to install them, that's why it's $100 more. Don't you have to set the lash, and do all kinds of weird stuff with special grease to set it up properly?

 

If the carrier is already set up and the gears are already broken in there shouldn't be any shimming.
Check the mesh with paste (or even regular zinc oxide) and be on your way.

It is not in the truck so there is no crawling around, pulling the wheels off or nasty hypoid to deal with.
$100 is a deal, but labor is a lot less when all he's doing is swapping the R&P on an axle that is offered as being in good shape already.

If it's so close to you maybe the guy will do it while you're there?
You seem inconfident in the deal.
What's up with that?

 

Damn near 1 grand for the whole deal when I really could use the money elsewhere.

My TTB is leaking right now, and rather than dealing with trying to fix the leak, take everything apart, pay to have it aligned, and all that jazz that goes along with it, i'd rather replace it with something that I would eventually end up replacing anyway. I'm debating if it's the right time to be doing this, and i'm leaning towards not. Because I don't have the time or money to pay to have someone install it and set it up for me for cheap. I'm actually going to focus on sandblasting the underside of the bed and the frame, and replacing the windshield instead.

 

If your TTB is working fine but just leaks a little - you'll save a bunch of money just resealing it. You don't need to realign the frontend if you put everything back the same way. You are not really changing alignment by removing the spindles and pulling the axles and/or differential. There may be different camber bushings between left and right sides but just mark them (mark toward front) and don't mix up the sides.

Swapping from a TTB to a straight axles is a lot more work than resealing what you have.

 

Has anyone ever made a write-up for doing a solid-axle swap? I can't seem to locate a "How-To" for it.

My mechanic is gonna charge me $300 in labor alone...not including getting it aligned, or any parts that may need to go into it. That was my justification for going to a straight axle swap, because I figured if i'm going to spend this much money anyway...let's get it done the right way!

I did just get it back from the shop yesterday, and he re-torqued all of the bolts on the cover to see if that helps. I still have yet to see if the leaking has slowed. It's not like it's pouring out, but it is enough to leave the diff wet, and a few drips on the ground when it's parked.

I was also thinking...what would a can of Trans-X or Bars stop leak do to a differential? Would it severely mess things up, or would it actually stop the leak you think?

 

If it's just the cover, then take it off and put a new seal in it?

If it's just a few drops, the hell with it, let it leak but check it once a month or so.

 

If I was looking at a complete TTB overhaul @ $1,200+ I would jump all over a D60.
Does it come with a pitman arm too?