So I found a set of 5.38 gears on craigs list that I NEED BAD! I've got a king pin dana 60 and a sterling out of a 94. Now the gears are advertised for a 99-02 superduty but I thought they we're the same. I know the gears are different for the rear when the reluctor wheel was put in the rear end but after that I thought they ran the same ring and pinions. Am I just wishful thinking? THANKS GUYS!

 

5.38's have a tendency to break the pinion since it is so small... Just an fyi.

 

FYI the Super Duty's from 99-01 used a Dana 50 front axle that was very similar to the old school Dana 44. I'm not sure on the compatability of the R&P between the D50's and D60's. You better make sure your getting what you pay for.

And X2 with Truckin4life on the 5.38's, the pinion is very small on that deep of gearing.

 

I kind of disagree with the small pinion diameter and its relationship to weakness. In fact so do the engineers that design the gears, In fact D60 gears can be obtained in ratios into the 7 series, but that perhaps is another thread.
I would like to see data to support this. I have read this tima and time again, but have never found actual data to support this.
I agree that the contact pattern is limited and slightly reduced, but this is an actual design problem of the Dana axle, and not directly related to the pinion size.

At any rate, is the OP trying to use front or rear gears, or both?
Know that used gears are never anything I would consider buying unless I can see the gear, and can measure the amount of potential run out that the ring gear might have.
If used gears were actually worth using again, they might still be in the truck that they came out of. I am always suspicious of used gears.
While the D60 gears can be used in a veriety of HP D60F axales, the rear sterling axles were very different.. 99 up SD trucks used a 10.5" ring gear, and earlier trucks had a 10.25.
Buying used gears is a coin toss at best, but if you buy some that wont even fit, makes an otherwise sketchy investment downright unfortunate.
Make sure you can inspect the gears, or you might be buying paperweights.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong,but isn't the Dana 50 a ttb axle? Ive never seen a super duty with a ttb,but then again i could be wrong.

 

The Dana 50 TTB was available since 87 (I think) and it was again introduced in 99 SD trucks as a solid axle. This was until 2002 when all Sd's came with a D60 axle.
All 4x4 Excursions have a solid D50 front axle.

 

Wow learn something new every day.....talk about ford being cheep.

 

Ive seen a few pics on pirate...
Do some searching over there.
You are correct about it being a d60 problem and not a gear problem.

 

I Frequent other sites as well, but anyone would have a difficult time convincing me that the problem with breakage in Dana axles is related to the size of the pinion.
Here is why:
The necked down portion of the pinio gears remains the same diamater, regardless of gear ratio. While the head of the gear has to become smaller to accomodate the numerically higher gear ratio, and limited teeth on the pinion, the smallest portion is still the same size in every gear ratio.
Now, I cant argue that the actuall tooth engagement has been sacrificed, and an alredy poor tooth engagement is compounded. This is a given, and has to be considered when setting the gears up. Tight and accurate tolerances should be followed, or failure and carnage will result.
Since the smaller head already contributes to less tooth engagement, carefull ateention has to be paid to the pitch line of the ring gear. Excess runout will make an already bad problem worse. This gear set already only has about 2 teeth fully engaged at any given time, and if the tolerances are not dead on, the the thing will chip a gear, and the gear set will fail.
The arguemnt that the gear gets weak as the gear ratio increases, is one that is brought up time and time again, and it does make good conversation, but I really believe that actual poor tooth engagement and unsatisfactory installation contribute more to breakage than the gear design itself.

 

Yes, the pinion is more likely to break, not due to the gear size but because of tooth engagement. The actual gear sets them selves are not weaker.

 

10.25 gears will work in a 10.50 housing. The 10.25 and 10.5 carriers can be interchaged. DC has 10.25 gears in his 10.5. You can get in contact with him in the Superduty forum more than likely.

1999 was the only year that the D50 was used in the super duty trucks. 2000 started the Dana 60. (or so I read in my ford EVTM)

 

I knew about the dana 50 front but not sure if the SD dana 60s are the same as the earlier ones. I'm planning on using them front and rear but the reason I'm really excited about these are they are new in box with rebuild kits. The guy sold his pickup before the gears got in. Has anyone had experience with the cryo treatment that longfield has avalible for ring and pinions. I've heard GREAT results from the toyota guys and was planning on trying it out on mine.

 

Not true, my dad's 00' F250 4x has a Dana 50 up front. Everything that I've ever read says that the 60 wasn't standard untill 02'.

 

what was the manufacturing date of your dads truck? Just curious was it early 00' or late 00'?

 

The duallies have the 60 in the front