Someone told me that the Dana 50 is basically a Dana 44 with a thicker housing. That the driveaxles and differentials are from a Dana 44. Is this true?

 

from what I understand from reading on this forum a Dana 50 is the guts of a 44 in the housing of a 60. I am sure there are minor other differences but that is the way I understand it at this point.

 

Is the Dana 60 a 3/4 ton 8 bolt axle? Or is it a 6 bolt axle?

 

yes, its a 3/4 ton axle. my dodge has a dana 70 rear axle and a dana 60 front. its a 3/4 ton truck. the 1/2 ton trucks have dana 44's which are 5 lugs.

 

Is the Dana 70 stronger / better then the Ford 10.25 that come in the Excursions?

Also I thought it went like this:
1/4 ton = 4 lug axles
1/3 ton = 5 lug axles
1/2 ton = 6 lug axles
3/4 ton - 1 ton = 8 lug axles

 

there is no 1/4 and 1/3 ton. its 1/2, 3/4, and 1 ton trucks. then f450 and 550 and then medium duty 650 trucks. yes, the dana 70 is stronger but mostly because of its physical size. but, bigger is not always better. lol.. for offroading, the dana 60 is preferred over anything bigger because of ground clearance.

 

Don't forget the "heavy half-ton" or the payload package for the f-150's which give them 7-lugs on a semi-floating rear axle.

 

my buddy had a light duty f250 with the 7 lug set up. it was an f250 for sure. but the f150 body style. i forget what year.. it was before the super duty body. is that what you were talking about.

 

Blah, no 1/3rd or 1/4th tons. What would you call a Jeep Wrangler? Or a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee? Or a Pontiac Aztec? They sure arnt 1/2 tonners... And what about those old POS trucks with 4 lug axles that are rated to tow like only 3,000 lbs?

 

Kinda. That's one of them anyway. They changed it from an F250 once the SD hit the market to the "Payload Package" for the f150.

 

From what I see in sled pulling.....no. The Dana 70 will not live behind the same abuse as the Ford 10.25. The Ford 10.25 will not live up to the abuse a Dana 80 will take. And a Dana 80 will not live up to what a Rockwell 104 will take.

A Dana 60 is good for cars and Go-Karts....its got no usefull reason for being in a truck that is going to the track unless you just get off on rebuilding shatered center sections and changing broken axles. Junk.

A Dana 70 is far better than a 60.

The 10.25 is a bit ahead of the 70...and not quite as good as a GM 14 Bolt.

GM 14 bolt is next in the list. (Mant Ford trucks have GM 14-Bolt rears in them for sled pulling because they are strong and they are dirt cheap. The pinion bearings are spaced apart further than a 60 or 70, so they hold true under a load better).

Dana 80 next. Good stuff.....but not the end all.....

Rockwell 104 is next. This is the shiznit for sled pulling if your allowed to use it.

 

hey spl, i dont even consider a pontiac aztec anything, let alone a truck. i dare you to go to a pontiac dealer and ask to see a 1/3 ton truck.... they will laugh at you. totally, totally, totally different catagory. we are talking trucks here if you didn't know. a cherokee, aztec, wrangler sure aren't TRUCKS. 99.9% of people talking about trucks are talking about a f150, ford sd, chevy colarado, chevy pu, dakota, dodge ram, toyota tundra and so on. nowhere is there any mention of what you mentioned. they are known as suv's. it is known that there are some suv's that are built from truck parts and can handle some real weight.

fordtruckpuller, it depends on what you want to do with the truck depends on the best rear. 14 bolt, dana 70,80, sterling 10.25, and the rockwell. for your application, bigger would be better. but for four wheelin, the dana 60 is one of the best because of strength, and ground clearance go to a rock crawler comp, and check out what most are running. its probably the dana 60. i never did any sled pulling. probably pretty cool. need lots of power and some really strong frames too.

 

Well you may not consider 1/3rd and 1/4th ton vehicle a truck but the dictionary says they are. The definition of truck is as follows

a wheeled vehicle for moving heavy articles: as a: a strong horse-drawn or automotive vehicle (as a pickup) for hauling b: a small heavy rectangular frame supported on four wheels for moving heavy objects c: an automotive vehicle with a short chassis equipped with a swivel for attaching a trailer and used especially for the highway hauling of freight; also : a truck with attached trailer

Well a 1/4th ton pick up would meet the definition of a truck in that they can be equipped with a hitch to tow a trailer and they are "a wheeled vehicle for moving heavy articles" They can tow at least 3,000 lbs. and I dont know about you but I consider 3,000 lbs. to be heavy. Its sure not something I could lift.

Anyway I agree that 1/3rd and 1/4th ton vehicle aren’t really too much of a "truck" but that was not the point of my post. I was simply saying that I was told that 4 lug axles are for 1/4th ton vehicles and 5 lug axles were for 1/3rd ton vehicles. it was actually more of a question. I was in a way asking if what I was told that I listed above was true.

 

well, ok. the f150--5 lug--1/2 ton. dodge ram 1500--5 lug-1/2 ton. the list goes on. chevy 1500--6 lug--still 1/2 ton. see, no pattern. but i think all 3/4 ton truck are 8 lug.

 

I agree about the dif uses of the many rear ends, but my list of what order they are placed is accurate as too what order they will bust if you make power combined with traction on them. Rock crawlers do have a tendancy to break axles with the extreme bind that they place on the front axles in particular. I assume they can get away with a 60 on the rear because of the limited weight that they put down limits the amount of traction. A sled pulling truck is kind of the opposite... the front axle gets lighter as you pull from the truck trying to pivot the front up from the weight of the sled behind the rear axle (even with the 4x4 axle and the hanging weight). The rear axle in sled pulling sees a huge amount of weight and traction. We bust parts in the rear that a drag racer or rock crawler would typically never bust. A rock crawler with the front axle turned will bust a Dana 60 stock axle with relatively low HP applied, where we can run a Dana 60 front axle in a 1000 HP truck and get a fair amount of use out of it before it will bust.

Back on point....is a Dana 70 better than a Ford 10.25....nope. A Dana 70 (Not a 70HD, there are 3 versions of a Dana 70) will allow more ground clearance for a rock crawler than a Ford Sterling 10.25. The 10.25 is almost as large of a center section as a Dana 80.