Dana 60 SAS

[95XL]

Wow, it's been a while since I've been around here. Ok, as some of you may recall, I was in the process of doing a dual wheel conversion on my Ranger (Which I still am in the process of, I just don't have the financial support that I need). I am putting a Dana 60 Full Float in the rear, and figured while I was at it, I might as well put 1-ton running gear up front too. Question is, what does it take to fab up one of these axles? I would like to use coil springs instead of leaves, due to the buckets already being there, and I don't believe there is enough room forward of the axle to mount leaves, (but I'm sure someone could prove me wrong).

Anywhoo, it doesn't seem too aweful hard, just take out the ttb, and the mounts, cut the radius arms off, and weld them onto the solid axle, find some spring mounts (which I believe will be the hardest part), and re-locate the shock mounts. Oh, and reconfigure the steering linkages, (which I believe will also be tough).

I guess that about sums it up, please fill me in if I missed anything. I would like to get all the bugs worked out before hand, so it mkaes for a smooth transition.

Oh, also, will the radius arms from a 2wd tib work? (are they the same length?) That would be good, because my local junk yard only seems to have 2wd Rangers. I was thinkning I could pull the radius arms from a 2wd to weld to the new axle, and it would make it easy to have the new axle sitting there and ready to drop in, and all I would have to do is pull out all the old axle mounts and such.

Thanks for the input...

 

[Sunk]

Check any SAS thread on this site and you should quite a few of your questions answered. You may also get some new ideas..

 

[Hahnsb2]

TTB/TIB radius arms on a D60? No, just no. Sounds like you need to do some serious reading.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yep, you can't just weld radius arms to a solid axle (well, unless you don't mind your truck doing a 3-wheel stand while pulling into a driveway at an angle).

As Sunk mentioned, search out some of the SAS posts here and you should be able to get some ideas.

One thing worth noting, most Ford D60s ('86up) have almost no tube exposed between the driverside knuckle and the diff chunk to weld a coil/radius arm mount to, so you'll probably need to get a little creative there if that's the route you want to go. Some guys stick with leafs on that axle because of that, although I've also seen some modify the chunk just enough to get a good weld bead in there for a custom RA (or link) mount.

'78-'79 Ford 60s have more tube available to weld a mount onto, but their diff being more toward center means you'll need a lot more suspension lift for it to clear your engine crossmember.

 

[95XL]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I haven't really paid attention to any of the D60 fronts, so I didn't really know how they were setup. Are there any other axles you would suggest that have the 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern, and are the same roundabout width (wms to wms) as a D60 rear? (From a srw vehicle?)

I know I should search around for this, but I might as well ask, what other linkages do I need to fab other than the radius arms? After I posted I got thinking it over, and realized there wouldn't be anything to center the axle under the truck. Do I need to fab up some sort of panhard bar setup?

 

[Sunk]

A HD D44 will have the lug pattern you want. I know they came in late 70s F-250s, probably or similar trucks as well.

These are also leaf sprung though, so that may not solve your problem.

 

[badblue]

it would cost you but 06 and up f250 are coil solid axles with radius arms.

or and d44 and put the HD outers

 

[95XL]

it would cost you but 06 and up f250 are coil solid axles with radius arms.

That is true, but Ford switched to a metric 8 lug pattern in '99, so the only Ford 8 lugs that have the 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern is anything '98 and older. But, that idea had crossed my mind.

 

[4x4junkie]

The '05up Ford 60s have metric lug patterns though. Unless you got the rear to match it, it's probably not worth bothering with (the '05up axles are very stout though, 35 spline shafts all the way out to the hub).

'03up Dodges have pretty sturdy frontends in them (not quite what the late Fords are, but better than stock 60s from before that time). I think they're pretty wide though (probably well over 80" WMS-WMS). I don't know much else about them.

Depending on what size tires you plan to run, a ¾T D44 might be sufficient.

Solid axle on coils requires a panhard bar, yes.