I have heard that a 1978 Dana 60 will bolt into the place of a Dana 44 on 78 F-150. Where would you get that Dana 60? An F250? Does it really bolt in, or do you need to machine it? Also, how would a F250/350 axle bolt in if those trucks use leaf springs and F150s use coils?

Can you put F250 axles on an F-150 if you get the parts, hangers, perches, leaves, and so forth? Any help would be appreciated.

 

On the '70's trucks, the F150's were Dana 44 with coil spring/radius arm/track bar frontend. The F250's were also Dana 44 front axles but used leaf springs. The F350's were Dana 60's with leaf springs.

There wouldn't be much strength gained swapping from an F150 Dana 44 to an F250 Dana 44 and you would have to deal with removing the leaf spring mounts and putting on the radius arm and trac bar mounts, plus the 8-lug wheel hubs and needing 16" 8-lug wheels and tires for it and having a mis-match wheel/tire set between the front and rear axles unless you also swapped in the F250 or F350 rear axle as well.

Swapping an F350 Dana 60 would be a strength increase and would also entail the same problems as with the F250 axle swap, but may be worth the effort if you are running big tires and a locking differential that are too much for your current Dana 44 to handle. If you haven't broken the Dana 44 yet, you may as well leave it alone untill you do, and then IF you do break it, swap in the Dana 60. If you really think you're wheeling hard enough to break the Dana 44, my advice would be to keep your eyes open for a good deal on a Dana 60 to get ready for the swap in the future. Either that or just sell the truck and buy an F250 or better yet an F350 to wheel with instead, which is probably alot easier since those trucks already have all the heavy duty stuff you need without swapping anything.

 

78-79 F350 D60's are nice to have but they sure don't bolt in in plcae of your existing coil srping setup! SoCal is right...there wouldn't be hardly any strength gain in doing that cause they are both D44's. go with a D60 (any F350 up until 1998)....kingpin versions are a lil stronger. there will have to be some machining!

-cutts-

 

I am thinking of steppin up to 42" TSLs, so my 44 probaably wont last long. And changing to 8 lugs isn't a problem, because I want to swap out to 9" as well for a 60 or a 14 bolt. I am thinking about junking my mostly stock truck and buying a F250 or F350, but I like the 70s style and those are hard to find here (Delaware). Plus I already have a 460/C6/205 so I really just want the axles. Thanks for your help