As income tax return time draws nigh, I once again step from the shadows of the faithful reader to ask some advice. The truck originally came with a 240 I6, 3 on the tree, and a Dana 60 rear 4:5? gearset. Previous owner hacked in a 360/C6 combo in a manner that makes the hairs on my red neck stand up. Would it be better to try and go back to the factory front/rear mount once this wimperin 360 becomes her true 390 fire-breathin potential, or should I get the Dennis Carpenter crossmember? Seondly, with regards to the rear, it will be a daily driver (as it should be...) and occasional tower (30ft travel trailer on the ball). I need to swap out the gear set for around a 3:50ish, but it also has factory limited slip (which still works), and I don't want to lose it. If I remeber right, 4:10 and below is a smaller carrier. To make things more confusin, Jegs says to get new 4:11 or under would require the 4:5 carrier. Arrgh, who's right? Any ideas?

"Doc" Johnson
64 F100 360/C6/Dana 60
Lemoore, CA

 

I recommend using the brackets and crossmember designed by Ford. Anyone else's brackets were designed by someone who may not have considered all of the design guidelines, driveshaft angles, production tolerances, etc.... Original brackets are easy to find, as Ford produced lots of FE (352-360-390-427-428 family of engines) powered trucks. I am happy with Dennis Carpenter's repo's, but I'd take genuine Ford parts first.

As for the Dana 60, 4.10 and numerically lower ratios use a different carrier than the 4.56 and numerically higher. Worse yet, there are different axle shaft spline counts for the various years. Most early 3/4 tons used a 16 spline, whereas in the mid-70's Dana switched to a 30 spline axle. I recommend pulling one of the axle shafts to verify the spline count before you buy anything! Changing the gears is a job for the trained mechanics only. It is difficult to set the pinion depth properly without the proper tools, and a case spreader is recommended because the carrier bearings should have .015" preload on them. If the rear axle is not set-up correctly, it may make noise, or worse yet blow up. I have fixed Dana 60 axles that have blown up due to improper assembly.....

E-mail me with your location, as I know where lots of Dana parts are in Wisconsin.

Art

'69 F100 2WD 302/T-18
'69 F250 4WD 440/727
'79 F250 4WD 400/C6
and on and on...

 

Art in defence of Dennis Carpenter, he does not design parts. Most of the parts that Dennis makes are out of production from Ford, and he gets the molds and dies from Ford to make the parts, so they are designed by Ford.

John

66 F100s
In the still cool hours of the night, you can hear chevys rusting away.

 

hey art whats the deal with the 440 mopar in a ford 4x4? could you go to the general disc. forum and tell me about it?i am die-hard ford for trucks i have a 70' f250 4x4,but i also have a 70' dodge challenger .i am also a mopar man.thanks.oleblue=