I am gathering components for a Dana 50 / Dana 60 Axle swap along with a 4" or 6" lift (no blocks)... basically enough to clear 37's on my 96 F250 Powerstroke.

I'd like to read or print the article:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/..._19861996.html


I have read many others, so I know it is not my browser. I checked the cookie settings, already. I think something is wrong with the link because it won't allow me to comment, either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

You can't even read the article? I clicked that link and it took me directly to it. Are you using internet explorer? If so, might be about time to make the switch to Firefox, its a much better browser.

-Chris

 

did you highlite the whole thing and try printing........sometimes i have to do it that way
good luck

 

I agree, Scandocious, Firefox is excellent, I have 2.0 on all my computers, including my work computer.

Half of the article shows, but it stops at "Removing the old axle"

At the bottom, it says:

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I am logged in, and the cookies are set to "accept all"

If I am getting my *** kicked by something obvious, I'm going to be pissed off, but as far as I can tell, I am doing it right. I spend time on gunblogs without issue, so I don't know what the problem is.

 

i for one don't know what he was talking about in that writeup. it is a direct swap in. no grinding on any of the trucks i did, and the pitman arm is the same on the 250 and 350. another thing is you will need the "track arm", or "panhard bar" and mounting bracket, that he did not mention.
the steering linkage on the 250 and 350 are different, so you will need the steering linkage that came with the D60.
there is no need to remove the axles, hubs, knuckles, or anything else. unbolt the brake hoses, unbolt the spring u-bolts, unhook the drive shaft, knock the steering linkage off the pitman arm, unbolt the 2 center bolts, and drag the old 50 out.

remove the center brackets from the cross member, and bolt the track bar bracket in.
put the new rear in, and bolt it down using new spring u-bolts. hook up the track bar, steering, driveshaft, and brake lines. bleed the brakes, and off you go. you can swap a front 50 out and put a 60 in with 2 people in 4 hours, with a beer break at the 2 hour mark.

and the 50 and 60 use the same front brake calipers, rotors, hubs, and locking hubs.

 

This is what I see when I click that link, accompanied by pictures:

Procedure

First a donor vehicle with a Dana 60 must be found, look for 1986 and up F-350 trucks, see background for more information. To the left is the Dana 60 with hubs, spindles and axle shafts removed.




Before you start
A complete rebuild of the Dana 60 is recommended, however if the gear ratio is what you need and you do not plan to run a Detroit locker the rebuild process is greatly simplified. Before removing the old differential jack the truck up so that there is no weight on the front wheels, note the amount of travel of the front driveshaft. Now compress the springs as much as possible, note the travel of the driveshaft. Measure the distance from the center of the spring pad to the yoke on the differential, you'll need a straight edge perpendicular to the yoke. With the vehicle weight on front (wheels on ground) disconnect the drive shaft at the diff and measure how much the drive shaft compresses relative to the axle pinion yoke. Save these numbers for later to determine if you need to have your driveshaft shorten / lengthened. I had to have mine shortened one inch. If the driveshaft is too long it could jam into the transfer case causing major damage. At this time also note the clearance between the driveshaft and the transmission cross member with all the weight of the vehicle off the front wheels. To do this jack up the truck and place jack stands under the frame, after lowering the front wheels should still be off the ground, if not you'll have to jack it up higher. The Dana 60 sits lower than the IFS front, you may need to add a spacer between the cross member and transmission to maintain driveshaft clearance if using the original driveshaft. More on this later.

Removing the old axle
After rebuilding the Dana 60 remove the old Dana 50/44, steering linkage and sway bar. For a quick and dirty removal just pop the pitman arm to tie rod joint and leave the rest of the steering linkage attached to the axle, this makes it a bit harder to maneuver when removing the diff and you may end up separating the two half's anyway (possibly ruining the axle seal in the process) but it is quicker. If you think you may want to reuse or sell the axle than follow the procedure in the Haynes manual, which is to remove one half at a time. The cross member bolts and nuts were metric (sizes 18 and 21) on my '91. You do NOT need to remove the front calipers if you have the Dana 50 front (maybe true for Dana 44 HD, check first), as they are the same as the calipers used on the Dana 60.

