Will a dana 60 front out of a 1987 1 ton dually work under a 76 highboy? Both are 4x4's.

Thanks

 

Yes it will with a few mods. You will more than likely have to shorten your front driveshaft, and move the spring perches, or you could convert it to coil overs.
You could try getting this moved, or post in the off road forum.
There are several people in there that have done the swap that should be able to tell you first hand what's needed.

 

there is way to much fabrication involved to make this practical. just buy a 77.5-79 dana 60. they cost more, but will bolt in with minor mods.

 

Frame widths are different after 1980. This places the spring perch a little too far to the outside of the axle. your 76 requires a spring perch that is right on the edge of the differential.
Some creative fabrication has to be done to get this axl under that truck. Either moving the springs outboard of the frame will be required. This removes some leverage from the springs, so an already limited amount of flex, is limited even further. Not my favorite choice of things to do.
An alternative would be to modify and fabricate some sort of perch for the stock spring location. This too has its potential pitfalls, since there will be some welding to the cast iron center section. Not impossible, but has its challenges.
Last would be to convert to coil springs, or a coilover front suspension. With current aftermarket radius arms available, this seems to be a reasonable alternative, and would be the least difficult, and would offer the best end results.
Better ride, better flex / articulation, and a wide veriety of available springs.
This will require some fabrication as well, but most of the stuf is already available for broncos or F100 / 150's, and could be a bolt on deal.
You will have to address the steering, but depending on how much lift you decide on, or style of front spring, could very easily overcome this.
Not a bad swap, but not a bolt in deal.

 

thanks a lot Ed - now you got me thinking about putting coilovers on the front of the green crew - haha.

Dalton - these guys covered most of it. As was said you have to get pretty creative on the mounts/perches for the newer axle. This scares most people away from the swap.

 

I remember seeing a pair just hanging on a wall doing nothinng,,,can't quite remeber where I saw them,,,, wait a minute, I do remember, they are hanging on the wall in your shop, Lol.

Maybe we should get the Cummins in there first huh?
Coilovers up front does aound sweeeet though. Not all that hard compared to the work involved with this style axle.
Your 60 is alright isn't it ChaseTruck754? Yours has a soring perch in cast in the diff right?

 

I can't remember if the perch is cast in or not. It may be, but I am still very tempted to put coil overs in because of ride quality and other fun factors. I just wouldn't look forward to the trial and error aspect of spring rates.

Cummins is 1st for sure - but I still like to dream about other mods. Especially if I am waiting on a 2nd gen Cummins for the swap. I might have some free time between now and then...

Oh, and there are 4 coilovers on my wall not just 2! 2 16"x2.5 and 2 14"x2.5s. They are going on the ranger though and are awaiting their counterparts (3 tube bypasses).

I'd run the FOA coilovers if I went that route on the crew. Can't see putting the kings on the green beast as it's kind of overkill for what I do. FOAs would do just fine and would save a couple hundred or more.

 

I knew there were 2, count them 2 sets, and I even knew the 2 were 14's and 2 were 16's, I just did not want you to know I was actually paying that much attention, lol.
Cant tell you what the condition of the lawn was, or anything else growing around the shop, but I could tell that the welder had less wire on it than the last time.
I guess we notice what we want, when we want. Lets seee, what color were my g/f's eyes again? Yeah, you get the idea......

 

Welder had wire on it? That would imply I use a MIG - eeeewwwww. Hahaha. That thing was only out to work on gates. All the trucks get TIG


What was this thread about again?