angelfly
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2011
- Messages
- 53
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
-
1977 f250
1987
- Make / Model
- FORD
- Transmission
- Manual
SO i just got done with swapping a dana 70b in the rear of my 98 ranger, I got sick of blowing shafts and eating up the outer wheel bearings with the shaft! Not to mention im driving a virtually stock truck and have also spun an axle tube so it was time for more beef!!!!
It came in the form of a $50 dana 70 I scored, Its either 31 or 32 spline i cant remeber off the top of my head, Its 4.10 gearing which is a vast improvement over my 3.55s
The truck ended up being extremely low and wide! i gained an extra 2.5in on each side of my rig. . .
So here it goes:
I started with first removing my old housing, along with my driveshaft, rear shocks, I disassembled the outer drum brakes and pulled the ebrake cable out and zip tied it up outta my way.
Next was drag the junk old housing out and find the nearest dumpster and toss the C-Clip POS axle You need to remeber to keep your hard brakelines, i also kept the spring pads and shock mounts and reused them to save money.
So next i took the time to go from one end to the other of the new axle replaced seals wheel bearings and wheel cylinders and installed new studs.
This was an extra step i chose to do because i didnt score a 70u. . . SO i took a day and ground and cut the bottom of my diff smooth.
So after that i started sliding the 70 under my truck, this thing is a heavy A$$ pig if u can i would suggest getting a buddy to come over and help, something i used to help myself I went and spent $20 on one of those furniture moving carts hold up to 1000lbs and u can get them for under $25
I ended up using heavy duty semi ratchet straps to actually lift the axle into position, i then set the pinion angle and tacked on my spring pads! I losly bolted my shocks into the mounts and tacked them onto the axle also. I then pulled it out one last time for finish welding and painting!
Ok so here is where i saved a shit ton of money compared to most others ive seen do this swap. . . I reused the hardlines offf the old 8.8 which worked out perfect alowing me to use all my original brake lines and didnt have to have new ones built, I also reused all my old brackets which helped me out alot!!
So obviously ur gonna have to shorten ur driveline, the snout on the 70 is probably a good 4 maybe even 6in longer then the ole 8.8, i was expecting to also to have to buy a conversion joint for my driveshaft to bolt up in the yoke, but again got lucky and found they are the exact same size u-joints!
So i went ahead and removed the flange off my driveshaft leaving it just with the ujoint ends, i have to cut a total of 2.65in out of the driveshaft tubing itself. Which gave me almost a perfect 50/50 split in slip in my driveline.
So then its just as simple as bolting up the axle one last time, hanging ur driveshaft and shocks and going for a test drive
Im running only 32in mts currently on lower then stock suspension, no blocks in the rear and completly uncranked torsion bars. I have the 44 for the front end going in after the new year, but i figured i could maybe help somebody else out attempting this swap over the winter!
Any questions or anything be happy to help! Ill come back and put a way more detailed list of parts and tools i used for everyone plus ill try to figure out the whole pic situation also for ya'all
Thanx everybody
It came in the form of a $50 dana 70 I scored, Its either 31 or 32 spline i cant remeber off the top of my head, Its 4.10 gearing which is a vast improvement over my 3.55s
The truck ended up being extremely low and wide! i gained an extra 2.5in on each side of my rig. . .
So here it goes:
I started with first removing my old housing, along with my driveshaft, rear shocks, I disassembled the outer drum brakes and pulled the ebrake cable out and zip tied it up outta my way.
Next was drag the junk old housing out and find the nearest dumpster and toss the C-Clip POS axle You need to remeber to keep your hard brakelines, i also kept the spring pads and shock mounts and reused them to save money.
So next i took the time to go from one end to the other of the new axle replaced seals wheel bearings and wheel cylinders and installed new studs.
This was an extra step i chose to do because i didnt score a 70u. . . SO i took a day and ground and cut the bottom of my diff smooth.
So after that i started sliding the 70 under my truck, this thing is a heavy A$$ pig if u can i would suggest getting a buddy to come over and help, something i used to help myself I went and spent $20 on one of those furniture moving carts hold up to 1000lbs and u can get them for under $25
I ended up using heavy duty semi ratchet straps to actually lift the axle into position, i then set the pinion angle and tacked on my spring pads! I losly bolted my shocks into the mounts and tacked them onto the axle also. I then pulled it out one last time for finish welding and painting!
Ok so here is where i saved a shit ton of money compared to most others ive seen do this swap. . . I reused the hardlines offf the old 8.8 which worked out perfect alowing me to use all my original brake lines and didnt have to have new ones built, I also reused all my old brackets which helped me out alot!!
So obviously ur gonna have to shorten ur driveline, the snout on the 70 is probably a good 4 maybe even 6in longer then the ole 8.8, i was expecting to also to have to buy a conversion joint for my driveshaft to bolt up in the yoke, but again got lucky and found they are the exact same size u-joints!
So i went ahead and removed the flange off my driveshaft leaving it just with the ujoint ends, i have to cut a total of 2.65in out of the driveshaft tubing itself. Which gave me almost a perfect 50/50 split in slip in my driveline.
So then its just as simple as bolting up the axle one last time, hanging ur driveshaft and shocks and going for a test drive
Im running only 32in mts currently on lower then stock suspension, no blocks in the rear and completly uncranked torsion bars. I have the 44 for the front end going in after the new year, but i figured i could maybe help somebody else out attempting this swap over the winter!
Any questions or anything be happy to help! Ill come back and put a way more detailed list of parts and tools i used for everyone plus ill try to figure out the whole pic situation also for ya'all
Thanx everybody