When I bought my Dana 70 gears from Randy's R&P they told me as far as offset goes all the Fords were the same. Dodge used a different offset though.

 

Ok, so I should go get the BOM and the spline count and that should let me know If its worth running? If it is a U will the pinion be offset to one side by enough to notice? If its a HD do I get a locker for a Dana 80 then? or is there a D70 HD locker?

 

How tough is a Dana 44? It was some years ago, But I used to have a 77 F150, that went to Silver Lake sand dunes often (Michigan). It had a 4" Bushwacker lift kit, Stock 300-6Cyl with 33"-12.50's.
We would put three people in the cab, took our coats and tucked them in between the seat belts and our selves for padding, as we were getting huge bruises on our hip bones.

We would get it up to about 60-70 mph and soar off some of the gentler ( smoother) dunes. I have pictures where the tires are good 5-6 feet in the air. We measured our landing marks to be 50-75 feet of total air time. It was a blast!! I bet we jumped that truck a hundred times that week end. I gave everyone that wanted to, a serious air ride

It was landing so hard that the flat angled area on the floor where the front cab mount are, bowled up. Basically the the cab folded down around the mounting towers. The seat collapsed as well. When you eye balled it to the bottom of the rear window the seat curved upward like a smile. I know we were.

I drove the truck 2-1/2 hours to get home. Gotta Love Ford trucks.

The Dana 44 was stock with no trusses. Never had any problems and I know of it still on the road today.

My current 79 f150 has Yukon Chrome-moly axles, But that's because of the 400hp she can deliver.

Shawn

 

This is what mine looks like but I don't have a picture of any other ones to compair it to.

 

http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana60.htm

 

Ok I pulled the axle apart and found 35 spline shafts 3.73 gears and the bom must not be right or I read the numbers wrong. first set of numbers were 10 9 5b2 then the second set 6G3556 2

 

why mess around with 60's, go find dana 70's out of a skyjack manlift, 5.13's, detroits, 35 spline to the wheels, heres what one looks like under my 79 f-350 ,www.jm-custom-mechanical.com

 

Yeah, i dont really have a whole lot of faith in dana 44s for anything serious, even if it's got all the bling stuff. My friend ran one in his competition mud truck. Good lord...that was nothing but trouble. I helped him wrench on it between competitions, literally everytime he had it out he destroyed something in it. Axle shafts, u-joints, even carriers, every single time. The nice thing about them though is you can find parts for them easily enough.

He finally broked down and just put a 60 in, and he hasnt had any problems at all with it. It's just a stock 60 too, he's been breaking driveshafts and all kinds of other stuff, never had any problem with the 60.

I have one in my mud truck, but i've yet to really take it out and push it. All i did was break the cheap set of lockout hubs that came with it so far.

 

Wow, I hope Currie Enterprises doesn't find out that Dana 44s are weak... they're whole business would be down the tubes...

 

I kind of fail to see the logic, just because currie makes parts and whole 44s, doesnt necessarily mean they're a strong axle. They also make ford 8" stuff...doesnt mean the axle itself is strong.

 

So then the general years I should look for on a front 60 is 1977.5-79?

 

You and everyone else... they are rare and expensive.