i recently bought an 89 f-250 for parts beacuse it had a dana 60 rear axle and i was just woundering if anybody knew what the front axle was. the number 6200998 was stamped on the front of the differential and the outside of the lockout hub has a 4 inch diameter. i have heard everything from dana 44 to dana 50 to dana 60. please help

 

Does it have a solid front axle?

 

If it's a solid axle, it should be a D60.
If it's a TTb front suspension set up it should be a D50.

 

Sounds like a Dana 50 to me, from the size of the lockout. Like he said, if it's a solid axle, it's another Dana 60, a real find. But factory was either a Dana 44HD or a Dana 50.

 

it is a solid axle but how can i tell for sure if it's a d60

 

IF you want to know for SURE, one way would be to take the bolt cover off, and measure the ring gear.

But if it's a stock truck, and it's a solid axle, then it just came with a D60, and you'd have to belive us.

The differintial should look the exact same as the rear, but on the ends on the axle of course they'll be different, with the knuckles and balljoints or kingpin joints, etc...

 

Becuase its the ONLY solid front axle offered from Ford from about 1985.5 till the new SuperDuty offered in the late 90's. It souldn't be stock for an F250 though. So the assumption is the previous owner went with the easiest swap available. Look on the front face of the differential webbing, there should be a "60" stamped into it some where if its a 60. Not to say he couldn't have put a HD44 from the 70's under there (with some hacking of course). Does it have ball joints or kingpins? Also, are you sure the rear is not a Sterling 10.25? Full float or semi?

 

The Ford/Sterling axle has 12 bolts around the rear cover and the fill plug is in the side of the center section housing, driver's side if I remember right, and can be viewed from under the side of the truck in front of the rear wheels. Dana 44, 60, 70, and 80 axles have 10 bolts around the rear cover and the fill plug is in the cover.

Dana 44 axles use a 1/2" wrench on the cover and Dana 60's use a 9/16" wrench, if I remember right.

If the front axle is a solid (not IFS/TTB) axle and has kingpins, it is likely a Dana 60. If it has ball-joints, it could be either a 44 or 60. Dana 60 front axles from '92-up have ball joints and are 'high pinion', which means the housing is effectively 'flipped' upside down and the pinion yoke comes into the housing above the axle centerline. Regular low pinion axles have the pinion yoke comming in below the axle centerline.

The '89 F250 trucks came stock with Dana 44HD or Dana 50 front axles, both IFS/TTB, and Ford/Sterling 10.25" full-float and semi-float rear axles, depending on GVWR.

On a Dana solid axle, look on the top of the axle tube as it comes out of the center section housing, I forget which side, and there should be a 6 or 7 digit number stamped there. That is the axle bill of materials number. Go to this website: www2.dana.com/expert and look up the BOM number in the light truck axle section in the .pdf files under Ford axle applications. That will tell you what kind of axle it is and what year and model truck it came from, as well as the gear ratio and differential type.

 

*Dana 60 fill plug = 5/8"
Close (I went outside and checked)
Mike

 

i might be mistaken, but isnt the fill plug 3/4?

 

If it came in that truck is should still be kingpin style which means a D60 will have 4 bolts in a square pattern on the kingpin cap. A D44 would have 3 bolts in a somewhat arched pattern. It's very common for the front axles not to be stamped with the actual model number whereas it's pretty much always on the rear axles. Don't know why this is.

 

It definitely didn't come in the truck, because an F-250 from 1989 would have been a TTB axle, not solid.

95% sure it's a Dana 60.

 

what's the difference between a d44hd and a dana 60. also what's the diff between a d50 and a d60

 

The ring and pinion size. The d44hd was just a d44 beefed up alittle, but still not good anough for a F-250. That's why they went to the d60. D50 is alittle smaller, and was seen alot in the 80s F-250 with the TTb set up.

 

From what I have read so far, a 44HD will be on light duty F-250s and some Heavy Duty F-250s. So I'm a little confused. I have a '90 F250 SuperCab with a 460. It has a 50 TTB. It has 50 cast into the axle and has big hubs. My older brother has a '90 F250 SuperCab with a 7.3l diesel and my younger brother has an '89 RegularCab w/7.3l Diesel. I haven't crawled under either rig, but both my brothers trucks have the smaller diameter hubs, which I understand to be Dana 44HD. So can somebody straighten me out? Is it possible that a diesel pickup, which I assume would have a heavy GVWR, would have the weaker 44HD TTB? If it matters, all three trucks have ZF five speeds and full floating rears.