I'm going to go to the you pull it a couple hours from me and grab the highest ratio D60 I can find to swap into my 350.

My questions would be..

Is a dual tire D60 the same as a single??

What years are a good place to start looking??

 

The single and dual should be the same. Just about any F250 from the 70's should have a dana 60 in the rear. I assume you want it for the rear, since you mentioned single vs dual. What year is your truck? If all you want is the differential, you can use one from other makes too, as long as it's a Dana 60. Just make sure the spling count is the same for the axles.

Since you want higher gears, I assume you want better rpms on the highway. If you're changing out the dif, you have to change out the pinion. IMO it's easier to change out the whole rear end than to try and set up new gears. You can paint it and put new brakes and seals/bearings real easily, then roll it under the truck and bolt it up. Good luck!

 

It's a 70' F350. Its 2wd. I plan on swaping the whole thing. I don't feel like setting up a ring and pinion. Right now I top out at 55-60 mph if I push it. I can do the whole swap for $50 including gas to get there and back.

What trucks have the high ratios. I'm thinking autos and diesles are the place to look. I havnt figured out my curent ratio but I'll find it this week. We are just going to walk around and start counting tire to pinion rotations.

 

So being an F350, you probably have dual wheels right now? I think you can use all your dually stuff and put it on the new housing, so just about any D60 should work. It's been my experiance that anything with an auto usually has higher rearends than those with sticks. Look for a camper special F250 with an auto, you'll probably find somthing in the 3.50 range. If your maxing out at 50 mph right now, I bet you've got 4.56 or maybe even 4.88's, which might be valuable to somone building a off road truck. You can probably sell your old rear for more than you spend on the new one, if you play it right.

 

I am curantly running duals. I want to keep it that way. I I have a 4 on the floor and don't ever use first. I can even pull out in 3rd perfectly fine on a flat start. I would like to step up the ratio so first is equal to what second is now.
I plan on doing a good deal of towing 6-7000lbs. Nothing to heavy.

I'm guessing an automatic F250 is the best bet. I'm also going to grab springs off of the newest F350 I can find because I now have a dump bed and rock hard springs

 

The only F350's that came with the Dana 60 rear axle were 1979/84 4WD's. First F350 w/4WD = 1979.

1967/84 F350 2WD's have Dana 70's.

F250's used Dana 60 rear axles from 1953 thru 1984, a few have Dana 61-1's. The so-called Light Duty 1983/89 F250's have the Ford 8.8.

F250's were not available with DRW. Sterling 10.25 introduced 1985, used in both F250/350's.

 

Hmm I didn't know that. I assumed it was a 60.

Would there be a problem with putting a D60 in it and and throwing my dual wheels on it?? It should be the same U-joint so the shaft should work

 

What about the newer late ninties 350s. They have a Dana 60s in them. Front and rear I thaught?!?

 

I assumed you were unaware, that's why I chimed in.

However, you cannot assume anything when it comes to FoMoCo.

Is the U-joint the same, or not? Is the companion flange on the rear axle the same, or not?

The answer is...maybe yes, maybe no, as it all depends on the application...and there are literally dozens of them.

The only 1985 and later so-called H/D F250's and F350's I've seen have Sterling 10.25 rear axles.

You are also unaware that in 1973, the rear frame rails behind the cab are wider (37 1/2") on most F250's and F350's than was used 1961/72 (33 1/2").

33 1/2" rear frame rails: 1961/72 F100/350's, and...

1973/77 F250 4WD (all High Boys w/Dana 60's). 1973/76 F350 Super Camper Special (Dana 70). 1973/79 F350 Regular Cab Trailer Special (Dana 70). 1977/79 F350 Regular Cab Camper Special (Dana 70).

All the above F350's on the 140" wheelbase.

37 1/2" width between the rear frame rails = the axle housing is wider.

 

I'm going to measure and "blueprint" everything I will be swaping over and and needing to reconect. The last thing I want is to get a 1000lb axle home and not have it fit

 

Once again, never assume they are all that way. A friend of mine got his hands on a 79 F350 4x4, no dual, fleetside bed. He's the second owner, the origional owner was our principal in high school (in a very small town). I've read and been told that these trucks all came with a dana 60 front end and dana 70 rear. When I crawled under it, it has a dana 60 front and rear, all factory origional. Light duty F350? Was Ford short on dana70's and put in a few 60's? You never know what will turn up, or who has swapped stuff in over the years. I've always thought F350's all had dana 70, but have personally seen one with the 60. Make sure before you buy. If it has the 70 I would try to stick with it, if you have a dump box with duals you want the rear end to be heavy enough to hold up to what the rest of the truck is capable of. Thanx for the correction

 

What Ford factory literature have you read that stated 1979 F350's came with a Dana 70 rear axle? I don't know of any factory literature so stating.

Whoever gave you the same info is mis-informed, because...

As I stated in Post #6, all 1979 F350 4WD's came with Dana 60's front and rear.

The ongoing problem is, most people have no factory literature of any kind, even though it's easier to obtain today by the general public from myriad sources, than it was when the vehicles were brand new.

 

I'm ditching the dump for a fith wheel hualer style bed. Basicly a flatbed with a beaver tail. I'm going to just make it out of wood.

How can I tell the difference between a D60 and D70??