Hey guys im justing wondering if anyone can fill me on the differences between the Dana60 from the 77-79 Ford F350 and the 86-97 Ford F350 front axles. Is the only difference spring perch widths, 32.5" vs 36.5"spws?

Reason I ask Im doing a SAC on my 1994 chevy silverado and these are the two best choices i have for a "simple conversion". From what I now the prefered axles is the 77-79 year cause of the narrower spring perches running the 86-97 year i hear will cause the tires(wide ones) to rub on the leaf springs cause they are farther out. However ive been having a hell of a time trying to find a Dana60 from a 77-79 f350.

Any info would be apprecitated or if there are other differences i hope my model years are correct also they might be off. Do you think with enough backspacing/wheelspacers/etc i wouldn't have a problem with rubbiing tires?

Thanks, Mark

 

Well first off, welcome to FTE.

Secondly, I would suggest a 77-79 D60. The spring perches would help being closer in. But I mean, they can be hard to find either way, so work with what you can get.

Also.. you do know the website is called "Ford Truck Enthusiasts" riiight? What are you thinking talking about the Chevy in here man! I'd say scrap that Silverado and buy an F-350. Haha.

 

I just figured to get the best info on these axles would be to ask here since you guys are ford enthusiasts the people on this website should have the best info for me. Would it be possible to move the Spring perchs in 2" on both sides of a 86-97 axle?
Also im pretty unbiased when it comes to trucks I got a 94 chevy a 04 f150 they have both been good two me

 

There never really was a good Chevy version of the dana 60. Not quite as strong as the ford version, and the third member is on the passenger side of the truck in those rediculous things.What was GM thinking?

 

Moving the spring perches in on these axles is not going to happen. Passenger side would not be a problem but the driverside is cast into the center section. What is the current spring width on your truck?

 

Sorry man never posted to start a fight of GM/Ford. Im jsut looking for any differences between the 77-79 ford dana 60 and 86-97 ford dana 60 so if your post isn't geared towards that its a waste. Yes my transfer case is a driver side drop so running a Ford axle makes sense to me cause its less modifying. GM solid axles have passenger side diffs, thats why im not using one. Also a Dana is just that a Dana 60 it was built by a company called Dana Corp don't matter if its a Ford, Chevy, Dodge they were all built there, no?

 

Thank you, The truck does not have springs on the front however there are to kits available to me one is for a 32.5" spw the other is a 36.5" spw. Do both these axles(77-79 and 86-97) use kingpins?, Highpinion?

 

No. Actually based upon the question and the years, you have three axles to chose from. There is a cutoff in 92 for the king pin axles. AFter this they were only offered in the ball joint versions. This becomes a problem if you want to run crossover steering and simply want to bolt a steering arm on the knuckle. There are a couple of options if you want to run an aftermarket knuckle to accomodate this, and some of us can make steering arms for the ball joint axles. Im testing a set right now to see if I can break them off. High steer, and crossover, the whole nine yards in a stocl ball joint knuckle. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, before I run away with that, you alread know tha spring perch width differences, so that is covered. You should know that the 78/9 axles are not really the strongest in stock form. They use tapered shafts which are not as desirable as any of the later units. Later units did run non-tapered shafts and are considered stronger than the earlier ones. Also keep in mind that the shafts are different lengths, so the two axle years and styles are not interchangeable. Any 86 to 97 axle will interchange, but not with the 78/9 axle.
Ok, so we covered king pins, and ball joints, as well as axle diameters. NExt is that all use 30 spline outers and will have to be upgraded to 35 splines for optimum strength. Early axles use spicer lockouts and the later ones used Warns. Spicers are considered more desirable.
78/9 axles use a slightly different caliper bracket and a different caliper, but each is available at local parts stores and one is not more desirable than the other, but they are different.
78/9 axles use 1/2 inch lug nuts and the later ones use 9/16" ones.
Later model axles will accomodate inverted T steering as a factory type deal, but the knuckles will have to be modified to do this on the 78/9 axle. Guess you will have to determine which style steerin you want and how much you want to modify.

OK, the tires rubbing the springs. Since you are not changing the spring perch dimension, this can be minimized. I mean several guys are running 44" tires with these axles, and not rubbing the springs. YOu are not moving them out further than they originally came, so this should be minimized, but can be a problem with the wrong backspacing.
I think tire diameter and the correct backspacing has to be considered, but the axle choice should have little value based upon this and this alone. You should not have a problem with this unless you are running or intend to run 49" or more tall, and a silly backspacing.

 

92-97 switches to balljoints

 

whoa there cowboy!!

 

thank you 79ford4x4 for the information gonna take what I figured here and use it.

 

75F350- Can you elaborate on this " Any 86 to 97 axle will interchange, but not with the 78/9 axle". Are you talking of the shafts still? Reason I ask is my 2 D60's shafts are different. Not by much. But wondering if those newer features from the balljoint 60 might have been more benificial for my kingpin axle

 

NO Kingpin Dana's are stronger and more reliable then BJ Danas all the way.

So your telling me F350s came with kingpin dana 60's from the 70's-92?? I thought they discontinued them in the 80's and replaced with BJ 60's???

 

yeah they are all dana/spicer axles but they are not the same, they are built different to suit the factory building the truck...there are parts of the front ends that will be dana/spicer designs and will be built the same across the board but there are also some parts in them that are built specifically for ford/chev/doodge

dont take it to heart if they bug you about talking chev on a ford forum, they are just buggin ya...way i see it, you are here to put ford parts in a chevy, theres nothing wrong with that

 

Yes. The kingpin was until '92, in which they started the BJ D60's.