Once the old IFS axle is removed you'll have to remove the cross member to axle brackets to make room for the Dana 60. There were two brackets which unbolted and came off with no problems. A third, on the drivers side, is riveted and bolted to the frame near the engine mount. It also appears to provide structural support to the engine mount. You may wish to grind down the rivets and remove the bracket altogether, however we felt it best to leave it in place and grind down the part that would interfere with the Dana 60, see the following pictures. But if you do this you can't go back, so understand the consequences before getting out the grinder.

Once the cross member has been prepared you'll need to remove the pitman arm from the steering box since the pitman arm is different for the Dana 60 than for an IFS steering linkage. The socket required to remove the nut holding the pitman arm on is larger than found in most 1/2" drive socket sets, so you'll need a 3/4" drive socket set as well, you'll also need the same 3/4" socket set for rebuilding the axle. After removing the nut you'll need a puller to remove the arm. Some auto parts stores will rent or loan (Lisle loan a tool) a pitman arm puller. Canadian Tire loans the tool in Canada. You may need to remove the steering box to do this, but if using the proper tool you should be able to do it on the truck. Attempts with a wimpy 2 jaw puller will require removal of the gear box, and probably a broken vise or stripped puller... its much easier with the right tool. Alternatively if you remove the steering box with pitman arm attached you can take it down to your local Ford dealer and ask one of the mechanics to impact it off (they have a special tool), for 10 bucks or so. If they are nice they may even do it for free.

Next you may need to grind down the leaf spring center bolts. Measure how far they protrude from the bottom of the leaf, then measure the distance from the spring pad to axle housing on the Dana 60, through the hole where the center bolt goes. If the bolt protrudes farther than the space between the spring pad to axle you'll need to grind down the spring center bolts. I had to take about a 1/4" off each bolt. Don't take off too much or your axle wont center correctly on the springs.

Installing the new axle
If you have rebuilt your axle it is easier to leave the axles/hubs off until the axle is underneath the truck and bolted into place. If you need new u bolts the Dana 60 uses the same length as the old IFS axle.

Place the Dana 60 on a jack and position it under the springs. With the help of a friend center the axle on the leaf springs, and start the u bolts/nuts. Tighten the nuts to specified torque.

Once the axle is firmly in place put the axles back in and assemble the spindles and hubs.

I did not get the sway bar and sway bar brackets when I purchased the Dana 60, if you did now is a good time to install them. My F-250 only has the little 302, we figured that I probably wont see much body roll given how stiff the front springs are. I am going to try it out without the sway bar and decide if it is needed. An added benefit is that I'll gain some extra articulation with the sway bar removed.

If you choose to replace any of the tie rods make sure to count the number of turns when removing the old rods, and put the new rods in with the same amount of turns. If you do this you are more than likely to have the alignment close to spec. Straight axles can be aligned by the home mechanic, with the weight of the vehicle on the wheels, put a small pin (to hook your tape measure too) in each front tire, at the front of the tire, measure the distance between the pins, roll the truck backwards, until the pins are 180 degrees from the first measurement. Now measure the distance between the pins, this will give you the amount of toe in or toe out. You can then loosen off the tie rod sleeve and rotate the sleeve the desired amount to adjust the toe in.. Or pay the $50 bucks and take it to an alignment shop when done.

