I bought a full floating dana 60 that was supposed to be out of an 86 F250, but when the shop went to put it in it was 3" wider than the Ford rear end in my 82 F250. Did danas come on Fords and would there be that much of a difference from 82 to 86?

 

Sounds like a dually axle, they are wider than the single rear wheel axles. One hint would be a pin or at least a hole for a pin, about 1/4" in diameter, in between a pair of wheel studs to align the inner and outer wheels. Would have to be removed to install a standard single wheel. '82 and '86 takes the same rear axles, and are pretty much identical bumper to bumper except for engine options. Dana 60's as well as Sterling 10.25's were used in the back of these truck, close enough in size and strength that it shouldn't be of any concern which one you have. You could either live with the back of the truck now being wider, or find some rims with more backspacing to accomodate the wider axle.

 

Thanks for the info. I didn't know the sterling was that strong but the reason I changed to the dana is because the man at the offroad shop said I couldn't fit 4.10 gears into it. Was he wrong?


82 F250
302 33" tires

 

Yeah he is wrong. You can go as low as a 4.56 with the Sterling 10.25

 

4.10 was the optional lower ratio that Ford installed in the 10.25's, shouldn't be too hard to find an axle originally equipped this way if you want to save the labor of changing the ring and pinion.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 18-Nov-01 AT 02:18 PM (EST)]Don't know if it was valid or not but I actually saw somebody advertising really low gears (like 5.?:1) for the 10.25 the other day. So it might be possible to get even lower gears than 4.56 now. As far as strength goes, my understanding is that the only axle that is substantially stronger than the 10.25 is the Dana 80 (the Dana 70 might be slightly stronger but the 10.25 is definitely stronger than a Dana 60).

 

I would much rather have a full floating Dana 60 than a 10.25 because it is a stronger axle. The 10.25 is a light built axle like the F-150's use. Also when you measured the width of your axle and said it was 3 inches wider than the stock axle were you measuring from outer ends of the hub? On the newer axles the hubs stick out farther past the wheels than the older axles.

'90 F-150 351 AOD "The General"
'78 F-250 460 C-6 "Old Green"
'93 Mustang 5.0 HO AOD

 

I measured from the inside the brake plates. The tires stick out of the wheel well farther which is no problem. The shop had to cut off the spring pads and move them out 1 1/2" on each side to get it in my truck.

 

the 10.25 is stronger than the dana 60, and about the same as a dana 70 and the 14 bolt chevy, the 60 has a 9.5 inch ring gear, the 10.25 has a 10.25 ring gear, and if im not mistaken the 14 bolt has a 10.5 inch ring gearm they all have strong axles, there was a semi floating 10.25 availible in the lighter f-250's which were a bit weaker, in the new superdutys they upgraded the 10.25 to a 10.5, it is a hell of an axle

 

The superdutys have full floating axles.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 19-Nov-01 AT 10:23 PM (EST)]correct

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 21-Nov-01 AT 02:23 AM (EST)]In terms of strength it goes dana 60, GM 14 bolt, sterling 10.25, dana 70, dana 80. at least that was two years ago they are all full floating designs, more or less it is based on bearing placement, strenght and longevity also axle diameter which the first four are all 1.5 inch 35 spline now that i think about it maybe the GM is a 30 spline. The GM is strong but the inner bearing is a Pi_s poor design. There are gear ratios for the sterling from 3.55, 3.73, 4.10, ( isnt there a 4.33?) 4.56, 5.13 and 6.17 there are probably a few i missed but these are the main sets the 6.17 is in the back of a ford motor sport catalog. The sterling 10.25 uses a four gear spider gear set, the 10.5 used a three gear set they are interchangible the three is stronger. The dana 70 is a 10.5 ring gear slightly stronger than a 10.25 as stated yet about equal in quality to the 10.25. The power lok posi availible only for dana axles is superior to any posi so if you are looking for that kind of performance there you go, also gear sets are of a wider variety for the dana axles.

Just my .02

Dusty

 

After reading the response from 85351ho I remember that the original rear end was a semi floater.
Anybody know where I can get a disc conversion for a dana 60?

 

My stock 97 F250 HD has a full float 10.25 with 4.10's. Just my .02

 

put in a gm 14-bolt if your d60's give up. my dana 60 had a bent spindle (the cone where the bearings ride). after routing through numerous salvage yards and comparing costs, the 14-bolt was the best deal and an unbreakable rear end. if you're good you can find a limited slip or even a detroit locker. picked mine up for $75, well worth the hassle to retrofit, has big brakes too.

76 f-250 4x4 400