That seems to be the general consensus! After being more educated on what to look at my leaf springs have a negative arch, axle pivot bushing needs done as well.. The steering linkage kit was 180 and obviously not Moog or anything, now the search for the right bushing kits, and where to find cheap springs. Budget is tight as I have a surgery upcoming, My front tires need replacing and I wanted to get the alignment better so I don't torch new tires... I'm 500ish to do this repair on the cheap.... Which is a chunk to throw at just doing what I'll end up doing eventually anyway. From what I've seen you can find the Dana 60's for around 1k right? But what else do you need, what's a pretty realistic total cost for that swap?

 

well say you found one in the correct gear ratio for about an average price of $800. I would say you would want to put new ball joints, bearings, seals, and u joints if needed while it is out of the truck. It is basically a bolt in if you have OBS springs, track bar and track bar bracket. Or for some extra money you can buy a reverse shackle kit from PMF and use superduy springs to get a better ride. You will also need the F350 4x4 rear axle blocks so the truck sits level after the axle swap. If you did the work your self I bet you could do the swap for $1,500 ish.

I can't wait to get mine done, hopefully it will be done soon. They guy I got my axle from already had super duty springs that he gave me with it. I need to get a track bar and bracket and I will be about good to go. I also need to get new calipers as my dana 60 has the slide/clip style and not the bolt on ones seen on later OBS trucks.

A good way to go is find a complete F350 4x4 gas or diesel truck for cheap and take everything you need and then part out or scrap the rest.

 

That's not bad all things considered, let me know how that swap goes. I'll band-aid this for now and start planning for that the next time it wears out, better leafs, ball joints , bushings should get me where I need to be for now. Thank you all for the info, great forum!