Blown Dana 70 on first hook of the year....

CumminNotRunnin

CumminNotRunnin

Internet Mechanic
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I have a Dana 70 that I blew the pinion gear out of fri night at pull in Pa. I was wondering what everyone would suggest running in the back or just rebuild the 70 for cheap and hope it stays together. I have an older dana 80 out of and 89 or 90 dodge diesel lined up ( which I believe is a modified 70???) and a chevy 14 bolt lined up as well. What would you guys suggest i run or is there another cheaper yet strong alternative. Welding and torching are not of any problem to make this work. There is a few older ford axles at a junkyard pretty local to me that i can pick up cheap as well out of 1 ton trucks. I really would like something that will hold up but i dont have the money to foot the bill for a dana 80 right now unless i can get one pretty cheap.Im not able to pull for a few weeks so Im open to hear some ideas.



Thanks
Jake
 
Im not sure about what you should go back with. Ideally a standard Dana80 would be the best. Whatever you do though I say definitely dont go back with a Dana 70 if you plan on pulling much.
 
I do plan on pulling quite a bit this year. I have close to 20 more hooks lined up for this year and I would like to keep the axle in one piece. Any ideas on a good place to look for a Dana 80? Frieght is what would kill me, the price of freight is near the cost of the axle.
 
CumminNotRunnin said:
I do plan on pulling quite a bit this year. I have close to 20 more hooks lined up for this year and I would like to keep the axle in one piece. Any ideas on a good place to look for a Dana 80? Frieght is what would kill me, the price of freight is near the cost of the axle.
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i just seen an 80 on ebay that was new for $750.00 Not sure if its still on there or not. I just put an 80 in my truck. I snapped my pinion last year and just put a new ring and pinion in thinking that was good enough.......it wasn't. Last Wednesday i ripped 7 teeth off the ring gear just rolling into the throttle. Deff. go with an 80
 
If you broke the 70 once, you will break it again.

I don't pull, but Brett(dzlfarmboy) and Will(behrdzl) each broke their 70's twice before going to 80s.

80s aren't bulletproof, but they are much stronger then a 70.

Chris
 
You could find a ford 80 SOme of them have 37 spline axles
 
lots of years, but the issue with the newer fords(98+) is they have the metric bolt pattern. I know we found a D80 from an 89 ford.
 
Should be a fair number of 80's out there near to you. Frieght wasn't terrible last Spring for me from Knoxville, TN to Wisconsin. Probably worse now with fuel prices.

Check out this web site for some axles near you http://www.car-part.com/index.htm

Be prepared for some fun. You will most likely need new "U" bolts for the axle (don't reuse the old) $40 - 50; new spring plates (different size axle tube from 70 to 80, $40 new, $25 used) if you get a used axle see if they have the plates; perhaps new shocks depending upon type of shock mount on axle ($50 - 150); probably a shortened (if not new) drive shaft (80 housing is bigger than 70) $350 - 500 new depending on parts; probably new pinion yoke (might as well do the 1480 $120+); odds and ends seals, bearings etc.; and some brake fluid. You can reuse your brake parts if in good shape to save some coin.

Recently some good posts on pinion and weld yoke parts numbers for 1480 and 1410 strength parts. Do a search for Dana 80 parts.

Plan on some grunting and get some buddies to help. You can see how a simple sounding project aint so simple any more. Get all your stuff lined up first and then work as fast as you can. You might be able to make 15 of those 20 pulls. :bang

You can get by and not upgrade the pinion yoke and shaft, but you will just have a new "weak link". But a U joint is a heck of a lot cheaper than a R & P. As you can see from the above there might be another $400+ in incidentals. Plan accordingly. You may be better ahead buying a recently reman unit than an old worn unit.

Sorry to sound pessimistic. I learned as I went and it got expensive fast.
 
I had a good experience with mine
Drive shaft needs shortened
The plates need replace
Some of the ubolts will work, some won't, Mine didn't I bought some 5/8" ones
Replace the wheel cylinders with GM ones or at least use the dodge one ton ones, they were cheaper anyway.
1410 will hold some abuse, but if your gonna do it and do it right, put 1480 and get a new driveshaft made with 4" tube, and 1480's all the way thru. You can then use your slip yoke on the front section(if you have a long bed) for your upgraded front driveshaft.
 
c-hawk said:
If you broke the 70 once, you will break it again.

I don't pull, but Brett(dzlfarmboy) and Will(behrdzl) each broke their 70's twice before going to 80s.

80s aren't bulletproof, but they are much stronger then a 70.

Chris
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I have heard of someone having Bulletproof 80's now.:rockwoot:
 
If you can find An AAM 11.5, id go with that, they take a pile of abuse.
 
Yeah I would highly consider going with a D80.

My first fix was cheap - axle shaft and Brett had an extra laying around. Second time I shattered my spider gears and chipped my ring gear and pinion.

Put a post up in the wanted to buy. I had a few people respond.

Good luck.....Will
 
uncle_bens said:
I have heard of someone having Bulletproof 80's now.:rockwoot:
Click to expand...

I don't think there is such a thing as a bulletproof 80.
Even with a full spool, and good axles, you have to worry about spinning the bearing on the carrier. There are some ways to address that, but there are short comings to those. Starting to look at girdles, and other ways to keep the bearings from spinning and the housing from distorting.
 
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