88 F250, 4x4, 460, 5 speed, D60 front, LS rear 10.25".
Gotta swap gears anyway, and wondering what is required to convert the front 60 to LS. Can I use my carrier, or is a LS carrier totally different? Whats a good brand to go with? How often should I rebuild the clutches? Do all Dana 60's use the same carriers, no matter if they're reverse rotation?
I want the truck to behave well on street and still have respectable off road performance. It will see a lot of work, and a couple of mud races, truck pulls, and camping trips way back in the woods. I'm building big in hopes that it will be very durable for many years. Later on, when I can get Mr. Ben Franklin and some of his buddies to help me out, I will have a selectable locker in the rear.

 

I use the Power-Lock rear LS carrier in the fronts of just about all of my D60's. I have to re-build them and install 35 spline side gears. These were popular in dodge trucks, and should not be confused with the trac-loc. The trac loc was not so good. The cross pins were small, and they tend to break.
Alright, I use a custom set of clutches, and only re-build once a season. I would not expect a reasonable driver to have to re-build as often. Stock clutches are fine, and offer great traction. You will find it difficult to unlock the hubs once you install a decent LS unit, but they are great.
The Power lock is known for coming apart, and I fix this with military type saftey wire for the carrier itself. The two piece carrier can no longer seperate and destroy itself if the bolts are all tied together. I have yet to have one fail after this upgrade.
Here are some pics of a recent one that was re-built. Note that the saftey wire is a little messed up. I was teaching my now 10 year old daughter how to saftey wire. She is getting the hang of it, but still needs some work, lol.






Keep in mind that these are of the 4.10 veriety, so if steep gears are to be used, you must install a thick gear.
I run thick 5.13 gears.

 

Good thing your daughter is doing that safety wiring in a learning mode. (+ points for getting her involved!). Otherwise I'd have to point out that some of the safety wires are installed backwards.
The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. - Thomas Jefferson

 

Yes, this was repaired prior to the install. To her credit, she was a little confused by the bolt itself. I only made one hole in the bolt head, and after some were torqued, the hole was on the back side, so instead of wrapping the wire around the bolt head in the correct direction, she used the most direct route. She said "but dad, the bolt cant turn." So I had to explain about torque values on the wire and the bolt head. Tookout some old tech data from my days in the Air Force. She gets a kick out of that. She laughs at my old pictures.
We replaced the bolts with 12 point aircraft bolts that were drilled properly for saftey wire, and we had a lesson on saftey wire. When I teach her, I provide her with some instructions and then cut her loose. After she makes some mistakes, we correct them and make everything correct.
She seems to learn more from her mistakes, so as long as a mistake cant hurt her I let her make them.
You should see her weld. She is pretty darn good. I trust her welds. She has welded most of the stuff on the Red truck. Old dad is there to look at the puddle while she is welding, but she has a decent eye, and a pretty good hand.
I would rather have her welding or something like that over a video game or some nonesense any day. Fortunately she gets some satisfaction from a component that she built, and just loves to make something usefull. Then we get to take the truck out and test it. Thats her favorite part.
I love to hear that from her, "c'mon dad, lets take the truck out, and see what she can do!" or, " thats not bad dad, but we can make it better."
Thats my little girl. Always been daddys girl...........

 

There are no cons to runnin a LS in the front IMO. But like already said, stay away from the trac lock they are junk.

 

Where did you get the 12PT acft bolts?

 

Wish more parents were passing on their skills & ethics to the young. You get rep points, way to go!

From a 12PT aircraft, where else.....

"Who really cares about it being unconstitutional?" Pittsburgh Councilwoman Tonya Payne

 

I agree, and thank you. Some parents ask why I "make" my little one work at the shop and fiddle with the trucks. After I explain that I dont make her do anything, I just provide her with an opportunity to learn. What she learns will stay with her forever. Now she may never end up in a field where these skills will ever be used, but she will have some knowledge and some appreciation for real work. Perhaps some sort of a work ethic and an appreciation for mahual labor will lead her to a reasonable future. It cant hurt anyway.





Ted:

I visit my local aircraft surplus facility and find quality fasteners. Many are new fasteners that were purchased in an auction or something of the sort. Many lengths and thread pitches. For the most part these are all fine thread, and in the case of carrier bolts and even the ring gear bolts, we can find the correct replacements. In some cases where space is limited, the heads are too large (long), but on others they work just fine.
G&J aircraft is my local surplus. These guys carry a great deal of race affiliated parts, and they started as an aviation surplus. Still are a surplus really. Kind of neat to browse around the place to see all of the old aircraft parts.