If reusing your IFS front driveshaft you must check for proper driveshaft length (do not attach the driveshaft to the front diff yet) measure the distance from the center of the spring pad to the yoke on the axle pinion, using a straight edge perpendicular to the yoke, next with the weight of the vehicle on the wheels, measure how much the drive shaft can compress relative to the axle pinion yoke. Compare the numbers with those measured with the old axle. We found that the yoke on the Dana 60 was an inch further back than the yoke on the Dana 50, requiring the drive shaft to be shortened one inch. You must also check the driveshaft to transmission cross member clearance. We found that at full axle drop (jack stands under frame, wheels off ground) I only had about 1/4" of clearance, this may be OK for most 'normal' drivers, it didn't give me a good feeling. A good hard landing and the driveshaft may meet the cross member. I make a up a 3/8" spacer (1/4" was probably more than enough but I had 3/8") out of a 3" by 5" piece of aluminum, with two 9/16" holes drilled in it. The spacer was placed between the mount and cross member (with a coating of never seize to prevent corrosion).

Once you have the driveshaft installed your done, if you rebuilt the front diff make sure to follow the break in procedure or all your hard work will be ruined. However you may notice something odd with the rear to front track.

Have fun.




Do you not get all of this when you click it rifleman?

-Chris

 

You know, kind of weird... I was trying to print the article to PDF for you rifleman but its only wanting to print the first page. I even tried a regular print preview (as if I were to send it to the printer) and only the first page shows up... Is this the problem your experiencing?

-Chris

 

Thanks transport, I appreciate the pointers! I pasted them to my collection of swap-out notes! I'm still looking for a donor, too. All the one's I see on E-bay are up north and I am in S. AZ, not alot of 80's-90's F-350 4X4's down here from those days. I'll keep looking, though.
I can't look too seriously, because then I'll whine at my wife when I don't have the hard cash laying around.

FR

 

Sorry, I was at NAPA getting Lucas Oil, a fuel pump, and a fuel filter. I love this truck and probably spend too much money on it, but it is a keeper. It has 109K original miles, which is low for a '96. It is my first diesel, too. All my older F-250's were 300's, but I really wanted the powerstoke for reasons most here wouldn't believe...

I pasted everything both you and transporter posted into my files.

I want to Roll cage/workrack the truck, two spares and RV toolboxes up top with a possible fold-out tent, even. I'm working on drawings for the rack, which will have lights cut into it and possibly a canvas topper like http://www.softopper.com/gallery.html

I have some great ideas for my own bull bars with an double class II hitch front and back.
My biggest difficulty is figuring funds... partly why I'm making it myself, but also, because I get exactly what I want.

I digress, too many ideas, so little time.
Thanks again,

FR

 

Ick, the softopper thing is a great idea but do yourself and all us a favor and DON'T leave it up unless you're using it. A guy in my apartment complex has one of those on his trucks and, no offense, but its horrid! I've got a snugtop camper shell, works great and looks great. Too bad they're so damned expensive.

-Chris

 

Yes, I'm not a fan of the design, either. My thoughts are on an internal one that is laced onto the rack for those few times you actually need a top.

My idea is using duck canvas like the old army troop carriers with four tabs that are laced onto the exterior workrack. When rolled up, they would roll nice and tight, and when rolled down, they would bungee to bed hooks. The object is to provide shade in the summer for my lab who loves to ride in the back of the truck. Since it does rain, I wanted it duck canvas instead of a breathable shade used in backyard shade canopies. The sides could even be unlaced and removed altogether.

I will be putting in either a 100 gal transfer tank at the front of the bed, or, I will put larger fuel tanks underneath since I plan to move the spare (s) onto the workrack up top. I have even drawn a simple plan for an extending arm operated by a handcrank winch to lower the tires with an extending boom to clear the truck, similiar to military 5 ton or HEMMTT spares.

I'm liking the 6x6 beadlocks, too.

The pop-open tent is still being looked at, but topside load is a consideration, too. I considered the frame passing through the bed to the frame, but that looks like a major engineering headache.

My intent was to build a truck with long-range 4Wheeling/Exploration with a camping capability on a budget. I'm still working out the details since I have existing projects to complete.