what is better than a dana 60?

bh10 said:
Please explain Ive run water in the front tires off roading and have reach wheel speed of at least 45mph going to the trail w/ out issue.
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These arent trail trucks and you are just driving. Add a 40k sled and friction of the tire spinning and flexing and you have a bad issue. Have you ever drove a 4x4 tractor on the highway with fluid in the front tires? Its not fun, when the fluid starts sloshing it throws the tires out of balance and starts the tractor into a bounce down the road. You can never get the tire completely full and very dangerous also think of it as a fuel tank in the bed of a truck and how unstable they can be.
 
Another big problem with using a military axle in the front is lock outs. They are freaking expensive for them. The strongest military axles I have heard of are the front loaders that have the checker board front cover found in the GM built military trucks. And they are a pita because they turn the wrong direction for our trucks and require flipping the carrier housing and modifying the diff housing so they will work in our trucks.
 
DieselWrencher said:
Another big problem with using a military axle in the front is lock outs. They are freaking expensive for them. The strongest military axles I have heard of are the front loaders that have the checker board front cover found in the GM built military trucks. And they are a pita because they turn the wrong direction for our trucks and require flipping the carrier housing and modifying the diff housing so they will work in our trucks.
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Yeah, those axles are a pain! I have 2 fronts and 2 rears. The front axle does turn backwords, how do i know... well heres a funny story bout those axles, i bought an old jeep bout 10 years back and i had those axles layn around, so i started by putting the front axle in, hooked it all up...made a drive shaft to hook up to the stock t-case and all. Well i couldn't wait to drive it to see how low the gears were (no brakes though...too excited:bang)...so i jumped in fired it up...put it in first, let out on the clutch (with it reved up pretty good:ft:) and backed into the back side of the shop... wow what a suprise that was!!!:hehe:
 
Dang that sucks! I should have put in my post that it was only the front diff that did that. Thanks for adding that.
 
brushpuller said:
Sorry for my short memory!:doh: but your wright on the ring gear size! Iv heard about the 40 spline axles for a 60 but what do ya do with the carrier were the axles go in, is there room for a bigger axle? Or do ya have to machine the hole out bigger?
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ARB makes a diff for the 40 spline and you can get a spool for them also, last I checked detroit was working on something also.

DISTURBED said:
These arent trail trucks and you are just driving. Add a 40k sled and friction of the tire spinning and flexing and you have a bad issue. Have you ever drove a 4x4 tractor on the highway with fluid in the front tires? Its not fun, when the fluid starts sloshing it throws the tires out of balance and starts the tractor into a bounce down the road. You can never get the tire completely full and very dangerous also think of it as a fuel tank in the bed of a truck and how unstable they can be.
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I dont sled pull or have drove a 4x4 tractor we have a 2x4, 40-ish hp small diesel tractor for food plots and such, I do know a thing or two about axles, do to always breaking them finding ways to make them live b/c of rock crawling, but I cant see a difference in a 4x4 tractor being any different from a buggy on 2 1/2 ton axles on 47" tires going down the road or hammering it up a rock face with 35-45mph wheel speed. Especially if your just pulling down the track and switching them out before the street, but like I said Ive never seld pulled so, what do I know about it, nada.
 
Alot stronger, mine is still all stock. Only thing i did to it was put a ring gear support in it to keep the ring gear from flexing away from the pinion and im going to put a pinion support in it just havnt donr it
 
bh10 said:
I dont sled pull or have drove a 4x4 tractor we have a 2x4, 40-ish hp small diesel tractor for food plots and such, I do know a thing or two about axles, do to always breaking them finding ways to make them live b/c of rock crawling, but I cant see a difference in a 4x4 tractor being any different from a buggy on 2 1/2 ton axles on 47" tires going down the road or hammering it up a rock face with 35-45mph wheel speed. Especially if your just pulling down the track and switching them out before the street, but like I said Ive never seld pulled so, what do I know about it, nada.
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Its been tried in pulling and it didnt work. But im sure theirs somebody that has done it and hasnt had any issues with it im not going to take that chance nor would i recommend it to somebody else to try.
 
bh10 said:
Please explain Ive run water in the front tires off roading and have reach wheel speed of at least 45mph going to the trail w/ out issue.
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A friend had it in an old chevy pickup for a tug-a-truck, he tried to drive it down the road for a test drive and you would have thought the thing was going to explode. Shook so hard you would have thought the dash was coming apart.
 