Kind of ran away with that thread, so to get back on track, the LS is a great way to gain some traction up front, and is much easier on parts than a locker. I used to run a detroit up front, and it now sits on the shelf. The locker up front was a little too hard on the front end, and many busted parts were a result. I never had a problem with turning, or having the truck push as some might imply. I am not convinced that those that suggest this have actually run a front locker, or they might just be pasing something that they read on the internet. Sometimes some interesting info gets passed along that way, and this is often believed to be gospel, when the reality is that it was just one guy that had a difference of opinion.
The LS is much more driveable and easier on parts than a locker, but they are not all that cheap. I usually get about 475 bucks for a re-built unit, and I cant keep them in stock. This is one of those things that I look for in the salvage yards and at swap meets.
I have been very pleased with the performance of the solid performance of the Power Loc LS up front and I run them pretty hard. Notice the center pin in the pic above. These are strong, I mean real strong.

 

I had a True Trac in the front of my half ton suspension and loved it! It didn't throw you around like a locker did, but definately gave you alot more traction. The only thing was that if you try to crawl over something one wheel at a time it acts almost like a open diff. There is a company, can't think of the name right now for some reason, that makes a limited slip/E-locker that would be awsome up front!

 

What year and model dodge truck should I look for? Does dodge use a door tag number system to ID their rears like Ford, or would I have to know BOM#'s when I go a huntin'?

What would this site do without guys like 75F350... we'd prolly all be dumb enough to drive Chevys.... eeewww gross!!

 

I never trust those those door tags, or anything that is used to identify parts other than my eyeballs. When I am looking for parts, especially differential parts, I put on my junk yard clothes, and climb under some trucks. All of the salvage yards here wont permit any fluids to be left in the vehicles, so the rear ends are empty. Since the are empty, the covers are usually only on with a couple of fasteners. My cordless impact makes quick work of the cover bolts.
Once you can identify the correct parts with a quick look, the rest is easy. Knock off a couple of bearing caps, and the carrier will pop out.

You will notice that Power loks have 4 pinion (spider) gears, and trac loc's have only two. The giant pin for the power lok is huge compared to the trac loc too. Small differences, but these are the main identifiers. Trac loc looks like an open carrier really.

 

Ed , I don't know why you have had/seen the bolts back out on a P L. ? I have never had or saw that happen. They aren't even lock tighted much less safety wired from the factory. So why you are having that problem I can't figure ? If it was a design flaw I think Dana would have addressed it by now. I know it's tight right in there but I would think the clutches would slip real bad before the bolts would back out enough to hit the case.

 

I dont think it is a design flaw mark, I dont even see this as a real problem. For myself it has been an isolated incident, but it has occured twice. Two different carriers, so I cant blame the carrier.
In these cases, the potential for failure was present, and unfortunately "Muprhey" rides shotgun in my trucks. If it can go wrong, it will.
My method is not uncommon, I am not the ony guy running saftey wire on these bolts, and the added saftey factor takes one less potential failure out of the equation.
It costs far less to be sure than it is to take a chance.
Again, Mark, I dont believe that there is an underlying problem here. Proper torque of the fastener should be just fine, but I have had these come apart, and I have tried to prevent this from re-occuring.
When they come apart, they not only slip, the spider gears are permitted to slip, and the spider gears usually blow out. In my case they take out the side gears with it.
Saftey wire is cheap insurance. Quite a bit of my truck is wired with SS saftey wire.
Many racers will wire the ring gear bolts too. Many of us dont see the as a failure point, but once in a while it happens, even with quality ARP fasteners.
Besides, a nice set of Milbars, or "Tiger waves" are a nice addition to any tool box. I have several sets of saftey wire pliers. My favorites are 9" Milbars, with selectable direction, and a rubber insert in the cut off vice. These non nicking jaws make beautiful twists without damaging the wire like regular old pliers can. This is important when I turn my pigtail. I like to turn left hand pig tails, as this tightens the wire through the last bolt, and prevents the wire from trying to climb over the head of the final fastener. Little touches like that sure do look nice, even if they are inside of a differential and cant be seen. I know its there, and I know it is not going anywhere. Just another level of protection............

 

The Auburn ECTED are limited slip/e locker but not sure if they make one for the D60 or not, might only be for the D30 & D44.

The biggest conn with a LS in the front or rear, is once one wheel is off the ground they act the same as an open carrier. You'd be better off with a selectable locker in the front.

 

powr lok is hard to beat....i have watched a buddy wheel one in a dana 44 front with 39 tsl's and i have yet to see it slip pulling up ledges, climbing tires, pulling up trees etc...