It's not just the axle shafts that break on a 60. Take big tires, lots of front weight, locker and add hydraulic steering and you end up having broken knuckles.
 
I don't think that is a problem in pulling trucks. Maybe trail, mud, and rock climbing trucks.
 
I've seen Dana 70 fronts hold up pretty well too!
 
On edit, ACTUALLY, GARRETT run's 35 spline Moser axles in my D60.. Seem to be holding well. The stockers were twisted about 3/4 of an inch when I pulled them out.

By Garrett: Cracker has his name logged on my shop computer LMAO.
 
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JIT said:
I've seen Dana 70 fronts hold up pretty well too!
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Years ago when I was into gasser pulling and off-roading I would hear talk of the D70 fronts but never saw one in person. What where they out of?

RyanB
 
I've been running the Dynatrac 35 spline fee-spin hub conversion kit. Not a cheap kit which is typical of Dynatrac. All their stuff is about $1000 over-priced but I got it a long time ago with a group buy and it has served me well since then. When I turned the truck into a puller, I put a spool in the front and I am still running the original factory 3.54 gear set. So far everything has held up well to 38" Boggers on the trails in the past and now 33" STSs on the pulling track. I'll try and get some pics posted up later.......

Joe
 
RyanB said:
Years ago when I was into gasser pulling and off-roading I would hear talk of the D70 fronts but never saw one in person. What where they out of?

RyanB
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The d-70 front end was found in IH 1 ton trucks (late 60's to early 70's) also some old dodge 1 ton power wagons had the front 70. Gotta watch...some d-70 fronts had cours spline,small axles in them and all had drum breaks! If you put 35 spline stub axles in a d-60...you got the same thing as a d-70 except for a small increase in ring gear diameter and not worth the trouble of dealing with drum breaks and a chance of having small axles!
 
brushpuller said:
The d-70 front end was found in IH 1 ton trucks (late 60's to early 70's) also some old dodge 1 ton power wagons had the front 70. Gotta watch...some d-70 fronts had cours spline,small axles in them and all had drum breaks! If you put 35 spline stub axles in a d-60...you got the same thing as a d-70 except for a small increase in ring gear diameter and not worth the trouble of dealing with drum breaks and a chance of having small axles!
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Also Mid 80's 1 ton GM military pickups had the D70 fronts
 
I was referring to custom (home made) D70 fronts made from a D70 rear and D60 front. Sort of a Hybrid.
 
jfaulkner said:
A friend had it in an old chevy pickup for a tug-a-truck, he tried to drive it down the road for a test drive and you would have thought the thing was going to explode. Shook so hard you would have thought the dash was coming apart.
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That could be, I guess it helps to have 2" hydro steering, which also took my front D60 which you could barely drive on the street do to DW, to being smooth as silk up to 70mph:hehe:
jfaulkner said:
It's not just the axle shafts that break on a 60. Take big tires, lots of front weight, locker and add hydraulic steering and you end up having broken knuckles.
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Dedenbear has something for you if you worried about knuckles. Reid Racing, Inc - Powerglide transmission cases, Dana 44 & Dana 60 knuckles
DISTURBED said:
Also Mid 80's 1 ton GM military pickups had the D70 fronts
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Inncorrect, the m1008 military was actually considered a 1 1/4 ton truck and it came with a Dana 60 and 4.56 gears w/ a open diff. and the ambulance versions came with the dana powerlock, which is a decent limited slip.



As for the D70 front I have heard of them, but never seen one, I can tell you of a couple custom 14 bolt front ends, IMO would be the ultimate front end for sled pulling do to the 3rd pinion bearing support.
 
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